Anyone hoping to avoid long lines at the polls on Election Day next week has a little more time to cast their ballots before the March 6 primary.

Early voting — both at the Board of Elections and via mail-in ballot — is still underway. The deadline for mail-in ballots is Saturday, March 3, at noon. Early in-office voting ends on Friday, March 2, at 6 p.m.

Early in-office voting is available 8 a.m.-6 p.m. each day this week, through Friday. The Hamilton County Board of Elections is located at 824 Broadway, downtown.

For more information, call the board’s offices at 513-632-7039, 513-632 7040 or 513-632-7044 or visit the board’s website.

Perhaps sensing they were losing the public perception battle, House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor on Monday agreed to extend the payroll tax cut for another 10 months without getting offsetting reductions elsewhere in the budget. The action is a victory for President Obama, who opposed the GOP’s attempts to force pay cuts for federal workers and require them to contribute more to their pensions.

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Some important dates involving Ohio’s March 6 primary election are fast approaching.

Early voting — both at the Board of Elections and via mail-in ballot — begins Jan. 31. Applications for mail-in ballots are available on the board’s website or by calling the board’s offices at 513-632-7039, 513-632 7040 or 513-632-7044.

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If they're good enough to qualify as a minor political party in Ohio, then they're good enough to be included in the gubernatorial debate.

That's the philosophy of Ohio Green Party leaders and the decision to exclude its gubernatorial candidate, Dennis Spisak, from a debate between Democratic incumbent Ted Strickland and Republican challenger John Kasich.

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The Ohio Green Party will hold its state political convention in Columbus this weekend, where it will make decisions on several important issues.

Among the business that will be conducted at the convention is changing the organization's official status from a political action committee (PAC) to that of a minor political party.

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