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Long Lines of Early Voters Sunday in Mahoning County
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – LaNiece McCrae stood in line on crutches, the 18-year-old injured while playing basketball for Ohio Wesleyan University. As she inched closer Sunday to the Mahoning County Elections Board, the long lines winding down hallways all the way to the building’s entrance, McCrae said she came home for the weekend so she could vote for the first time.
So, too, did 25-year-old Megan Turk, a student in Cleveland, a first-time voter who stood in the long line with her mother, Cathy. “I didn’t get an absentee ballot in time, so I came home to vote,” Megan said. “I wanted to participate.”
Early voting began at 1 p.m. Sunday with “50 people waiting even before we opened,” said Thomas P. McCabe, deputy director. Within an hour, a reporter estimated some 700 voters were waiting in line.
Youngstown resident Janiqui Hill, 19, was another first-time voter. “I need to see my president do good for my country, and it was time for me to take a step in charge and do the right thing,” she said.
Standing with her was her uncle, Curtis Hll, 25, who also was voting for the first time. “I feel this time it’s more important,” he said.
The demographic composition of those in line suggested that Sunday’s early voters heavily favored President Obama. Many wore Obama stickers and organized labor insignias; many were young people and African-Americans.
Said James Brian Cessna Jr., 21, “I never got around to it [voting]” until this election. Why this year? “Because they dragged me,” he said, pointing to his parents.
Sunday’s early voters had to wait more than an hour to get to the front of the lines.
Greeting voters as they arrived outside the elections board entrance was Franco Harris, the legendary Pittsburgh Steelers running back. “People should get involved in their political process,” he said. “If I can help push that and bring interest in elections, that’s good.”
Harris wore no political buttons or stickers, and offered no advice to voters.
“I do want them to vote for Obama but I’m also here to push the vote and especially try to get young people involved,” he said.
Jim Rooney, grandson of Art Rooney, the founder of the Steelers, accompanied the NFL great to Youngstown. His brother, Art Rooney II, is president of the team, and their father, Dan, is the Obama Administration’s ambassador to Ireland. “My father is not officially allowed to say anything, but he’s happy I’m here, that Franco is here, and that we’re trying to keep people in line enthusiastic,” Rooney said.
On the Sunday before the 2008 presidential election, some 2,000 voters cast ballots at the Mahoning County Elections Board, said its deputy director, McCabe. Although Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted shortened early-voting days and times this year, resulting in protracted litigation, “The overall numbers seem to be about the same,” McCabe said. “It’s been busier but in fewer days.”
The Obama campaign boasts a sophisticated get-out-the-vote operation and a big edge in early voting numbers, and while some polls confirm Democrats have banked many more votes than Republicans, no one really knows. For this first time this presidential election, absentee ballot applications were mailed by Husted’s office to every registered voter in Ohio, which means Republicans had the same opportunity to vote by mail as Democrats.
“If the polls are right, Obama wins,” said Paul Sracic, chairman of the political science department at Youngstown State University and a contributor to CNN. “The question is, are the polls right.”
Sracic stopped by the Board of Elections Sunday to deliver his daughter for training as a poll observer.
“Here’s what’s bothering me about the polls,” he explained. “We know that in Ohio here, we’re all getting inundated with phone calls and most of us aren’t picking up the phone. So what does that do for the accuracy of polls and who isn’t answering?”
By the close of business Friday, more than 1.6 million Ohioans had voted, 1.1 million, or 85%, by mail, Husted’s office reported.
In Mahoning County, 30,446 early votes had been cast; in Trumbull County, 19,468; and in Columbiana County 7,716. By comparison, Mahoning County ranks 10th in the state, down from sixth-highest one week ago. Cuyahoga County is first with 241,338 early voters as of Friday, followed by Franklin County, 170,628, and Hamilton County, 95,156.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.