Early voting underway in Ohio: Bernie Moreno votes

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WJW) – A steady stream of voters made their way to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections on Tuesday, which is opening day for early voting across Ohio before the November 5 presidential election .

Among those first in the doors was Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Bernie Moreno , urging his supporters and everyone across Ohio to cast their vote.

“Today, whether you are a Republican, whether you are a Democrat, whether you are an independent, today is what our democracy is all about,” Moreno said.

Moreno hopes to unseat incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown, aware that turnout for early voting historically is heavily democratic, particularly in Cuyahoga County.

On Tuesday he was urging his supporters not only to vote early, but to make sure they encourage others to do the same.

“Go out there and vote early. You have four weeks to do it. As I’ve often said, of course, tongue in cheek vote 11 times, meaning that you go out and vote yourself, like I just said, and then bring ten people with you,” he said.

He was taken through the same voting process as any other voter, but there was one glitch. When Moreno attempted to feed his completed ballot into the scanner the machine jammed, forcing poll workers to open it up and physically make sure his ballot was there.

Moreno afterward said that he does not see that as a reflection of the integrity, the confidence in the process, or in the outcome of the election in Ohio.

“No, listen, it’s opening day. Problems is what happens. I was feeding about the machine. It got stuck. They had a very good process there that people observed. Obviously lots more than normal. They opened it up. The ballot got jammed. That happens. It went in there. You see it with your eyes,” Moreno said. “You can know that your votes are going to count. We have secure elections here in Ohio. Are they perfect? Of course not. But on November 5, at the end of the day, we’re going to have a result. God willing, I win. There’s not going to be any dispute about who won and who lost the election.”

The senate race is on the ballot with a high-profile presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

It is a race in which there have been concerns about voter apathy. Those who are not happy with either candidate are simply not voting.

The number of people who do not show up to vote have as much of an impact on the outcome of the election as those who do.

Moreno on Tuesday doubled down on his encouragement for a large turnout.

“Look, the reality is the one thing that equalizes every American, whether you’re a billionaire or somebody who’s struggling financially, you get one vote. Everybody in this country gets one vote. It’s the most important patriotic thing you can do is show your vote. And by the way, that even includes people who may not vote for me,” Moreno said. “It’s extremely important that we get that we have huge voter turnout.”

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