Tuscarawas County voters have entered the final week of early voting for the Nov. 3 general election, with in-person early voting running at the Tuscarawas County Board of Elections, 933 E. High Ave. in New Philadelphia, through Sunday, Nov. 1. The board’s published early voting schedule lists hours of 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, Oct. 28-30, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, the last day of early in-person voting in Ohio.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, when polls across Tuscarawas County will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., according to the board of elections. Voters who requested an absentee ballot by mail can return it to the board office, and the board lists its general information line as 330-343-8819 for voters with questions about their polling place or ballot.
On the ballot countywide, Tuscarawas County voters are deciding contested courthouse and district races and a long list of local levies. The Times-Reporter reported that 23 levies could shape parks, police, roads and schools across Tuscarawas County, including fire district renewals for the Arrowhead Joint Fire District and the Goshen Township Fire District, along with local Sunday sales options in Uhrichsville, Bolivar and Dennison. Voters should consult their sample ballot through the board of elections or the Ohio Secretary of State before heading to vote.
Statewide, Tuscarawas County voters will also decide Ohio’s eight statewide races, including governor, attorney general, auditor, secretary of state and treasurer, two Ohio Supreme Court seats and a U.S. Senate seat, as well as statewide Issue 3, the proposed photo ID constitutional amendment. Those statewide contests appear on every Ohio ballot alongside the county’s local races and issues.
The final week structure is set by the Ohio Secretary of State’s statewide early voting schedule, which extends hours in the last week before Election Day in every county. Monday, Oct. 26 ran 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Tuesday, Oct. 27 ran 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., the longest single day of the early voting period, before the schedule settled into the 7:30-to-7:30 pattern for the rest of the week.
Voters who have not yet cast a ballot have three paths left: vote early in person in New Philadelphia through Sunday afternoon, return a requested absentee ballot to the board by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day, or vote at their assigned polling place on Tuesday. Anyone in line when early voting closes, or when polls close on Election Day, is entitled to vote.
After polls close at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 3, the Tuscarawas County Board of Elections will report unofficial results through the evening, with certification to follow later in November. This is the county’s second-pass election coverage in NewsForce247’s county-by-county rotation; its first-pass ballot preview was published Oct. 18.
Photo: Tim Kiser (Malepheasant), CC BY-SA