This article was originally published by NBC 4

By Perry Lerit

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — There are new rules for voting in this year’s primary election.

Early voting ends Sunday, and voters have until 7:30 p.m. on election day to drop their mail-in ballot off at their county’s board of elections.

Tuesday, the League of Women Voters held a virtual meeting encouraging all Ohioans to go out and exercise their right to vote of May 5, saying that big decisions start with primaries.

The League stressed the importance of not discounting your vote, saying a single ballot can determine if a fire department is funded.

For those worried about security, election officials across the state are working hard to provide a fair and safe election process.

“Every machine in Ohio first off passes federal and local certification processes. And secondly, have a paper trail. Whether it’s almost like a little receipt that you see after you cast each vote or something that prints out like a scantron that you take to a scanner. Every vote has a paper backup in Ohio,” said Jen Miller, Executive Director of the League of Women Voters.

“We look at if the digital vote, tally or the digital vote cast matches that paper backup. And that is where we get that 99.999% accurate rating every that the Secretary of State brags about,” Miller said.

To visit Your Local Election HQ, click here.

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