The right to vote for many Americans has been a long hard fight. In the beginning, only property-owning white men were allowed to vote. Everyone else had to wait for another few centuries and some are still waiting.

In the year 2020, the right to vote has come square up against a determined effort by the Trump-led Republican Party to suppress or block the right of certain ethnic groups and women, specifically those who may disagree with their purposes and vote for their opponents. The major effort at present is weakening the United States Postal Service’s ability to get mail-in ballots to the election boards in time to be counted. Trump has openly stated that he is holding back monies and removing mail sorting machinery to weaken the mail-in voting procedure.

The purpose of this article is to educate Ohio voters, especially those in Highland County,  in what it may require to ensure your vote gets counted.  First of all, you need to vote and that means you have to be registered to vote. The following link will take you to Highland County’s Board of Election’s website where registering is discussed, in detail. If you’ve been registered and want to confirm that you’re still properly registered, call the election board (Highland County is (937) 393-9961) in the county you reside. They can look you up and tell you over the phone what your current status is. Here’s the link:

https://www.boe.ohio.gov/highland/voter-registration-information/how-to-register/

The next question is, where do you vote? Here’s a link where you simply type your street number and street name. Again, this is for Highland County but you should find the same for your county.

https://lookup.boe.ohio.gov/vtrapp/highland/pollfinder.aspx

Absentee and/or mail-in voting (they are the same thing). Ohio is permitting mail-in voting and supposedly is sending every registered voter a mail-in ballot request form sometime after Labor Day. If this is how you want to vote you fill out the ballot and either place it in the mail or deliver it directly to the drop off box in front of the DMV offices in Hillsboro. For security, the box will be under 24-hour video surveillance. If others in your family or your friends ask you to drop-off their ballot that is permissible.

Another voting option is early voting. To use this option you need to go to the Board of Election offices and vote in person. Early voting begins on October 6th and ends on November 2nd.

Finally, there is the usual option of voting face to face at your polling location. That takes place on November 3rd this year and the Board of Elections is taking all possible steps to ensure a COVID safe environment in which to vote.

Highland County Board of Elections
1575 North High Street
Suite 200
Hillsboro, Ohio 45133
(937) 393-9961 Phone