Yesterday, March 25th, the Ohio Legislature convened in order to set out the procedure for concluding the March 17th Primary Election, among other pandemic-specific measures. Both houses of the legislature passed HB197, which will be signed by Governor DeWine later today. This bill sets the conclusion of this primary election as April 28th, as opposed to the June 2nd date that Secretary of State LaRose had proposed. This election will be conducted by mail, with no in-person voting occurring. This new date means that all absentee applications must be received by noon on April 25th in order for a ballot to be mailed. All absentee ballots must be deposited in our drop box by 7:30pm on April 28th or postmarked by April 27th and received by mail by May 8th.
In order to send a ballot by mail, our office must receive an application in writing. Each voter must either submit the application linked to this notice or write all of the information requested on this application on another sheet of paper and mail it to our office or leave it in the drop box beside our front door. The office is not currently open to the public, but we will receive phone calls and emails during normal business hours (9-4 M-F) and check the drop box multiple times daily. We can not accept absentee applications via phone, email, or fax.
If you have already voted by mail or during our in-person voting hours, your original vote will be counted. You are not eligible to receive an additional ballot for this election.
In order to facilitate ballot requests while our office is not open to the public, we have provided a box outside of our office where voters can pick up a request form rather than printing one or having it mailed to them. The picture attached to this notice shows the box outside of our door and also indicates where the drop box is where applications, voted ballots, and other documents can be deposited.
On ballot applications, you may mark March 17th as the election date. Requests will also be accepted if they show another date (such as April 28 or June 2), as long as it is clear that the request is for the 2020 primary, but the official election date is still March 17th.
Please contact our office if you have any questions.
Vote by Mail Deadlines:
April 25 - all absentee applications must be received by noon
April 27 - ballots returned by mail must be postmarked
April 28 - ballots returned in person must be in the drop box by 7:30pm
May 8 - ballots returned by mail must be received