October 14, 2024 • 8 mins
Ohio Early Voting is ON! How did the first day go at the Franklin County Board of Elections?
Aaron Sellers joined me for a full report AND a call for REPUBLICAN poll workers.
Franklin County Board of Elections - Poll Worker (franklincountyohio.gov)
Aaron Sellers joined me for a full report AND a call for REPUBLICAN poll workers.
Franklin County Board of Elections - Poll Worker (franklincountyohio.gov)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I want to talk about right now, the first day
of early voting, the first day of early voting. I
have traditionally not been in favor of it. This year,
I told you I'm going to do it myself. You
don't know what's going to happen, whether you know it's
COVID sixty two or the first hurricane to hit Ohio
(00:20):
or asteroids fall for I'm not going to let anybody
keep me from the polls. And if I need to
vote early, then I'm going to be voting early. Dog
got it, and a lot of people, I guess did today.
Aaron Sellers is is what the Board of Elections. They're
a spokesperson up there. He keeps his eye on everything.
He is on the phone with me right now, taking
a break from a wonderful event, just for little me
and Aaron. I appreciate that. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
How are you? Thanks for having me?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
I what did you see today? Did you see lots
and lots of people more than expected, fewer than expected?
Were they happy? Smiling to be part of the process?
How just what was the feel at the Board of
Elections today?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Well, the feel was the first day of early voting.
There's a lot of excited people that were up there.
I think the final numbers were somewhere north of forty
two hundred folks came into the board today to cast
their ballot, and you know, it's a lot of people
up there. They seem to be excited, and we were
able to move them in very quickly. And you know,
(01:20):
so far day one is in the books for this.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
First week of early voting. You I mean, you cannot
ask for a better weather scenario. So if you do
get lines out the door, people are going to be
standing in very moderate, nice temperatures and lots of sunshine.
So that's at least some good news when it comes
to elections. I'm ready for rain no matter what day
it is.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, today was. Today was a wonderful day. And it
looks like we're gonna have a few days that are
going to be just as nice as today. But we've
been pretty lucky through the years weather wise, obviously, Ohio,
you never know what's gonna what's what it's going to be.
But we have some expanded footprint at the board that
has enabled us to have an inside a queuing area
(02:01):
that we can queue folks to get them inside, and
probably we could probably fit about five hundred folks in there,
so it's we've got a pretty good thing up there.
We've done this for a while and most of the
people that we that come up there are are happy.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Are you the forty two hundred or so that you
saw today in comparison to previous year is good, bad,
or about the same?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
I would say that it was good. Twenty twenty obviously
was obviously COVID and just kind of threw a monkey
rich a monkey wrench, and the whole thing is the
way how people vote. I think that we will get
back to more of a twenty sixteen election, meaning I
(02:47):
think that will be sixty percent election day, forty percent
early voting, which that incorporates the mail and ballot component.
Today we mailed out over one hundred and seventeen thousand
ballots that had been requested by Franklin County voters. So
that's a big number, forty two hundred. I don't know,
it's probably close to a record. I don't know exactly,
(03:10):
but it's pretty darn close.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
I say every single year that you know, the one
disappointing thing about the process is what I see twenty
two twenty six percent voter turnout. It just it sickens me.
You have this opportunity to change the world as you
know it by simply making some decisions, getting educated, pushing
some buttons, and people not getting off their tails and
doing that frustrates me to no end. This year, I
(03:33):
hope it's different. I hope the numbers are higher.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Well, you know, general elections are, especially for presidential elections,
are the highest turnout by far. In twenty twenty, we
had a seventy two percent turnout in Franklin County. I
think in twenty sixteen it was seventy percent. So people
do come out for general elections. One of the things
that is a bit frustrating to me is in the
(03:57):
primary cycle. And obviously there's en many variables in a
primary cycle, the number of candidates, you know when the
primary takes place, but a lot of people just don't
know the process. You know that in the primary it's
a you know, you're picking the party that you want
to represent that you want to cast a ballot for,
whether a Republican or a Democrat, who's going to you know,
(04:20):
ultimately get to the general election. A lot of people don't,
They don't vote in primaries. The most recent numbers in
Franklin County, we have over nine hundred thousand registered voters
I think about twelve twelve percent or Democrat, nine point
nine percent a Republican, and seven hundred thousand are unaffiliated.
(04:41):
Now what does that mean? That just simply means that
a large seventy seven percent of the electorate really don't
participate in primaries.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Wow. Wow, that's when you think about it. I've never
heard those numbers though. That is staggering. Seventy seven percent
non participation because they're not affiliated. Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Now that doesn't mean that they yeah, that they don't
vote in general elections, or they could vote an issues
only ballot. But in the system that we have, the
primary is picking the candidate that's going to carry the
party's water in the general election.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, but you want to you know, when you sit
down at the table and you get the menu, you
want to pick what you're going to have for dinner.
But dog gun it, don't miss your chance to pick
the restaurant too. That's uh, I would concur Yeah, that's hey, Aaron,
before I say goodbye, because I know you are somewhere
that I would actually like to be right now. But
I'll let you get back to for election day. How
(05:34):
are we doing on observers, poll workers, all that kind
of stuff. Do you need people to sign up to
volunteer to work as pole workers?
Speaker 2 (05:41):
How does that set Yeah, that's a great question, and
that's a good thing to end it on. We are
in the ment. We are in the process of recruiting
upwards of fifty two hundred pole workers in Franklin County
to work our three hundred and two poles. It's a
big county. We have a great staff that it's it's
they're working to meet those numbers and we certainly will
(06:03):
do that. One of the things of note that we
need Republicans because this is a bipartisan way and we
run elections and we need we need more Republicans to
be poll workers in specific areas of the county Grove City,
o Beets, Grove, Port Canal, Winchester, so basically the whole
(06:26):
southern you know, from seventy south is an area that
we could use. Any listeners that are out there that
are registered Republicans that live in those areas, we need
more of you to to be poll workers to help
us administer the election. On November fifth, we're going to
get to where we need to.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
You can just google Franklin County Board of Elections and
go to the website and there's probably a sign up link.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
There is vote dot Franklin County, Ohio dot gov is
our website. If we can get more people, specifically Republicans
in those areas, that would that would make this call
well worth it.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I will do everything I can to promote that. And
if you need to get the word out, do whaty're recruiting,
anything like that. You always have a microphone here. I
appreciate you, Arin, and you've got.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
My contact and so if you need anything, please reach
out to me.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
All right, we'll do so. You have a great evening.
And uh and look over at the chair next to
you and say, boy, I wis Chuck was here with me?
I you know I should have asked him. I don't
know if you have to work the whole shift or not.
I know many people have complained about being a pole worker.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Man.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
That's a lot of hours. I don't know if you
can work like half the shift and split it with somebody,
maybe you can go with his partners and what one
person works the you know, second half, one person works
the first because if you've got a family, kids, you
got to pick him uprom school or drop them off
at school or whatever. They pay it for it. I mean,
it's not like a thousand dollars or anything that they
give you. You know, better than being on jury duty.
(07:49):
And as he said, you know they need Republicans specifically
for the southern half of Franklin County. So if it's
something you're interested in, please do sign up. I think
this election is going to be very, very busy, both
in the early voting and and on November fifth,
I want to talk about right now, the first day
of early voting, the first day of early voting. I
have traditionally not been in favor of it. This year,
I told you I'm going to do it myself. You
don't know what's going to happen, whether you know it's
COVID sixty two or the first hurricane to hit Ohio
(00:20):
or asteroids fall for I'm not going to let anybody
keep me from the polls. And if I need to
vote early, then I'm going to be voting early. Dog
got it, and a lot of people, I guess did today.
Aaron Sellers is is what the Board of Elections. They're
a spokesperson up there. He keeps his eye on everything.
He is on the phone with me right now, taking
a break from a wonderful event, just for little me
and Aaron. I appreciate that. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
How are you? Thanks for having me?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
I what did you see today? Did you see lots
and lots of people more than expected, fewer than expected?
Were they happy? Smiling to be part of the process?
How just what was the feel at the Board of
Elections today?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Well, the feel was the first day of early voting.
There's a lot of excited people that were up there.
I think the final numbers were somewhere north of forty
two hundred folks came into the board today to cast
their ballot, and you know, it's a lot of people
up there. They seem to be excited, and we were
able to move them in very quickly. And you know,
(01:20):
so far day one is in the books for this.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
First week of early voting. You I mean, you cannot
ask for a better weather scenario. So if you do
get lines out the door, people are going to be
standing in very moderate, nice temperatures and lots of sunshine.
So that's at least some good news when it comes
to elections. I'm ready for rain no matter what day
it is.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, today was. Today was a wonderful day. And it
looks like we're gonna have a few days that are
going to be just as nice as today. But we've
been pretty lucky through the years weather wise, obviously, Ohio,
you never know what's gonna what's what it's going to be.
But we have some expanded footprint at the board that
has enabled us to have an inside a queuing area
(02:01):
that we can queue folks to get them inside, and
probably we could probably fit about five hundred folks in there,
so it's we've got a pretty good thing up there.
We've done this for a while and most of the
people that we that come up there are are happy.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Are you the forty two hundred or so that you
saw today in comparison to previous year is good, bad,
or about the same?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
I would say that it was good. Twenty twenty obviously
was obviously COVID and just kind of threw a monkey
rich a monkey wrench, and the whole thing is the
way how people vote. I think that we will get
back to more of a twenty sixteen election, meaning I
(02:47):
think that will be sixty percent election day, forty percent
early voting, which that incorporates the mail and ballot component.
Today we mailed out over one hundred and seventeen thousand
ballots that had been requested by Franklin County voters. So
that's a big number, forty two hundred. I don't know,
it's probably close to a record. I don't know exactly,
(03:10):
but it's pretty darn close.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
I say every single year that you know, the one
disappointing thing about the process is what I see twenty
two twenty six percent voter turnout. It just it sickens me.
You have this opportunity to change the world as you
know it by simply making some decisions, getting educated, pushing
some buttons, and people not getting off their tails and
doing that frustrates me to no end. This year, I
(03:33):
hope it's different. I hope the numbers are higher.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Well, you know, general elections are, especially for presidential elections,
are the highest turnout by far. In twenty twenty, we
had a seventy two percent turnout in Franklin County. I
think in twenty sixteen it was seventy percent. So people
do come out for general elections. One of the things
that is a bit frustrating to me is in the
(03:57):
primary cycle. And obviously there's en many variables in a
primary cycle, the number of candidates, you know when the
primary takes place, but a lot of people just don't
know the process. You know that in the primary it's
a you know, you're picking the party that you want
to represent that you want to cast a ballot for,
whether a Republican or a Democrat, who's going to you know,
(04:20):
ultimately get to the general election. A lot of people don't,
They don't vote in primaries. The most recent numbers in
Franklin County, we have over nine hundred thousand registered voters
I think about twelve twelve percent or Democrat, nine point
nine percent a Republican, and seven hundred thousand are unaffiliated.
(04:41):
Now what does that mean? That just simply means that
a large seventy seven percent of the electorate really don't
participate in primaries.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Wow. Wow, that's when you think about it. I've never
heard those numbers though. That is staggering. Seventy seven percent
non participation because they're not affiliated. Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Now that doesn't mean that they yeah, that they don't
vote in general elections, or they could vote an issues
only ballot. But in the system that we have, the
primary is picking the candidate that's going to carry the
party's water in the general election.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, but you want to you know, when you sit
down at the table and you get the menu, you
want to pick what you're going to have for dinner.
But dog gun it, don't miss your chance to pick
the restaurant too. That's uh, I would concur Yeah, that's hey, Aaron,
before I say goodbye, because I know you are somewhere
that I would actually like to be right now. But
I'll let you get back to for election day. How
(05:34):
are we doing on observers, poll workers, all that kind
of stuff. Do you need people to sign up to
volunteer to work as pole workers?
Speaker 2 (05:41):
How does that set Yeah, that's a great question, and
that's a good thing to end it on. We are
in the ment. We are in the process of recruiting
upwards of fifty two hundred pole workers in Franklin County
to work our three hundred and two poles. It's a
big county. We have a great staff that it's it's
they're working to meet those numbers and we certainly will
(06:03):
do that. One of the things of note that we
need Republicans because this is a bipartisan way and we
run elections and we need we need more Republicans to
be poll workers in specific areas of the county Grove City,
o Beets, Grove, Port Canal, Winchester, so basically the whole
(06:26):
southern you know, from seventy south is an area that
we could use. Any listeners that are out there that
are registered Republicans that live in those areas, we need
more of you to to be poll workers to help
us administer the election. On November fifth, we're going to
get to where we need to.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
You can just google Franklin County Board of Elections and
go to the website and there's probably a sign up link.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
There is vote dot Franklin County, Ohio dot gov is
our website. If we can get more people, specifically Republicans
in those areas, that would that would make this call
well worth it.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I will do everything I can to promote that. And
if you need to get the word out, do whaty're recruiting,
anything like that. You always have a microphone here. I
appreciate you, Arin, and you've got.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
My contact and so if you need anything, please reach
out to me.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
All right, we'll do so. You have a great evening.
And uh and look over at the chair next to
you and say, boy, I wis Chuck was here with me?
I you know I should have asked him. I don't
know if you have to work the whole shift or not.
I know many people have complained about being a pole worker.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Man.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
That's a lot of hours. I don't know if you
can work like half the shift and split it with somebody,
maybe you can go with his partners and what one
person works the you know, second half, one person works
the first because if you've got a family, kids, you
got to pick him uprom school or drop them off
at school or whatever. They pay it for it. I mean,
it's not like a thousand dollars or anything that they
give you. You know, better than being on jury duty.
(07:49):
And as he said, you know they need Republicans specifically
for the southern half of Franklin County. So if it's
something you're interested in, please do sign up. I think
this election is going to be very, very busy, both
in the early voting and and on November fifth,
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