PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — Scioto County voters have entered the final week of early in-person voting for the Nov. 3 general election, with ballots being cast at the Scioto County Board of Elections, 602 Seventh St., Room 105, in Portsmouth, according to the board’s official listing with the Ohio Secretary of State.
Early voting runs on extended hours this week: Wednesday, Oct. 28, through Friday, Oct. 30, from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., then Saturday, Oct. 31, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 1, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., under the statewide voting schedule published by the Ohio Secretary of State. There is no early voting on Monday, Nov. 2.
The board’s Portsmouth office is the county’s only early-voting location. Its regular office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and the board can be reached at 740-353-4178, according to the Secretary of State’s board directory. Director Julia Gearheart and Deputy Director Teresa Knittel lead the board office, per that directory.
On the Nov. 3 ballot, Scioto County voters decide two commissioner races and a Portsmouth street levy, along with the statewide races and issues on every Ohio ballot. Polls on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at assigned precinct polling places, under the Secretary of State’s schedule.
Time has run out to request a mail ballot: absentee ballot applications had to be received by the board by 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27, under the Secretary of State’s voting calendar. Voters who already hold a mail ballot must return it so the board receives it by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day — a postmark alone is not enough — or deliver it in person to the board office or its secure drop box by that deadline.
For Portsmouth and Scioto County residents who have not yet voted, the extended evening hours Wednesday through Friday are the most flexible window left before the weekend sessions. Voting early in person avoids Election Day lines and leaves Nov. 3 itself for voters who can only cast a ballot at their precinct.
What happens next is the close of early voting on Sunday afternoon, followed by Election Day on Nov. 3, when Scioto County’s precinct polls handle the remaining voters and the board begins reporting unofficial results after polls close at 7:30 p.m.
Photo: Vasiliymeshko, CC BY