CLEVELAND (WJW) – Tuesday is Election Day — when Ohioans will cast a ballot for or against the controversial Issue 1.

But unlike past elections, Ohio’s early voting period is already over, with voters lining up to cast their ballots Sunday afternoon.

Boards of elections across the state were open for four hours Sunday, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Due to changes in Ohio’s voting laws, there will be no early voting allowed on Monday.

About 90 minutes before the doors closed, the line extended outside of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections as people cast an early vote for or against Issue One.

“We do not have early in-person voting for Monday as we used to,” said Tony Kaloger, deputy director for the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

“I did not know that today was the last day for early voting, but on Tuesday I have to travel for work, so I was going to make sure I came down and did not miss this,” one voter said.

“I knew it was going to be a hot button issue, especially due to the circumstances, so I knew we’d have a good, pretty good turnout,” said another voter.

“We’re surprised, but we were prepared. We anticipated that Issue One would be an issue that people would be engaged with and we expected turnout from both sides and I think, sure enough, we’ve seen that,” said Kaloger.

If approved, Issue 1 would make it harder to make amendments to the state constitution. For example, it would require 60% of voters to approve a change, rather than the current 50%, plus one.

Elections officials tell us there have been more early voters in Cuyahoga County for Issue 1 than there were for the general gubernatorial election in 2022.

“We started out, it was about 700 per day average through. Then, of course the last week of voting always increases and over the last two days, we had over 2,000,” said Kaloger.

Whenever a person was voting for the first time, the room erupted in cheers and applause.

Cuyahoga elections officials say, as of Sunday, more than 20,000 voters traveled downtown to vote early.

“I rather vote early, the scramble on Tuesday,” said a woman who voted early.

“I’m so happy that everyone did early voting, so it was great to have a big line,” said another.

“I sometimes vote on Election Day, sometimes early. My friend and I decided to go today, so we came down,” said a man who was casting his early ballot.

Another change voters need to remember — to cast your vote on Tuesday, you must have a photo ID, such as a driver’s license, state ID, military ID or a passport.

“Fortunately about 98% of people do, have been in the habit of providing their driver’s license or state ID, when they go to vote, but for the 2-3% who typically would give another form of ID, they need to bring a photo ID,” said Kaloger.

Several dozen precincts in Cuyahoga and Summit counties have changed voting locations for various reasons.

We were also learned that early voting has been robust across Northeast Ohio, especially in Medina and Geauga counties as well.