Ohioans who want to vote in the election this fall are running out of time to register. The voter registration deadline is Oct. 11, and Wednesday is the first day of early voting.
Jen Miller, League of Women Voters of Ohio executive director, said volunteers with her group that have been registering Ohioans to vote.
She said they found lackluster interest in voting during the primaries but said the past few months have been busier. Miller said volunteers have discovered there鈥檚 a lot of interest in the November election.
鈥淲e have voter registration volunteers across the state collecting voter registration forms and they are hearing that voters are really jazzed about practicing their right to vote," Miller said.
But there are only hours left for voters to ensure they are registered and update their registrations if needed.
Most of the registration changes can be done online. Miller said it is especially important for voters to verify their registration if they haven't voted in a while, moved, or changed their names.
Voters can go online to MyOhioVote.com to check the status of their registration and update it if necessary. Any 18-year-old or older, U.S. citizen, who has lived in Ohio for at least 30 days prior to an election, and has not been permanently barred from voting because of violation of election laws, is eligible to vote.
Most people with a former felony conviction are allowed to vote in Ohio unless their felony banned them permanently from voting.
Early voting begins Wednesday
On Wednesday, early, in-person and absentee mail-in voting will begin.
Voters can request a mail-in ballot from their county board of elections starting Wednesday. Mail-in ballots can be requested until Saturday, Nov. 5, though it is strongly encouraged that voters who want to cast ballots by mail do that as soon as possible.
Mailed absentee ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 7 and received by the voter's county board of elections by Nov. 18.
Ohioans can also vote in-person, early, at their county's early voting center. Early in-person voting ends at 2 p.m., Monday, Nov. 7. Here are the hours for early voting:
- Oct. 12-14, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
- Oct. 17-21, 8:00 a.m. - 5 p.m.
- Oct. 24-28, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
- Oct. 29, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
- Oct. 31, 8 a.m. - 7 p.m.
- Nov. 1-4, 8 a.m. - 7 p.m.
- Nov. 5, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
- Nov. 6, 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
- Nov. 7, 8 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Voters who cast ballots by mail must provide the ID number on their driver's license or state ID card, their full name, date of birth, permanent address and the last four digits of their Social Security number.
Voters who cast ballots in-person early at county board of elections or at local precincts on Election Day will be asked to verify their address with a driver's license, state ID card, military ID, original (not photocopied) utility bill showing their address, a bank statement bearing the proper address or a paycheck that shows a valid address.
A voter who lacks proper ID can cast a provisional ballot using the last four digits of their Social Security number but if they do that, they have up to seven days following the election to appear at their local board of elections and provide proof of their identity in order for their ballot to be counted.
