Clermont County voters in Batavia are in the final days of early in-person voting for the Nov. 3 general election, with the county Board of Elections open for extended hours through the weekend before polls open across the county on Election Day.
Early voting takes place at the Clermont County Board of Elections, 76 S. Riverside Dr. in Batavia, according to the Ohio Secretary of State’s early-voting directory. Under the Secretary of State’s statewide voting schedule, early in-person voting runs from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 28, 29 and 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. There is no early voting on Monday, Nov. 2.
On the countywide ballot, Clermont County voters will decide a renewal tax levy of 0.8 mills for five years for the support of children services and the care and placement of children, according to the ballot issues certified to the Nov. 3 election and listed by The Clermont Sun. Because it is a renewal, the measure continues an existing tax rather than adding a new one.
School and township questions also vary by address. The Clermont Sun’s ballot list includes a Bethel-Tate Local School District renewal of 5.48 mills for five years for current operating expenses, a U.S. Grant Joint Vocational School District bond issue of 1.15 mills for 37 years together with an additional 0.84-mill continuing levy, a Batavia Township additional levy of 8.4 mills for fire and EMS, a Union Township additional levy of 1.99 mills for police, fire and EMS, and a Washington Township additional levy of 5.5 mills for police, fire and ambulance services. Statewide Issue 3, the proposed constitutional amendment requiring photo identification to vote, appears on every Clermont County ballot.
Voters will also choose a county commissioner, with Democrat Joe Wessels facing Republican Claire B. Corcoran, according to The Clermont Sun’s candidate list, along with races for Congress, state representative, county auditor and the county probate and juvenile court.
Voters who still hold an absentee ballot should not rely on the mail at this point. The Columbus Dispatch reported that Secretary of State Frank LaRose said on Oct. 27 that it might already be too late to drop ballots in the mail and have them arrive by the Election Day deadline, in reporting attributed by the Dispatch to Cleveland.com. Completed absentee ballots can instead be delivered in person to the Board of Elections in Batavia by 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 3, the deadline by which non-military absentee ballots must be received to be counted, according to the Secretary of State’s schedule.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, when polls in Clermont County and across Ohio are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., according to the Secretary of State. Voters who wait until Election Day cast their ballots at their assigned polling place, and a photo ID is required to vote in person.
Photo: Aesopposea, CC BY-SA