Are you ready to vote?

It is less than a month until General Election Day, Nov. 3, and there are a number of steps voters need to take right away to be ready to cast their ballots.  

Step 1: Make sure you are a registered voter. Oct. 5 was the last day to register, to change your registration to your new address, or to change your name in the voter rolls. The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections makes it easy for you to check your voting status online.  Go to boe.cuyahogacounty.us and click on "Am I Registered?". While it's too late to register for the General Election, you may want to take this opportunity to register or update your registration information before the Primary Election on March 15, 2016.

Step 2: Decide whether you want to vote by absentee ballot. If yes, you must mail in a request for such a ballot. You can get this request form on the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections website, but you do have to sign it and mail it back to the Board of Elections, so take this step as soon as you can. The deadline to request an absentee ballot is Oct. 31.

Step 3: Learn what will be on your ballot. The Board of Elections website is also the place to go to look at a sample ballot. The Nov. 3 ballot for Westlake voters has many items for your consideration – candidates for the school district’s Board of Education, three proposed amendments for the Westlake City Charter, two Cuyahoga County issues, and three proposed State of Ohio constitutional amendments.

Step 4: VOTE. Many voters prefer to vote at their kitchen table using an absentee ballot. For others, going to the designated polling place for their ward and precinct on Election Day is a convenient choice. A third option is to make a trip to the Board of Elections office in Cleveland, 2925 Euclid Avenue, for early in-person voting.

Early in-person voting began Tuesday, Oct. 6, and is available Tuesday-Friday  8 a.m.-5 p.m. for the first three weeks of October. In-person voting hours will be extended during the last week before the General Election: Monday-Friday, Oct. 26-30, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 31, 8 am. to 4 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 1, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.; Monday, Nov. 2, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.