Lawrence County voters are in the final days of early voting for the Nov. 3 general election, with in-person early voting continuing at the Lawrence County Board of Elections, 1305 S. Third Street in Ironton, according to the board’s official election information posted through the Ohio Secretary of State’s board-of-elections directory.
Under the statewide early-voting schedule published by the board, Lawrence County voters can cast an early in-person ballot from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 30, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31, and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 1. Early voting ends Sunday; there is no early in-person voting on Monday, Nov. 2.
The board’s office hours outside early voting are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the board can be reached at 740-532-0444 or [email protected], according to its official listing. Absentee ballot applications can also be requested by email and returned to the board’s South Third Street office.
Lawrence County’s official sample ballot for the Nov. 3 election, produced by the county board of elections, shows the statewide races every Ohio voter will decide — including Governor and Lieutenant Governor, Treasurer of State and Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court — alongside the state legislative races for the county’s district and the local questions on each precinct’s ballot.
Among the local issues on the sample ballot are a renewal of the Fayette Township fire tax levy and a renewal tax levy for the Lawrence County Joint Vocational School District, which the county auditor estimates will collect $744,260 annually at a rate not exceeding 0.5 mill for each $1 of taxable value, for permanent improvements, according to the ballot language on the board’s sample ballot.
One deadline now matters more than any other for voters who still hold a mail ballot: under Ohio law, absentee ballots must be received by the board of elections by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3, to be counted — there is no longer a post-Election Day grace period for mailed ballots. Returning a completed ballot in person to the Ironton board office, rather than mailing it this late, is the surest way to meet that deadline.
On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, polls are open across Lawrence County from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at voters’ assigned precinct polling places, and anyone in line by 7:30 p.m. can vote. What happens next: early voting wraps up Sunday afternoon in Ironton, and the county’s results will be reported after polls close Tuesday night.
Photo: Doug Kerr, CC BY-SA 2.0