BUCYRUS—As in previous years, local residents will have three options to vote in this year’s Presidential General Election.

According to Ruth Leuthold, director of the Crawford County Board of Elections, voters can cast their ballot by mail, in-person on Election Day on Nov. 3 or vote early in-person beginning on Oct. 6 at the office of the Board of Elections, located in the lower level of the Crawford County Courthouse.

“Polls will open on Nov. 3 at 6:30 a.m. and will be open until 7:30 p.m. Masks will be required to vote in person and for people who cannot wear one, they can vote curbside,” Leuthold said.

She said curbside voting is not a new concept.

“We have always offered it for people who are unable to come inside. We send two poll workers, one from the Republican party and one from the Democratic Party, out to take the ballot to the person. It is placed in a sealed envelope and both workers bring it into the precinct to be placed in a ballot box to be counted on Election Night,” said Leuthold.

She said it is also not a new concept for the Ohio Secretary of State to mail out applications for a ballot in September.

“It has bee done in previous years, including for the 2018 election,” Leuthold said.

She said it is only the application to request a ballot by mail that is sent out to all registered voters and that the Secretary of State’s office will mail those out in September. Some voters have already received one from special interest groups and can return those.

“Ballots are not automatically mailed by the Secretary of State which is the reason people need to complete the applications to request that a ballot be mailed to them. Some of the ones mailed out by special interest groups do not ask for the last four digits of the person’s social security number and we must have that so people should be sure to include that, along with their driver’s license number, name and address,” said Leuthold.

She said that beginning Sept. 1, the ballot box, which has been moved closer to the curb for ADA accessibility, will be unlocked. There is a ballot box located at each Board of Election’s offices in the state of Ohio for people to drop off their ballot instead of mailing it.

“Our box is out by the curb in front of the main entrance to the Crawford County Courthouse. It will be unlocked on Sept. 1 for people to drop off their application for a ballot and their ballots,” said Leuthold.

She said applications to request a ballot are available on the Secretary of State’s website or people can come into the Crawford County Board of Elections to pick up an application for a ballot or call the office to have one mailed to them.

“They can request the application now, but we cannot mail out ballots until Oct. 6,” said Leuthold.

She said “mail-in ballots” and “absentee ballots” are the same thing in Ohio.

“It is different in some states which is what I think is confusing people,” said Leuthold.

She said when applications and ballots are received by each Board of Elections, the information and signature are checked to ensure validity before the ballot is counted in the election.

Leuthold said people can check to ensure they are registered to vote on the Ohio Secretary of State website or by calling the Board of Elections office. The deadline to register for the election on Nov. 3 is Oct. 5.

Dates to remember:

  • Election day is Tuesday, November 3, 2020.
  • The deadline to register online to vote is Monday, October 5, 2020.
  • The deadline for registering by mail to vote is (postmarked by) Monday, October 5, 2020.
  • The deadline to register in-person to vote is Monday, October 5, 2020.
  • The deadline to request a ballot by mail is (received by) Saturday, October 31, 2020.
  • The early voting period runs from Tuesday, October 6, 2020, to Monday, November 2, 2020, but dates and hours may vary based on where you live.

Leuthold said anyone wishing to become a poll worker for the election can do so by applying online at the Ohio Secretary of State’s website or call the local office at 419-562-8721.