Fayette County voters head to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 3, with a renewal levy for the county’s ambulance service leading the local ballot and a full slate of statewide races above it. Polls across the county are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and the Fayette County Board of Elections, at 135 S. Main St. in Washington Court House, will oversee the count, according to the Ohio Secretary of State’s board of elections directory.
The local question drawing the most attention is the Fayette County Emergency Medical Service District’s proposed tax levy renewal. The renewal would not exceed 1.9 mills and would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $49 a year, according to a cost breakdown the district released in August and reporting by the Scioto Valley Guardian. The district, established in 1976 and marking its 50th anniversary this year, serves as the county’s primary ambulance provider out of Washington Court House under Director Rodney List, the Scioto Valley Guardian reported.
The levy does not appear on every ballot in the county. According to the Scioto Valley Guardian, the EMS district covers all of Fayette County’s townships and municipalities, including the village of New Holland, with the exception of Jefferson Township, the village of Jeffersonville, and the portion of Perry Township served by the Greenfield Exempted Village School District. Only residents of the participating communities will vote on the renewal.
Above the local items, Fayette County voters will decide Ohio’s statewide races, including governor, U.S. senator, attorney general, auditor, secretary of state and treasurer, along with two Ohio Supreme Court seats and State Issue 3, the proposed constitutional amendment that would write the state’s voter photo ID requirements into the Ohio Constitution, according to the county’s official sample ballot published by the Board of Elections. The sample ballot also lists a race for county auditor, a common pleas judge for the probate and juvenile division, and a judge of the 12th District Court of Appeals.
Early in-person voting in Ohio ended on Sunday, Nov. 1, so Tuesday’s trip to a voter’s assigned polling place is the remaining option for anyone who has not yet cast a ballot. Voters should bring an accepted photo ID, such as an unexpired Ohio driver’s license or state identification card, a U.S. passport, or qualifying military identification.
One deadline matters for anyone still holding a voted absentee ballot: under Senate Bill 293, signed by Gov. Mike DeWine in December 2025, absentee ballots must now be received by the close of polls on Election Day to be counted, and the four-day grace period that once applied to most mailed ballots is gone, according to the Columbus Dispatch. Secretary of State Frank LaRose advised on Oct. 27 that it might already be too late to mail a ballot and have it arrive in time, the Dispatch reported, so Fayette County voters should deliver a completed ballot in person to the Board of Elections office on South Main Street by 7:30 p.m. Tuesday rather than risk the mail.
Results will begin posting after polls close at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. For the EMS district, the outcome decides whether the ambulance service keeps the funding voters first approved years ago as it enters its second half-century of answering calls across Fayette County.
Photo: Antony-22, CC BY-SA 4.0