Here’s How You Can Vote in Ohio’s ‘New’ Primary Election

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03/26/2020

Here’s How You Can Vote in Ohio’s ‘New’ Primary Election

Voters finally have some clarity about how to cast their primary ballots

Ohio’s official primary Election Day has passed, but voters who didn’t get a chance to go to the polls March 17 because of the COVID-19 outbreak still can cast a ballot.

The Ohio General Assembly approved a plan on Wednesday to eliminate most in-person voting for the primary and to extend absentee voting until April 28 after Governor Mike DeWine’s administration closed the polls hours before they were set to open. The late-night decision prompted a directive from Secretary of State Frank LaRose to boards of elections telling them to extend absentee balloting and prepare for in-person voting on June 2. But lawmakers overruled that directive.

Now, after a week of lawsuits, debate about in-person voting during a global pandemic and questions about how quickly a vote-by-mail system could be pulled off, voters have some clarity about how to cast their primary ballots.