The deadline to register to vote – or update your existing voter registration – for the May 5 primary election is coming up soon.
Any eligible Ohioan (a U.S. citizen who will be at least 18 years old by Nov. 3) must be registered to vote, with current information on file at their county elections board, if they want to participate.
Voters have until Monday, April 6 to register. Ohioans will choose Republican, Democratic and, in some instances, Libertarian nominees for a variety of races, including:
- Governor and other statewide executive offices
- U.S. Senate and U.S. House
- Ohio Supreme Court
- The state House and Senate
- Plus, local candidates and issues
Here’s a quick guide to voter registration, as well as some basic information about the election itself.
Note: many of the links in this article can be found by navigating around VoteOhio.gov, a website run by the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office.
When does early voting begin?
Absentee voting has already begun for military members and other overseas Ohioans.
But for everyone else, it starts on Tuesday, April 7 – the day after voter registration closes.
How do I register to vote?
You have two options. First, you can register to vote online.
The state website requires you to provide your:
- Name
- Date of Birth
- Address
- Driver’s license number / state ID number OR the last four digits of your Social Security number
If you lack that information, the state has a paper form that you can fill out and send to the board of elections in the county where you live. You can also simply visit your local board of elections and ask for help.
How do I check my registration?
Click here and type in the required information. You may have registered to vote before, but especially if you haven’t voted or updated your registration since 2020, be sure to check your status. Ohioans can be removed from the rolls for inactivity after six years.
If the information looks out of date, in most cases you must update it before you can vote.
Live in Cuyahoga County? Signal Cleveland has local details on how to register, what’s on the ballot and important dates for early voting.
How do I update my registration?
Click here and fill out the online form, or choose the paper form.
What if I’ve changed my legal name?
You have to fill out this paper form and get it to the board of elections in the county where you live.
How many registered voters are there in Ohio?
There are nearly 7.9 million registered voters, out of the estimated 8.96 million Ohioans who are eligible to vote, according to the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office. About 86,000 new people have registered to vote so far this year.
Are there any new voting rules this year?
There’s one big one, although it doesn’t affect voter registration.
Previously, Ohio would count mail ballots that arrive after Election Day, as long as they were:
- Postmarked by the Monday before the Election
- Arrived within four days after Election Day
But Gov. Mike DeWine signed a law in December that eliminated that four-day grace period.
So now, mail ballots must arrive by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day or they won’t count.
