More than 41,000 people have voted at Veterans Memorial in the past month, and yesterday's lines snaked the length of the building and spilled onto the sidewalk. Wait times stretched 2 1/2 hours.

William A. Anthony Jr. and Kimberly E. Marinello, the board's Democratic members, called a meeting last night to extend the center's hours past 5 p.m. on this last Sunday before the election. Anthony did not propose specifically how long the center should stay open that day.

The Republican half of the board, Michael E. Colley and Douglas J. Preisse, said they couldn't make last night's meeting. Their presidential nominee, John McCain, was in Columbus.

The vote died for lack of a quorum. Anthony set another meeting for 5 p.m. today at the elections board, 280 E. Broad St.

Anthony said his idea to extend early-voting hours was prompted by the astounding turnout -- and not because Democratic nominee Barack Obama is to speak at the Statehouse on Sunday.

"When the (daily) numbers started coming in over 3,000, I said, 'Boy, this is going to be busy,'  " he said.

Preisse, chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party, said it's a bad idea to change voting hours so late in the game, and he worries about exhausting already overworked employees.

The board split over weekend voting in August.

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner cast a tie-breaking vote then in favor of her fellow Democrats to offer voting every weekend, including Sundays, at Vets. The Republicans favored weekend voting only on the final two Saturdays.

Preisse said a vote to extend hours is unnecessary: "The door doesn't get slammed shut" at 5. Workers will stay hours to let the voters in line at that point cast ballots.

Democrats are pushing early voting as a matter of campaign strategy to lock in votes. They have outnumbered Republicans voting at Vets by a ratio of 12-to-1. Early projections were that as many as 15,000 voters could use the new early-voting center. As of yesterday morning, when 350 people greeted arriving poll workers, 41,624 people had cast a ballot there.

The early-voting center at Vets, 300 W. Broad St., is scheduled to be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday and from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday. It is closed Election Day.

Many voters yesterday hadn't expected a wait of more than two hours.

P.J. Connor, 65, a real-estate agent from Gahanna, was undaunted by the line. "I'm going to stay. I'm part of a historic event."

Besides, he heard that Tuesday will be 70 degrees. Perfect for golf.

Anetrice Saunders, 31, a social worker who recently moved from Dayton, also planned to stick it out. She wants to be certain her new registration has no glitches.

Devon Garrett, 21, an Ohio State University senior majoring in computer science and engineering, said he'll be busy with classes and a job on Tuesday.

He said his wait wasn't bad.

"I talked to a girl in line," Garrett said. "I played some games on my cell phone, I listened to music and I studied for my midterm."

bcarmen@dispatch.com