COLUMBUS, Ohio — If you’re looking for a smooth voting process in Ohio, don’t wear political attire to the polls.

Diane Medina went out to the Lorain County Board of Elections early to vote in what she said was the most important election of her lifetime.

“Definitely for the presidency; that’s the main reason why I was here early,” Medina said.

She and her husband, Jose, had no problem waiting in the sun to cast their ballots.

“Long lines, but it was very swift,” she said.

And while the process was smooth for them, their BOE has already had to pull voters out of line to enforce state guidelines — all because of their clothing.

“This isn’t a new rule,” Lorain County BOE Director Paul Adams said. “This is something that we’ve done for a number of years.”

State rules prohibit voters or poll workers from wearing anything that can be seen as supporting or opposing a candidate, party or issue.

“We do ask that you remove any campaign shirts, paraphernalia, hats — those kind of things that you have that support or oppose any candidate or issue,” he continued.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office said this includes attire or garb with slogans like “Make America Great Again” or “MAGA.”

Many boards, like Lake and Portage, have signs posted with their rules.

“Each of our polling locations will also have signs posted in case voters are curious as to why they’re being asked to remove a hat or cover up a shirt or whatever the case may be,” Portage County BOE Deputy Director Terrie Nielsen said.

Although it may be exciting to support your candidate, you don’t want to run into issues.

“Everyone has a mission,” Medina said.

So, to be on the safe side, keep the political garb on your lawn — and not at the polls.

With the 2024 general election underway, we created a guide on everything you need to know about voting on or before Nov. 5.

2024 OHIO VOTER GUIDE: Everything you need to know

2024 OHIO VOTER GUIDE: Everything you need to know

Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Maureen Howard glanced out of her window at 11 p.m. and found her son, Will, playing football by himself in the front yard.

The porch light and front floodlights were the only things giving him light, while he snapped the ball, took his drop and evaluated the field in front of him.

Once he got to the top of his drop, he lined up and did it again. And again. And again. Midnight came. And sometimes later, to the point that Maureen had to tell Howard to come inside. But it was all mental work for Howard, who was entering his sophomore year at Downingtown West High School in Pennsylvania.

He was in the middle of a year-long quarterback battle, a sophomore trying to take the starting job from a senior, but to make it fair for everybody involved the coach, Mike Milano, and his coaching staff tracked everything in practice. It meant, there was no time for mistakes if Howard wanted to start, so the extra work came at home when nobody could see him.

That’s who Howard has been his whole life. He’s still that way at Ohio State. While he might not be on the field until midnight, he’s in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center for countless hours watching film.

Wide receiver Emeka Egbuka is widely respected for his work ethic behind the scenes and is usually one of the last players out of the facility at night. This offseason, particularly in preseason camp, there was always one car there every time he left: Howard’s.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever stayed at the Woody longer than him,” Egbuka said.

Will Howard (18) grew up a Penn State fan and will face off with the Nittany Lions on Saturday as Ohio State’s starting quarterback. (Joseph Maiorana / Imagn Images)

Howard’s personality is rooted in that work ethic. He’s not flashy, and he doesn’t seek attention or affirmation from people he doesn’t know because he believes in himself. And he does not need to be in the spotlight.

It’s why his comments, after the win against Nebraska, were such a big deal. Asked how excited he was for Saturday’s top-five matchup at Penn State, he said he was “stoked.”

“I grew up a Penn State fan. I wanted to go there my whole life,” he said. “They didn’t think I was good enough. I guess we’ll see next week if I was.”

Ever since his youth football days, Howard has been proving people wrong, and Saturday’s homecoming gives him a chance to show his growth in the state where it all started. Howard was a simple kid growing up in Downingtown, Pa., about two and a half hours from Penn State.

He loved his family, sports, playing outside with his dad, Bob, and Penn State. Nearly everybody in his hometown is a Penn State fan. His father and uncle graduated from Penn State. His younger sister, Tori, is currently a senior at Penn State.

So when he announced he was going to transfer to Ohio State, it caught everybody in town off guard.

“We heard from so many friends saying, ‘You’re making this hard on us,’” Maureen said with a laugh.

But the reality was that Penn State just wasn’t the place for him. Don’t get that confused. Growing up, Howard wanted to play for the Nittany Lions.

James Franklin rode a helicopter to his games, which was such a big deal that it made the school district website at the time. But Howard always has flown under the radar, in part because of who he is and some unforeseen circumstances.

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After taking a sack during his junior year, Howard broke his throwing arm, keeping him from doing any workouts in what is a crucial time for any player’s recruitment. Once he healed, he broke his other wrist, dunking a basketball. Although that one wasn’t as bad, he still went to offseason camps in a cast.

During that time, numerous colleges dialed back their interest, including Penn State. The Nittany Lions signed three-star recruit Micah Bowens instead.

That was hard for the family to watch, at first. Howard saw other players around him and knew he was as good, or better, than people who were getting more national recognition. But much like now, Howard internalized that and turned it into motivation.

“There was some frustration, and I think that fueled Will,” Maureen said. “He’s like, ‘There’s people who say I can’t play Power 5 football. Well, watch me.’ I don’t think he’d be the player he is today without everything.”

“He loves being the underdog,” Bob said.

That mentality has fueled Howard for much of his career, but when he’s on the field, he doesn’t feel like an underdog. Howard has a confidence that rubs off on the entire Ohio State offense and program.

It was the same way in his first year as a starting quarterback in high school. After beating out a senior for the starting job, he worked to earn the respect of the rest of the upperclassmen. He didn’t do it with some grand gesture, Milano said; he did it by just being Howard.

Milano knows saying a player has “it” is a sports cliche, but that’s the best way he can describe Howard. He has “it,” but “it” shows up in different ways for players.

For some, it’s making the big play in the biggest moment, which is the case for Howard, too. His 75-yard drive to beat Nebraska on Saturday was important for Ohio State’s season aspirations, but the calm and poise he plays with during those moments stand out.

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One of Howard’s longtime friends is Penn State offensive tackle Drew Shelton. Shelton is two years younger than Howard, so when Howard was a senior, Shelton was taking his first offensive line snaps for Downingtown West.

One of his lasting memories of Howard was the way he came into the huddle against Garnet Valley, one of the perennial powers in Pennsylvania high school football, and steadied the team despite early struggles.

“Just being calm and collected and knowing that it’s going to work out, that’s the kind of leader he is,” Shelton said. “That’s the kind of guy he is.”

Those moments in high school set the tone for an adversity-filled college career right away. As a freshman, Howard got COVID-19 soon after arriving back on campus in June and then played major time when starting quarterback Skylar Thompson was injured. Howard then bounced in and out of the starting lineup but remained focused on the ultimate goal of winning and helping the Wildcats win a Big 12 title.

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He has carried that over to Ohio State where he has found ways to lead in hard times. Howard took the Oregon loss hard, knowing the clock ran out with the ball in his hands. But behind the scenes, he has been one of Ohio State’s most vocal leaders.

“It falls on the shoulders of a quarterback to rally a team,” Egbuka said. “He took it personally, but he’s been vocal about everything in practice and establishing what he wants our identity to be as a team.”

Now, he gets a chance at redemption. A top-five matchup in his home state is huge, but as Howard tells Bob often, it’s “just a 100-yard field.”

And just like old times, he’ll be dropping back, reading the defense with the floodlights on him. This time, however, there will be 100,000-plus people watching him.

(Top photo: Jason Mowry / Getty Images)

We know that the majority of Americans want to forge a better path forward.

Submitted by the Bipartisan Ohio Mayors Alliance Board of Directors: Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb (D), Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther (D), Fairfield Mayor Mitch Rhodus (R), Findlay Mayor Christina Muryn (R), Kettering Mayor Peggy Lehner (R), Parma Mayor Tim DeGeeter (D) and Youngstown Mayor Tito Brown (D).

Despite the heated rhetoric of this contentious presidential election, it’s important to remember that our common bond as Ohioans is a thousand times stronger than our political differences as Republicans and Democrats.

Representing different cities across the Buckeye State, we disagree on which cities have the best sports teams.

Cleveland and Cincinnati argue over the Guardians and the Reds. Columbus always roots for the Clippers over the Toledo Mud Hens and don’t even get us started on which of our hometowns has the best food or ice cream.

We also often disagree on policy issues. Despite these differences, we still find ways to work together as a bipartisan coalition of mayors. That is because even when we disagree on sports or politics, we stand together as proud Ohioans.

As we prepare for the upcoming election, it is important to remember that throughout our history, generations of Americans have resolved our differences at the ballot box peacefully, put our faith in the voting process and trusted the legal remedies established for resolving disputes.

In Ohio, we can have great confidence that our elections are conducted with accuracy and integrity because of the bipartisan structure of our county boards of elections, multiple levels of identity verification and the long-established process of voting anytime within the early vote window.

In this chapter of our national story, the partisan divisions in our country are taking center stage to the detriment of our common identity as Americans. We know that the majority of Americans want to forge a better path forward. We support our respective parties, but we know that the future of our communities, our state and our country is not all or nothing. We believe in a future where we all win.

We also know that this vision of our shared future does not mean ignoring the real domestic policy and national security challenges that stand before us today. While we can disagree about how to address these shared challenges, we cannot allow these issues to further divide us, to turn us against our neighbors or to justify violence.

Springfield teaches us lessons about community

As we learn the results of our national, state and local elections, we can look to community leaders in Springfield as an example for what it means to meet this moment.

Several weeks ago, the city of Springfield was thrust into the 2024 presidential election and an emotional national debate on immigration.

Starting on the internet, several false and inflammatory claims about Haitian immigrants were amplified across the country. The national uproar led to an unprecedented level of disruption, chaos and fear in Springfield.

Seizing on the national attention, a small group of attention-seeking hate groups descended on Springfield to provoke and antagonize the community, and foreign adversaries took advantage of our internal division to make false threats at Springfield’s schools, community gathering spots and neighborhoods.

No ‘roasted Fluffy.’ Haitians aren’t eating cats in Springfield. Vance is a liar.

Opinion: Springfield’s Haitian immigrant are our neighbors. Hate has deep roots.

Fortunately, Springfield community leaders from the faith community, nonprofit organizations, government and education, along with many others from across the political and ideological spectrum, mobilized to not only support their neighbors and community, but also to show the country and the world that dangerous rhetoric and violent action is not welcome in our state.

Since then, many Ohioans of good faith have come together to reject those who seek to divide us.

State leaders and mayors from opposing political parties have come together to dispute the false claims, set the record straight, and support the Springfield community in many different ways. That is what Ohioans do and why our shared values will always stand strong against division and hate.

These lessons can be instructive in the weeks ahead. For those that seek to undermine our elections, know that Ohioans will stand together to support the patriotic American tradition of free and fair elections. We are not afraid to face challenging moments, and we know that our collective strength and resilience comes from facing our challenges together.

More must be done to bridge the deep partisan divisions in our country, not just in the run-up to this election, but in the months and years ahead.

As mayors, we are committed to convening continued conversations in our communities that bring together diverse groups and individuals to hear from one another about what works for all of us.

Submitted by the Bipartisan Ohio Mayors Alliance Board of Directors: Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb (D), Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther (D), Fairfield Mayor Mitch Rhodus (R), Findlay Mayor Christina Muryn (R), Kettering Mayor Peggy Lehner (R), Parma Mayor Tim DeGeeter (D) and Youngstown Mayor Tito Brown (D).