Perhaps worried about having to stand in line for hours on Election Day, tens of thousands of Ohioans chose to vote early at their county boards of election. Many of them ended up standing in line.

In the final days before last week's election, the wait in Cuyahoga County was sometimes two hours or more. This despite the presence of dozens of well-prepared poll workers and expansive voting areas on two floors of the elections board's offices. In Franklin County, the wait to vote early reached six hours.

It's worth noting that few people seemed discouraged by the long waits and that elections officials throughout the state received strong reviews for their efforts to keep early voters informed and comfortable while in line. Their accommodations and professionalism were signs that Election Day 2008 would go well in Ohio. The waits were a simple matter of high demand concentrated at a few times -- as were the "rush-hour" lines at traditional polling places on Nov. 4. In fact, the many Ohioans who voted early or by mail helped relieve pressure on Election Day.

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, who deserves credit for generally fine execution of this year's election, has offered an idea that might lessen early-voting waits in the future: Allow counties to operate as many as four early-voting sites. Making early voting more convenient might break the logjam at a single location on weekends or election eve.

She also proposes narrowing the early-voting window, now 35 days before the election. She reasons that if people have more places to vote, they won't bottleneck at a single site and more voters could be served in less time.

A shorter window would also eliminate the controversial overlap period when a person could register to vote and fill out a ballot on the same day. We thought Republican outrage over this setup -- established by GOP legislators and first presided over by Brunner's Republican predecessor -- was overblown: In the end, relatively few Ohioans took advantage of the one-stop option. But why perpetuate a needless fight -- considering the propensity of both Republicans and Democrats in this state to do so?

Brunner is holding a forum on Dec. 2 to talk about what worked and what didn't this election season. Her ideas deserve careful consideration both there and in the incoming legislature. At the very least, let a few counties pilot multiple early-voting sites.

Making voting -- early, by absentee ballot or at the polls -- easy and secure for all Ohioans should be everyone's goal.