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ST. CLAIRSVILLE - Ohio voter registration is open now through Oct. 5.
The Belmont County Board of Elections has announced that the last day to submit an application to vote by mail is Oct. 27. Early in-person voting begins Oct. 6 and continues through Nov. 1. Election Day is Nov. 3.
Board Deputy Director Kamron Chervenak said residents can register at the board’s office, located at 52180 National Road E., St. Clairsville.
“Oct. 6th is when early voting begins here in our office, and is also when we can begin to mail the absentee voters ballots out,” Chervenak said. “Thus far, we’ve received a little over 3,000 applications that will be mailed out on Oct. 6.”
“Early voting in our office is done very similar to the way it would be done on Election Day. Whenever you come in, you come up to the window, state your name and address and present valid photo identification,” Chervenak said. “From there our staff verifies all of your information, verifies that is in fact you in the photo and get your ballot. They give you your ballot, you cast your vote, and then you scan it through the machine, just as you would on Election Day. You even receive a sticker voting in our office.”
She added that to vote by mail, voters have to submit an application before the board can process their request.
After receiving the absentee ballot, the board then verifies the signature to ensure it is from the person to whom it was sent.
“We verify that all of your information is matching what we have on file and we do that in a bipartisan manner. Everything here is done bipartisan. The board itself is half one party and half the other party. The director and deputy director are different parties and even our staff. The clerks here are balanced with each party. Any staff that we hire seasonally are also balanced with the two parties. So there’s ultimately a lot of checks and balances done by each political party here for anything,” Chervenak said.
She added that the upcoming November election is expected to have high voter turnout, which means the county is looking for more poll workers.
“With the anticipated high voter turnout of the state requires us to recruit 30% of poll workers. With that being said, we definitely need poll workers here. If you’re interested in being trained and working on Election Day, give us a call at (740) 526-0188. We’ll get you scheduled in the class and then go from there,” Chervenak said.
Ohio requires county boards of elections to recruit and train at least 15% more precinct election officials than the statutory minimum. The state strongly encourages boards to recruit 30% more to provide a reserve pool of trained workers.
People interested in serving as poll workers can contact the Belmont County Board of Elections at (740) 526-0188.