All games aside, those eligible should vote; here’s how

Ohio’s countybased, bipartisan elections system is meant to deny either party the ability to manipulate elections in its favor, and it works pretty well. It doesn’t, however, eliminate all gamesmanship. Take the current dispute in Franklin County over early-voting ads.

Long experience has been that Republicans, in general, are more-reliable voters — more likely to vote regardless of bad weather, inconvenience or uninspiring races — than Democrats. That probably is why the Franklin County Board of Elections’ two Democratic members recently voted to spend $245,000 on public-service announcements promoting early voting in the November election and the two Republican members voted against it.

The tie vote doomed the proposal, but the Franklin Court commissioners — all Democrats — have stepped in, announcing their intent to run the ads themselves.

That, in turn, prompted Republican County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien to opine that state law doesn’t allow the commissioners to do that. Commissioners have said they’re determined to find a legal way to run the ads.

Are the Democrats playing politics by trying to spend tax dollars to draw in lackadaisical voters? The Republican election-board members who voted no say the ads aren’t needed because loads of paid campaign ads are telling everyone all they need to know about early voting.

Or are the Republicans playing politics by balking, in an especially tight election season, at the exact type of public-information campaign they’ve approved in every other recent midterm year?

The answer might depend on where you stand politically.

What we know for certain is this: Everyone who cares about our community and is eligible to vote should do so, and registered voters still have ample opportunity. (Sorry, voter-registration procrastinators; that deadline has passed.) Here are the options:

• Request an absentee ballot using a form on the Ohio secretary of state’s website, www.myohiovote.com. Your completed request form must be received by your county elections board by the Saturday before the election. Then you'll get your ballot, which you have to fill out and mail back or return in person by Election Day.

• Vote early, in person. The Franklin County location is 1700 Morse Road. Hours are generally 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, with some evening and weekend hours closer to the Nov. 6 election. A complete schedule is on the same website, along with a link to find the location in any county.

• Be old-fashioned and seek civic companionship by voting in person at your precinct polling place on Nov. 6 between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Once again, you can find your polling place on the secretary of state’s site or that of your county Board of Elections.

To truly vote with power, voters have to know something about issues and candidates. Here, we can help. The Dispatch Voters Guide, with a just-thefacts explanation of what’s on central Ohio ballots, can be found at Dispatch. com or by going directly to this address: https://bit. ly/2qmoPcx.

Dispatch political reporters help readers sort through political ads — what’s factual, what’s false and what’s somewhere in-between — in Ad Watch reports. We’ve compiled all of them for the November election here: https://bit. ly/2pZvTMJ.

If you’d like to know our view, we’ve compiled all of our endorsements so far here: https://bit. ly/2yMu9dB.