Battleground Ohio: Inside a polling station as voters make their call

Just come with me. We're actually allowed in here. And what I can tell you, this has been steady go since we got here. Just come on in here. Johnny's just going to have to adjust the iris as we walk inside. I'm going to turn it over to the next slide. There's an Italian film crew here. There's also a BBC crew because there's so much interest in what is happening in Ohio worldwide. I can show you. Just come on in here. Thank you. So this has been steady go. There are about 10 election machines in this room. And what I was told by the gentleman who works for Elections Ohio here is that they have been going steady go since about 6:30 this morning. And by noon, they had about 50 percent of registered voters in this district had already voted. And those are the types of numbers that you would expect to see by the end of the day, he told me. We're just going to get out here because we're I'm going to talk about a couple of political things. I don't want to do it where people are actually voting. It's nice of them to let us in. Thank you, Jason. So this is really speaking to a really high interest, massive, potentially record-breaking turnout. And add to that that Ohio already broke its early in-person and mail-in voting record with 1.7 million votes. For this midterm election, we also went out to a sort of a Greek cafe a little bit earlier today. This is a place, Tommy's Diner, where the owner says on every election day, it's absolutely packed with people. People come in after voting. So it was a great place for us to talk to voters on sort of both sides of the aisle, how they're feeling, what they're anticipating and whether or not this state is going to shift blue. Is it going to be swept up in a blue wave or will it remain staunchly Republican? Here's what a couple of folks told us today. I've lived in the U.S. for the last two years, and I know it has to change from what it has been, and I think it will. I think this is going to be the end of the so-called Trump era, we can all hope. We're hoping and praying that it will be not just an overall Republican win, but it will be an overwhelming win. When for freedom, that is Republican. I think we're going to be shocked and amazed on this election. I think it's going to turn, I think it's going to do something they haven't done in years. And what's that? I think it's going to be a blue wave. And voting here will be continuing until 7:30. And again, it has been steady go, I'm told, at this polling station since they opened the doors at 6.30 this morning. And we appreciate the show and tell. Katie, what should we watch from Ohio as the votes are counted tonight? I mean, the thing about Ohio is that it's often considered a bellwether, right? It's what happens in Ohio. It tends to happen elsewhere in the country. As Ohio falls, so too does the nation. And so a lot of people really keenly looking to see whether or not that red wall that has been here for roughly 10 years starts to crumble a little. And there are signs of that. Of course, a lot of the polls just before this day arrived were showing that, again, within the margin of error, there were Democrats in key races. So the race for governor. You've got Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican, running against Amy Acton, the Democrat. A slight lead there, depending on which poll you're looking at. So reason there for Democrats to be hopeful of reclaiming the governorship. Then there's the Senate seat. And I know folks at home are probably really tired of hearing that this is the pivotal Senate seat that will determine the balance of power in Washington. It's true of a lot of states right now. It's true of a number of seats that are in play. But Ohio has a hotly contested seat that was vacated. by J.D. Vance two years ago. John Husted was put in. He was appointed by the Republican governor. And he is now going against Sherrod Brown, who is Democratic royalty in this state, who was a longtime congressman and senator previously, looking to get back into the Senate. And so that race, extremely tight as well, and could... And I know people are tired of hearing this, could potentially determine the balance of power of the Senate. So these are some of the key races. But there are also other races that could speak to a shift in power. So those smaller, there are 15 congressional seats that are up for grabs. Representatives like Mike Turner, who is a 12-term congressman in Ohio's 10th. He, according to the last New York Times-CNN poll, is behind his newcomer Democratic challenger by three points. So again, there is a margin of error there, but that is not a place that you would expect such a long-time incumbent Republican to be, particularly someone who previously was the mayor of Dayton, so someone who is well-known in his district. And so is there a tide turning here throughout Ohio against Republicans? That's really sort of what a lot of people are looking for. If it happens in Ohio, chances are that shift could tell the tale of what's happening in the rest of the country. Katie, thank you. That is the CBC's Katie Nicholson live in Columbus, Ohio.