On last day, voters pack elections office

LIMA - The time to register to vote in this presidential election saw a wild and woolly end Monday, complete with a Pied Piper-like appearance from an Academy Award winner.

By law, elections boards stayed open until 9 p.m. to accommodate those registering at the last minute and many would-be voters took advantage of the evening hours.

"I've been doing this 10 years and I've never seen anything like it," said Allen County Board of Elections Director Keith Cunningham nearly at the end of his day.

Fueled on the beef and noodles one of the staff members brought in, employees worked from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. processing countless voters.

In the last hour to do so, Donna Womble registered to vote and then decided to go ahead and early vote. Dressed in blue scrubs and orange Crocs, Womble had just left work and brought her son, Derek Shepherd, 18, to do the same.

Shepherd was excited to vote in his first election and Womble said she was happy to have it all taken care of and proud to vote with her son.

Earlier in the day, actor Cuba Gooding Jr. took to a picnic table in Town Square and spoke for about a minute, encouraging voter registration. He caused a surreal scene downtown, as supporters and just about anyone else with a cell phone camera tried to get close. Gooding, standing in front of the Barack Obama headquarters, said he doesn't talk about his political preferences, but led a large crowd about a block north to the Allen County Board of Elections to register and vote before being whisked away in a black sedan.

Once, people in the crowd thought they heard Gooding mistakenly say he was in Cleveland and several times Gooding used the Peruvian pronunciation of "Leema" until he was loudly corrected. The actor said he finished a movie in Detroit on Sunday and was asked by the campaign to make some stops in Ohio; Gooding also visited Hamilton, Dayton and Toledo on Monday.

The Allen County Elections Board was already packed with people on this last day to register to vote before the general election and many more tried to get to the basement office. At one point, the elevator opened with a full car, but voters had nowhere to go because the lobby area was too crowded.

Lindsey Liles, 49, and his son Lindsey Liles II, 21, registered to vote after walking with Gooding. The younger Liles was voting in his first presidential election.

"It's historic," the younger Liles said. "We need change."

Elections board directors in Auglaize and Putnam counties said traffic was "steady" all day and they expected, based on numerous calls through the day about hours, to be busy Monday night.

Monday also marked the end of a window in which voters could register and vote in the same trip. While the weeklong time received much news, especially as Republicans challenged the window in court, elections boards were underwhelmed by people wanting the same-day track.

In Auglaize County, staff saw fewer than a dozen people who wanted to vote immediately after registering, elections Director Carolyn Campbell said.

While Putnam County elections Director Ginger Price didn't have exact numbers, she said a number of people registered and then immediately voted.