Many Johnson County residents decided to get ahead of election night by voting early at the satellite early voting location in the Iowa Memorial Union. Early voting is available at the IMU until Friday, and voting is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Early voting began on Wednesday and will go through Nov. 7, the day before election day, Nov. 8. Johnson County is hosting a series of satellite early locations around the Iowa City metro area until Election Day. Early voting is also available at the Johnson County Auditor’s office from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.

Many voters take advantage of early voting for its convenience, including Johnson County resident Anthony Smothers, an independent who voted at the IMU on Thursday afternoon.

“I think part of it is I’m kind of tired of all the commercials and all the rhetoric and I know who I stand for,” Smother said. “It’s very convenient.”

Hannah Hentzel, a Democrat and University of Iowa student, marched to the polls to cast her first vote ever on Thursday.

“I think it’s still important to vote in the midterms because like the governor is up for reelection, and there’s still people in the Senate and the House being voted in, and that all has a part in the entire government,” Hentzel said. “So you need to vote for everyone, not just the president.”