Poll worker Carl Allen moved chairs and taped arrows onto the floor of the Columbus Library's Martin Luther King Jr. branch early Tuesday morning.
"Last year we didn't have a problem with having people wait. This year we had long lines. So we need to make some more adjustments, get a traffic flow going," Allen explained.
Voters snaked through the small room, getting through the line to cast ballots in about 20 minutes, around 8 a.m. The polling place had combined with another this year, but Allen still thought that the volume of voters had more than doubled from las year. He expected to stay busy all day.
Polling locations across the county saw an onslaught of voters. By 5 p.m., half of the county's registered voters have casted ballots.
Voting with parties down the ballot
Many of them voted with their political parties.
"I'm strictly Republican," John Chambers told WOSU Tuesday morning after casting a ballot at Blackburn Community Center.
Chambers admitted that he didn't particularly care about Republican candidate for governor Vivek Ramaswamy, but said that he voted for him anyway.
"I don't like any of them. I'm being honest with you," Chambers laughed. "I just voted Republican."
Chambers said he "loves Trump" and that the president's endorsements of candidates like Ramaswamy and Sen. Jon Husted made a difference to him.
At another busy polling site in Hilliard, Megan Combs said she voted with a different agenda.
"I'm very interested in the governor's race, specifically for sure making sure that we are turning Ohio blue this year," Combs said. "I think that the state of Ohio is not going in the direction that I would like it to go."
Combs voted for Amy Acton for governor and former senator Sherrod Brown for Senate. Both are Democrats.
Gabrielle Fields, of south Columbus, also voted for Acton, though she said she wasn't particularly excited about any race. Fields said that voting was her duty.
"I am voting on behalf of those who cannot. I'm voting for our children. I voted because of those that died for me to vote," Fields said.
Hilliard resident Ray Conley had a more apathetic view of the election. "I just wanted to get it over with so the ads can stop," Conley said.
Ramaswamy's controversial attack ad
Among the many ads Conley saw this election season was Ramaswamy's controversial TV ad featuring Donna Arthur, Acton's estranged mother.
In the ad, Acton's mother calls her a liar and encourages Ohioans not to vote for her. Acton has said that she last saw her mother in court when she was 12 years old. Acton's stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was accused of raping her when she was a child. He fled the state and Acton's mother went with him.
Ramaswamy took credit for the ad.
"It was bad," Conley said. "It made me think differently about him."
Conley did not say whether the ad changed the way he voted in the governor's race.
Preston Young, a first-year student at Ohio State University, said the ad was a testament to Ramaswamy's character and where his campaign's morals lie.
For Republican Pablo Pena, the ad was inconsequential. He voted for Ramaswamy.
"I don't think (Ramaswamy) was involved. Probably members of his team might have influenced that," Pena told WOSU. "I stay away from these types of propaganda and I just focus on policy."
Combs had already planned to vote for Acton when she saw the ad, but called it "disgusting."
"I think we forget like when we're campaigning, especially these candidates, they forget that people are human. And we have to respect that," Combs said.
Several Ohio State students expressed their strong opposition for Ramaswamy.
"I don't really appreciate a lot of (Ramaswamy's) policies," Maanya Mehrotra, a first-year Ohio State student said. "I think that Amy Acton's policies are more, like I said before, geared to serving the people."
Ohio State students' policy concerns
Outside the Great Room, the Ohio Union polling location, students gathered in groups waiting for their friends to vote, many of them first-time voters.
"Every vote matters and counts, and if you have the ability to vote you should do it," first-year student Mackenzie Verderber said. "If you're voting, maybe your friends will to."
Olivia Bruening, a second-year health sciences major, said she is mainly concerned with women's rights.
"This is my first election that I'm old enough to vote in and I want to take advantage of that, especially because of how serious these midterm elections are for the entire country," Bruening said.
First-year student Ethan Laryea said he is mainly concerned with the cost of living.
"Imagine you have a bunch of people saying, 'oh, well, my vote's not going to make a difference,'" Laryea said. "That all adds up, so it's just important for you to come out here and vote today."
Students were also concerned with healthcare and government spending.
"We spend a lot of money on taxes, but why don't we have free healthcare yet," Young said. "I think a lot our taxes go to...the wrong things."
Columbus Issues 8 & 9
Voters in Columbus also considered two issues that could change how city council members are elected.
One of the initiatives, Issue 8, seemed to have widespread support.
Issue 8 turns the city's nine council seats into a true ward system, where district representatives are elected only by people who live in the district. Currently, city council members represent districts but are voted on city-wide.
Issue 9 would switch current seats to true district voting while adding four at-large council seats. It also sets a date to redraw district maps, among other things.
Francine Williams of Columbus' Driving Park neighborhood feels Issue 9 will undo Issue 8 by adding city-wide seats. She voted no on Issue 9.
"I think we need more representation in our neighborhoods more so than electing people at large and they just vote on the whole city," Williams said.
Lea Dooley of the Near East Side voted yes on both Issues 8 and 9.
"I know that it'll be a little bit more expensive adding seats, but it will level the playing field and make it more that local politics is local."
