Made a error on your ballot? Voting mistakes happen every election cycle, and Ohio election guidance outlines what voters should do if they mark a ballot incorrectly and what actually happens when election workers handle or mark ballots.
More than 800,000 early-voting ballots have been issued in Ohio, with nearly 310,000 returned. Early in-person voting continues until Nov. 1. Here's what to do if you make a mistake while voting.
What happens if I make a mistake on my ballot? How to request a new ballot, make changes
If you make a mistake on your ballot, there's guidance on how to request a new ballot from the Ohio Secretary of State.
For paper ballots, voters who make a mistake or want to change a vote can return the ballot to an election official and receive a new one. You may ask for a new ballot up to two times.
On a direct-recording
electronic, or DRE, voting machine, voters can change a selection by touching the choice they no longer want and then selecting their preferred choice.
Will my Ohio ballot be disqualified if a poll worker writes on it?
A recirculating rumor claims that a ballot will automatically be disqualified if a poll worker writes on it, whether that's a checkmark, star, letter, number or partisan notation such as "R" or "D." Election officials say that's false.
The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections recently debunked this claim, saying a ballot is not automatically rejected because it contains a mark. Election officials told WKYC that a ballot is not automatically rejected because it has a mark. But if a mark interferes with a scanner's ability to read the ballot, the voter can receive a replacement ballot.
The claim is not new and has circulated for years. Fact-checking website Snopes addressed similar versions of the rumor ahead of both the 2020 and 2024 elections.
Ohio early voting hours before Election Day
Early in-person voting includes the two Saturdays and the Sunday before Election Day. Here are the hours:
- October 12–16: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- October 19–23: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- October 24: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- October 26: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
- October 27: 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
- October 28–30: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
- October 31: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- November 1: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Make a mistake on your Ohio ballot? 2 ways to fix it
