Franklin County voters head to their neighborhood polling places on Tuesday, November 3, after 93,166 people cast ballots in person during early voting, according to final figures from the Franklin County Board of Elections reported by The New Americans Magazine.
Early in-person voting for the November 3 general election ended at 5 p.m. on Sunday, November 1, at the county’s Early Vote Center at 1700 Morse Road in Columbus. There is no early voting on Monday, November 2, the board stresses — and the Morse Road office will not serve as a regular polling location on Election Day.
Voting by mail was also heavy in Ohio’s largest county. The board reported that 82,928 Franklin County voters requested an absentee ballot, and 70,729 of those ballots had been returned as of Sunday, November 1. Ballots still in hand can be returned to the secure drop box outside the board office at 1700 Morse Road, but they must arrive by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day to count — the postmark grace period that once applied is gone under Senate Bill 293, a change The Columbus Dispatch has also reported.
On the ballot, Franklin County voters will decide contested races for Congress and the Ohio General Assembly, county offices including commissioner, and common pleas court judgeships, alongside the statewide races for governor, U.S. senator and the other state offices, according to The Columbus Dispatch’s voter guide. Voters can pull up their own sample ballot and assigned polling location through the board’s website.
Polls will be open Tuesday from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and anyone in line at 7:30 p.m. will be permitted to vote. Voters casting a ballot in person must bring an acceptable, unexpired photo ID.
What happens next is Election Day itself: Franklin County voters who have not yet voted should confirm their assigned polling location at vote.franklincountyohio.gov or by calling the board at 614-525-3100 before heading out on Tuesday, because some polling locations changed this year.
Franklin County is Ohio’s most populous county, and its turnout helps set the tone for statewide races. With early in-person voting now closed and tens of thousands of mail ballots still capable of arriving by Tuesday’s deadline, the remaining vote in the county will be cast the traditional way — in person, on Election Day, at neighborhood precincts across Columbus and its suburbs.
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