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It’s time to choose, and whether voters in Ohio go with Democrat Barack Obama and “Change We Can Believe In” or John McCain and “Country First,” it’s going to be an election for the record books.

Ohio polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Michigan polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The Ohio Secretary of State’s Office yesterday predicted an 80 percent turnout, and —despite problems with long lines and faulty machines four years ago — a smooth-running election.

Of that total, about 25 percent will have voted early, either in person or by mail.

“We expect that there will be lines. It’ll be significantly improved from 2004,” said Kevin Kidder, spokesman for Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

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He said directives from Ms. Brunner requiring additional voting machines, paper ballots, and two lines so voters waiting for machines don’t slow up voters waiting for paper ballots will overcome problems experienced in the past.

“Between that and more poll worker training, I think we’re in good shape this year,” Mr. Kidder said.

The previous high turnout in Ohio was 77.1 percent in 1992, when Democrat Bill Clinton defeated incumbent Republican President George H.W. Bush.

The record for total voters was 2004, when 5,722,443 people voted. Republican George W. Bush won that Ohio election by 118,601 votes over Democrat John Kerry.

Today’s election, if it lives up to the 80 percent prediction, would involve about 6.6 million votes being cast in the state. Ohio has 8,303,837 registered voters, compared with 7,972,826 registered voters in 2004.

“I think it’s safe to say there has not been 80 percent turnout in the state of Ohio in at least 50 years,” said Wade Kapszukiewicz, Lucas County’s Democratic treasurer. “I would say an 80 percent turnout tomorrow would be the modern record.”

A diverse election
Jon Stainbrook, chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party, agreed it will be a historic election — not necessarily in terms of turnout but in the diversity of the candidates.

“You’ve got a vice presidential candidate that’s a woman [Republican running mate Sarah Palin] and then you’ve also got an African-American [Senator Obama], so either way it’s historic,” Mr. Stainbrook said.

He echoed the voter-education tips announced yesterday by Mr. Kapszukiewicz, Lucas County Commissioner Tina Skeldon Wozniak, and state Sen. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo), to make sure that people’s rights to vote are protected.

The three Obama supporters held a news conference in front of the early voting center at 2127 Jefferson Ave. to remind voters to take identification — a new requirement — when they go to their polling place.

As long as voters are in line by 7:29 p.m. they have a right to vote, no matter how long it takes to get in front of a voting machine or paper ballot.

Senator McCain of Arizona and Senator Obama of Illinois have crisscrossed the state, as have their running mates, for a total of more than 100 appearances since the start of the general election.

One of those visits put Lucas County on the national political map — the impromptu conversation over taxes between Samuel “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher of Springfield Township and Senator Obama on Oct. 12.

Opinion polls yesterday showed Senator McCain trailing Senator Obama in Ohio. The University of Cincinnati “Ohio Poll” showed Mr. Obama at 51.5 percent and Mr. McCain at 45.7, a lead above the margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.

Paul Lindsay, Ohio spokesman for the McCain-Palin campaign, said, “We’re going to continue to do what we have the past few months, and that’s making sure grass-roots volunteers are reaching out to as many voters as possible, knocking on doors to make sure we get our supporters to the polls.”

“We always expected Ohio to be a close election and we expect it to be late night [tonight],” Mr. Lindsay said.

Isaac Baker, Senator Obama’s communications director for Ohio, said, “We feel good about the field organization we’ve put together, we know who our voters are, we know who we have to turn out, and we have a plan to do it.

“We have a candidate who has energized and excited people who have never been involved in the political process before,” Mr. Baker said.

Votes ‘in the bank’
The Obama campaign has strongly emphasized early voting as a way of getting votes “in the bank.” The McCain campaign has discounted the early voting process, but yet has worked hard to get its own supporters to vote early through absentee ballots.

The presidential election has eclipsed the many other races and issues on the ballot. Voters will pick members of Congress, statehouse representatives, and a U.S. senator in Michigan.

Issues on the ballot would allow Ohio’s first casino to be built southeast of Dayton, restrict “payday” lending, and allow the former COSI science museum in downtown Toledo to resume operations with a taxpayer levy.

Results could start showing up on the county’s Web site by8:30 p.m. when the Lucas County Board of Elections hopes to begin reporting the nearly 70,000 absentee voter ballots that have been cast by mail or at the county’s early voting site.

But Linda Howe, elections director, said it could be 3 a.m. tomorrow before the full unofficial vote is reported by the county.

The timing depends on how many voters avail themselves to use a paper ballot.

The board has leased an additional 32 scanning machines to scan the paper ballots cast during election day, on top of the 20 already in place.

The board has allocated enough paper ballots so that up to 40 percent of voters could use them instead of the touch-screen machines, following a directive from Ms. Brunner.

Early voting lines
When this election is over, it may turn out that the longest lines occurred not on Election Day but at the early voting sites, where people routinely have been standing in line for hours to vote.

One woman waiting in line yesterday at Lucas County’s early voting site to vote for the first time in her life had been standing for 45 minutes, and was about halfway to the voting booths.

“It’s moving really good,” said Pauline Fisher, 46, of Toledo.

“I’m surprised. When I first saw the line I wasn’t going to vote at all but my boyfriend got angry with me so here I am,” she said.

Janine Ody, 44, of Sylvania, said she didn’t mind the wait, expected to be an hour and a half.

“I’m just happy to be able to vote early,” Ms. Ody, a regular voter. “I had the feeling that it is going to be quite a long wait [Election Day].”

Wood County also saw large numbers of early voters. As of 4 p.m. yesterday, Debbie Hazard, deputy elections director, was telling people they’d likely wait 2½ hours.

Ernie Unholz of Perrysburg, pastor at Rudolph Christian Church, didn’t mind the wait one bit.

“I’m delighted to see that there’s a need to do it,” he said scanning the crowd outside the elections office.

“I think this is one of the greatest expressions of democracy I’ve ever seen.”

Kurt Kluge, a retiree from Perrysburg, said he was waiting in line yesterday because he figured the lines would be longer on Election Day.

If they’re not, he said with a smile, “then I want my time back.”

Voters are reminded to come equipped with a photo identification card, although the law in Ohio also allows the use of nonphoto I.D.s and utility bills that prove the voter’s address.

Staff writer Jennifer Feehan contributed to this report.

Contact Tom Troy at:tomtroy@theblade.comor 419-724-6058.

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