About 25 percent of Lucas County’s provisional ballots cast on April 28 were deemed invalid by the board of elections because the votes were cast in person but the voter did not meet the eligibility requirements as directed by the state.
Only those who have a disability, lack a permanent address, or properly requested an absentee ballot but never received it in the mail were to have their in-person April 28 votes counted, according to a directive sent by Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose on May 1 to the state’s boards of elections.
Out of Lucas County’s total 922 provisional ballots cast for the most recent election, 226 were cast in-person by people who did not meet one of those three criteria. During a special meeting Tuesday, the board invalidated 32 provisional ballots for other reasons, for a total of 258 provisional ballots deemed invalid.
Seven ballots cast from out-of-county are still being assessed, elections board Director LaVera Scott said.
Ms. Scott added the number of invalid provisional ballots has been this high before in Lucas County, but generally, it’s less than 10 percent of all provisional ballots cast that are ultimately deemed invalid.
“It totally depends on the election itself,” she said.
After Mr. LaRose issued his directive regarding in-person votes, several Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Paula Hicks-Hudson (D., Toledo), have argued that refusing to count all votes cast in person disenfranchises voters.
The day before he issued the directive, Ms. Hicks-Hudson and State Reps. Michele Lepore-Hagan (D., Youngstown) and Bride Rose Sweeney (D., Cleveland) sent a letter to Mr. LaRose calling for him to change course.
In response, Mr. LaRose contended he is bound by the parameters set in House Bill 197, which outlined the primary elections procedures.
Ms. Hicks-Hudson has said that she disagrees with Mr. LaRose’s interpretation of that law and that she believes it doesn’t bar any votes from being counted.
Since April 28, the Lucas County elections board has received 1,300 absentee ballots. The board is scheduled to certify official election results at its May 18 meeting.
During the meeting, Ms. Scott also spoke about possible changes for the upcoming November election, including potentially consolidating some polling locations to protect poll workers, many of whom are elderly and at greater risk of falling seriously ill if they catch coronavirus.
By consolidating, the idea is that fewer volunteers would be needed, she said.
“Consolidating locations may be a reality,” she said. “Not all voters are going to be thrilled about it.”
The current plan is to have in-person voting in November, but Ms. Scott anticipated that extensive mail-in options would be available.
Lucas County Board of Elections Chairman David Karmol said he hopes that for November, state officials work with local elections officials through organizations such as the Ohio Association of Election Officials.
“Obviously, this was an election like no one has ever seen or expected,” he said.
But he believes that the election process would go much more smoothly if the state allows input from the people who actually run the elections.
Mr. LaRose has said that for November, he wants lawmakers to allow voters to request ballots online, instead of printing out a form to mail; to provide postage-paid envelopes for ballots; to move the deadline for requesting a ballot to a week before the election; and to release federal funds to the state’s 88 boards of elections to buy equipment and hire workers needed to process a large number of absentee ballots.
“I hope the legislature takes those recommendations seriously,” Mr. Karmol said.
First Published May 12, 2020, 8:05 p.m.
