CLEVELAND — Tony Perlatti, the director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, said that about 63,000 people voted early and in person in Cuyahoga County, which is up around 10,000 from the 2020 general election. Perlatti said that 156,000 absentee ballots have been returned, but that most people will cast their ballot in person on Election Day.

“Going to the polls on Election Day is the form of voting that the majority of Cuyahoga County residents utilize,” he said.

Perlatti explained that he’s expecting the 289 polling locations in the county to be busy, estimating around 400,000 people hitting the polls across the 59 municipalities.

“If you were to be there for 30 minutes, I wouldn’t be surprised. So you should expect to spend a little bit more time, because of the volume of people coming, because of the three sheet ballot, it just takes longer to vote it, it takes longer to scan it, you know all of that has a trickle down effect,” he said.

Perlatti reminded voters to know where their polling location is and that there is no voting at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections on Election Day. He said to make sure to bring a photo I.D. to the polls.

“The acceptable forms of identification are an unexpired Ohio drivers license, an unexpired state of Ohio state ID, an unexpired passport, both passport booklet and passport card and then you can also bring a federal military ID, an Ohio national guard ID or a VA I.D,” he said.

Perlatti explained that he wants people to be patient as the polls close and the results start coming in, as it will take a while to get them processed.

“We will not cut any corners and our motto for years and years and you’ve heard me say this before, accuracy over speed and we will not compromise that,” he said.

The polls open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.