Voters this election season will weigh in on city races, school board seats, property tax levies and more.
Voting options
Early, in-person voting: County election boards are open to voters from Tuesday through the Sunday before Election Day.
Here is Ohio’s schedule for early, in-person voting:
Oct. 7-10: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Oct. 14-17: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Oct. 20-24: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Oct. 27: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 28: 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Oct. 29-31: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 1: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Nov. 2: 1-5 p.m.
Nov.3: No voting
Absentee voting: Voters who wish to mail in their ballots should fill out an absentee ballot application. That application can be dropped off or mailed to a local county board of elections office. This form must be received by the seventh day before Election Day; during this election, that would be October 28. Election boards and the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office will be open until 8:30 p.m. that day.
Election board workers will then send an absentee ballot to the applicant’s address. Voters can return their completed absentee ballots by mail, but they must be postmarked no later than the day before Election Day (Nov. 3) and received by the election office no later than four days after the election (Nov. 8).
Voters can also return their absentee ballots to their election board in person or drop it off in their county’s designated ballot drop box. The board of elections must receive the ballot no later than 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.
Election Day: Voters can confirm their polling locations at VoterLookup.OhioSoS.gov or through their election board’s website. Polling locations will open across the state at 6:30 a.m. on Election Day and stay open until 7:30 p.m.
What you need to vote
Voters wanting to cast a ballot in person should make sure they bring an unexpired photo ID to the polls to comply with Ohio’s voter ID law.
Valid forms of identification include an Ohio driver’s license, a U.S. passport or passport card, a state of Ohio ID card, an interim ID form issued by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, a U.S. military ID card, an Ohio National Guard ID card, or a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ID card.
All ID cards must be unexpired, have a photograph of the voter and include the voter’s name as it appears on the poll list.
People who show up to vote in-person who lack the proper ID are asked to vote provisionally. They must return to their election board office with a valid photo ID by Nov. 8 to have their vote counted. Ohio state ID cards are free to people 17 and older. In order to obtain a state ID card, applicants must provide proof of their full legal name, date of birth, Social Security number, citizenship and Ohio street address.
Countywide issues
Candidates and issues on the ballot will vary depending on where a voter lives, but most local voters will have countywide issues on their ballots.
Voters in November will be asked to renew Montgomery County’s 8-year, 6.03-mill Human Services Levy, which funds $58 million in social services. This renewal comes with no increases to taxes that homeowners are already paying.
Similarly, in Greene County, a 5-year, 0.8-mill public health levy renewal will also be on the ballot.
And the Greene County Public Library system is asking voters to consider passing a new 1-mill, 10-year property tax levy to fund library materials, operations, programs and services. The library last passed an operating levy in 2014.
In Miami County, voters have been asked since the 1950s to approve a bridge levy every five years. This fall, they’ll be asked to approve that levy becoming permanent.
Butler County voters will decide on a 5-year, 2-mill levy that would renew and increase the county elderly services levy. This is estimated to generate more than $20.2 million annually.
Clark County voters will decide on a 10-year, 0.6-mill replacement levy for parks and recreation, as well as a 20-year, 0.5% sales and use tax to build a new county jail and public safety building.
Contacting boards of election
Butler County
1802 Princeton Road, Suite 600, Hamilton, OH 45011. Office Hours: 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. Telephone: (513) 887-3700 Fax: (513) 887-5535. E-mail: butler@OhioSoS.gov. Website: elections.bcohio.gov
Champaign County
1512 S. U.S. 68, Suite L100, Urbana, OH 43078. Office Hours: 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday. Telephone: (937) 484-1575 Fax: (937) 484-1578. E-mail: champaig@OhioSoS.gov. Website: www.boe.ohio.gov/champaign/
Clark County
3130 E. Main St., Springfield, OH 45505. Mailing Address: PO Box 1766 Springfield, OH 45501-1766. Office Hours: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. Telephone: (937) 521-2120 Fax: (937) 328-2603. E-mail: elections@clark.boe.ohio.gov. Website: www.boe.ohio.gov/clark/
Greene County
551 Ledbetter Road, Xenia, OH 45385. Office Hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. Telephone: (937) 562-6170 Fax: (937) 562-6171. E-mail: greene@OhioSoS.gov. Website: www.greene.boe.ohio.gov
Miami County
215 W. Main St., Troy, OH 45373. Office Hours: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday. Telephone: (937) 440-3900 Fax: (937) 440-3901. E-mail: miami@OhioSoS.gov. Website: www.boe.ohio.gov/miami/
Montgomery County
451 W. Third St. Dayton, OH 45422. Office Hours: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday. Telephone: (937) 225-5656 Fax: (937) 496-7798. E-mail: web@montgomery.boe.ohio.gov. Website: www.montgomery.boe.ohio.gov
Warren County
520 Justice Dr., Lebanon, OH 45036. Office Hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. Telephone: (513) 695-1358 Fax: (513) 695-2953. E-mail: wcboe@warrencountyohio.gov. Website: vote.warrencountyohio.gov
Important dates
Sept. 19: Military and overseas voting began
Oct. 6: Voter registration deadline
Oct. 7: Early voting begins
Oct. 28: Absentee ballot applications must be received by the election board
Nov. 2: Last day of early-in-person voting
Nov. 3: Mail-in ballot postmark deadline
Nov. 4: Election Day
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