By 7:45 a.m. a small line had formed at the Coal Grove precinct C table at Coal Grove Village Hall as voters waited for their turn to cast a ballot.

On election day 2003, civic duty came before work and leisure pursuits.

"I'm going to take my boys deer hunting as soon as I leave here," Jim Osborne said. "I never miss it (voting)."

Jerry Walker was voting before he went to work, and so was Tammy Nutter.

"I'm here to do my civic duty," Nutter said. "I always vote."

Presiding elections judge Jane Murphy said turnout this morning was a little better than she expected.

Outside the village hall, several candidates for offices stood waving to voters as they went inside.

"If you don't do this, people think you don't care," village clerk candidate Debbie Fields said. "I work with a fellow from Columbus and when I told him what I was going to do he said 'you do what down here?' He couldn't believe it. They don't do this in Columbus. But if you only reach four or five people, still, they see your face and know who you are."

The pace was slower at three Ironton precincts at the Open Door School on Lorain Street.

"So far we've had 16 voters," said Juanita Dalton, presiding elections judge for Ironton precinct 4H. "But its five minutes after eight, so that's not too bad. It's about average."

Dalton and other elections officials said they expected the heaviest turnout between 4 and 6 p.m., when people get off work and stop by to vote on their way home.

The polls opened at 6:30 a.m. and will close at 7:30 p.m.