Ohio’s early voting period is in full swing.
Before you hop in the car or on a bus to head to your county board of elections, there are things you should know before you go charging off to do your duty as a citizen.
Things like checking to make sure your Ohio driver’s license or Ohio photo ID card hasn’t expired. Or that things like utility bills or bank statements that were acceptable forms of ID in the past no longer cut it.
But before you leave and find that you have to cast a provisional ballot, there is a group of voter rights activists in Ohio who have your back.
The Ohio Voter Rights Coalition is made up of the leading voter rights groups in the state — Common Cause Ohio, the League of Women Voters Ohio, the ACLU of Ohio and many other organizations.
They have a toll-free number people can call with questions about early in-person voting or voting by absentee ballot: 1-866-OUR-VOTE (687-8683).
Trained volunteers on the other end of the line can answer your questions or steer you in the right direction.
And, in some counties — particularly the largest ones in Ohio — there will be trained volunteers set up outside the early voting centers, and in selected precincts on Nov. 5, to help you.
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You’ll find them outside the American flags that mark the 100-foot mark away from a polling place.
“We’re here to help clear any roadblocks to voting,’’ said Kelly Dufour, the voting and elections manager of Common Cause Ohio.
Dufour said the coalition will also have a “peacekeeper program” — volunteer members of the clergy, social workers and those trained in crisis management to help de-escalate any confrontations that might take place outside polling places.
“These folks will try to defuse tense situations if they arise,’’ Dufour said.
And, Dufour said, they are looking for more volunteers to be trained and placed at polling places, both during the early voting period and on Election Day.
Dufour said none of the volunteers will enter polling places.
“The last thing we want to do is interfere with any board of elections function,’’ Dufour said.
But the volunteers outside the polling places will be on the lookout for people harassing or approaching those standing in line outside to vote.
“If people are being harassed while waiting to vote, that will be flagged,’’ Dufour said. “Our volunteers will be our eyes and ears on the ground.”
One of the most frequent sources of confusion is about voter ID — what is and is not an acceptable form of ID under current Ohio law.
Acceptable forms are:
- a valid Ohio driver’s license
- a U.S. passport or military ID
- a state of Ohio ID card
- an interim ID form issued by the Ohio BMV
- a U.S. passport card
- an Ohio National Guard ID card
- a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ID card
You may no longer use bank statements or utility bills.
Also no good at a polling place:
- a driver’s license or photo identification card issued by a state other than Ohio
- a Social Security card, birth certificate, insurance card, government check, paycheck or other government document
- any registration acknowledgment notice from the county board of elections
If you don’t have an acceptable form of ID, you can go to your polling place and cast a provisional ballot.
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The problem with that is a provisional voter used to have 10 days to produce a valid ID. That has been cut to four days from the date of the election.
“Voters need to understand the system to exercise their vote,’’ Dufour said. “That’s where 1-866-OUR-VOTE can help.”
