As the 2017 campaign season heads into the final weekend local boards of elections across the state will be opening their doors for in-person early voting this weekend.
At the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in Cleveland they're preparing for around 400 voters on Saturday as they open their doors from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Sunday they're expecting around 300 more when they're open between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.
All counties offer the same hours with early voting ending Monday at 2 p.m
Election officials aren't expecting anywhere near the volume they saw for the presidential election but they'll be ready.
"Municipal years don't quite garner the same attention as the presidential years but these are very important elections that affect our local municipalities and we certainly encourage everybody to come out and participate in the process," said the Board of Elections Henry Curtis.
In Cuyahoga County, the Cleveland mayor's race is the big battle along with several council races and Issue 2. Both Mayor Frank Jackson and challenger Zack Reed are planning a weekend full of events to drive out their vote.
News 5 Political Analyst Dr. Tom Sutton of Baldwin-Wallace University said that's very important for Reed.
"Turnout is going to be very important particularly for the challenger Zack Reed really needs to get high turnout for people that support him," Sutton said. "Frank Jackson probably doesn't need it quite as much and frankly it's always to the incumbents advantage when turnout is lower."
That being said, Sutton said this election is tough to gauge.
"There's no overarching issue that says Jackson's got a problem we're going to vote against him nor is there any overwhelming charisma or promise that Reed is making that says we want him instead," said Sutton.
