Photo illustration by Charlotte Caldwell | The Lima News
LIMA — With less than a week until voter registration closes and early voting begins, local board of elections offices discussed what trends they’re seeing and important things to remember to successfully cast a ballot.
Voters have three ways they can vote: with a mail-in ballot; early in-person voting at their local board of elections office; or on Election Day on Nov. 5 from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at their polling location based on their address.
Important dates
Early voting starts Oct. 8 when early voting locations start to open and absentee ballots will start being mailed, which is the day after the close of voter registration. Voters can register online at voteohio.gov until Oct. 7 at midnight or at their local board of elections office until Oct. 7 at 9 p.m. Voters must be registered by then or else they will have to vote with a provisional ballot, which won’t count.
In order to receive a ballot by mail, an application must be filled out and received by the voter’s local board of elections by the close of business on Oct. 29. Absentee ballots must be postmarked no later than Nov. 4 and must be received by the board of elections no later than four days after Election Day.
Local office hours
The Allen, Putnam and Auglaize County Board of Elections will be open on Oct. 7, the voter registration deadline, from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. After that they will be open the following hours:
Oct. 8-18: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday
Oct. 21-25: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday
Saturday, Oct. 26: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 27: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 28: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 29: 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 30-Friday, Nov. 1: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 2: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 3: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The offices will be closed for voting on Monday, Nov. 4, and voters must go to their assigned voting locations if they vote on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Election security
Ohio board of elections offices take many steps to ensure Ohio’s elections are safe and secure with no tampering or mistakes.
In a news release, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose recently said, “Bipartisan election officials across Ohio made a commitment to ensure we’re fully prepared for this high-profile election. Tedious preparation is the key to executing any successful election, and Ohioans can have confidence that no matter which of Ohio’s three convenient methods of voting they choose, their vote will be secure.”
The Secretary of State’s website lists steps taken before the election, including certifying voting equipment; safely storing voting equipment; testing voting machines and tabulators with a bipartisan team; and using a voter list maintenance program. After the election, board of elections offices perform an audit to reconcile voter lists and ensure no voters are counted twice. Ohio had an almost 100% accuracy rate for the audits in the 2020 presidential election.
Having a bipartisan team for different steps in the vote-counting process is important, including having an equal representation of poll workers from each party at each voting location. For Putnam County Board of Elections Director Karen Warnecke, she said this wasn’t difficult, as she is full-staffed at 108 poll workers with a waitlist in Putnam County. Allen County Board of Elections Director Morgan Bode said Allen County needs around 350 poll workers and always needs people to fill in.
To ensure the safety of voting by mail, voters can track their ballots at voteohio.gov. The tracker will show the date the application was processed, the date the ballot was sent out and when the ballot is received by the board of elections.
“As one example of the checks and balances in place, Ohio requires bi-partisan representation any time ballots are being handled,” Bode said. “Those of us who work here in the office all vote absentee. Ohio has a good system in place that I feel very confident in.”
Board of elections offices also have ballot drop boxes outside of their offices with video surveillance. The Secretary of State’s office warned voters about using these drop boxes to turn in someone else’s ballot.
“Secretary LaRose also reminds voters that to enforce Ohio’s prohibition against ballot harvesting, anyone who is returning a ballot for a family member or disabled individual must do so by presenting that ballot to elections officials at the county board of elections. Drop boxes may still be used to deliver your personal ballot,” a news release read.
Another question regarding election security is what happens to someone’s voter status when they die. Bode said, “Each board of elections gets a monthly list from the health department so we can remove any deceased voter from the roles. A family member can also choose to bring a death certificate into our office.”
As for immigrants voting, only citizens of the United States are allowed to vote.
“There are non-citizen designations on driver’s licenses. If a poll worker sees that on an ID the voter would be instructed to vote a provisional ballot and bring proof of citizenship into the board of elections in order for their ballot to be counted,” Bode said.
Despite increasing immigrant populations, the number of registered voters in Allen County doesn’t reflect the increase. Bode said there are 66,000 registered voters in the county currently with 67,000 in 2020 and 68,000 in 2016. Warnecke agreed Putnam County has not seen an increase.
“It is a steady consistent decline most likely indicative of people moving out of Allen County,” Bode said.
What are absentee ballots?
A ballot is categorized as absentee when voters vote before Election Day, either by mail or early in-person. Any registered voter can vote absentee with no excuse why they can’t vote in-person on Election Day.
Allen County has about 5,000 absentee ballot applications so far, which Bode said is similar to previous presidential general elections. Warnecke said Putnam County has about 2,100 applications.
“For the presidential general election that’s real good here in Putnam County,” Warnecke said.
What are provisional ballots?
A provisional ballot is cast when a voter’s eligibility is in question. They will be reviewed by election officials after the election to see if the voter meets the voting requirements.
Bode said the most common reasons for a provisional ballot to be cast in Allen County are a voter not updating their address, not updating a name change, or people with expired IDs. Address and name updates need to be made before the voter registration deadline to avoid having to cast a provisional ballot.
Other scenarios that would require a provisional ballot to be cast include trying to vote at the wrong voting location and having already requested an absentee ballot.
If a voter can’t provide a valid photo ID at the polls — including an Ohio driver’s license, a State of Ohio ID card, an interim ID form issued by the Ohio BMV, a U.S. passport a U.S. passport card, a U.S. military ID card, an Ohio National Guard ID card or a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ID card — then they have four days following Election Day to provide proof in-person at their local board of elections.
Warnecke said she has Putnam County’s voting location managers call their office when there’s a question of whether a provisional ballot should be cast, so usually the only ones rejected in the end are if a voter is not registered to vote. Poll workers will also have a template to make sure everything on the ballots is filled out.
“If someone was not registered and they come and want to vote, they can vote but it won’t count,” Warnecke said. “A provisional is a voter registration card, so they would be ready to go for the next election.”
Unofficial vs. official election results
Warnecke explained unofficial results will include any absentee ballots received before Election Day is over and Election Day votes, which will start coming in at 7:30 p.m. when voting locations close. Official results will include all ballots, like any absentee ballots postmarked by Nov. 4 and received within four days after Election Day and approved provisional ballots.
Voter turnout
Allen County usually sees 70% voter turnout in presidential general elections while Putnam County sees 83%, which is one of the top percentages in Ohio.
“It’s our heritage that we come out and vote because that’s what we do in Putnam County,” Warnecke said. “That’s what they’re brought up to.”
Warnecke said last presidential election its office saw 7,000 people come in to vote early.
Reach Charlotte Caldwell at 567-242-0451.
