Monday marks deadline for voter registration as early voting starts Tuesday

OHIO, USA —

Ohio voters have until Monday night to register to vote before early voting starts on Tuesday.

Board of Elections offices are open until 9 p.m. on Monday for people to register in person, or people can register online.

People who are already registered to vote can check that everything is up-to-date online as well. 

Board of election officials said non-presidential elections don’t see the same percentage of voter turnout as other elections, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t as important.

“I certainly encourage people because these are the elections that really matter to them,” Wood County Board of Elections deputy director Terry Burton said. “These are the people that are making decisions about roads, about their local issues.”

There are no statewide issues on November’s ballot, but a few different races in each county. In Lucas County, all voters will see a Lucas County Children Services levy. Different municipalities, like the village of Whitehouse and Jerusalem Township, have levies and charter amendments for voters. There are city council and mayoral races throughout the county, including Toledo City Council at-large and mayor, Maumee City Council and Oregon mayor.

There are no county-wide issues in Wood County, but Burton said he is expecting some issues to bring voters out.

“I think that, yes, we will see higher turnout in the Perrysburg school district area,” he said. “We also are going to have a couple of local municipalities that have some races, and so we expect some very localized turnout to be higher.”

Burton said it’s important for people to have a voting plan, whether that means voting early, by mail or on election day. 

“Some people just want to get it done,” Burton said. “You have other people that want to do it at their kitchen table and think about the issues, and then you have other folks who just want the community involvement of election day.”

Burton said people need to request a mail-in ballot no later than the Tuesday the week before election day. Early voting starts on Tuesday, Oct. 7, and goes until the Sunday before Nov. 4.