CLEVELAND (WJW) — Taking a deep breath, Paul Adams smiled while explaining how he’s doing on this primary election Tuesday.
“I’m feeling pretty good right now. Pretty stressed a couple of days ago but doing good now,” Adams said.
Adam, the man in charge of Lorain County’s board elections, doesn’t get a whole lot of sleep this time of year, especially with a new voter ID law making its debut.
Adams admits there is some adjusting to do for his staff, but they are all fully embracing it.
“Implementation of new laws is not burdensome, that’s just part of our job. That’s what we do,” he said.
The new law goes like this: Anyone looking to cast a ballot will have to bring a photo ID with them that is not expired.
Voters are no longer allowed to use something that doesn’t have a picture on it, like bank statements, government checks or some kind of utility bill.
Adams said they have had no issues so far because this is a primary election.
“The voters that turn out during an off-year primary election are what I call professional voters. They watch the news, the follow the law, they are now the candidates and the issues,” he said.
To give you a comparison: Lorain County is expecting a 10% voter turnout for this election. During the last presidential election in 2020, voter turnout was 72%
“I think when we get to next year and it’s a person that only votes once every four years, I think we will see more people coming to the polls saying, ‘Wait a minute, this was permissible before and now I don’t have a proper voter ID,'” Adams said.
While Adams is pleased this year’s election is going well, he will continue to remind voters to bring their photo IDid with them to the polls.
Click here fore more about the 2023 Ohio Primary election.