CLEVELAND — In this day and age of extreme political divides, it may seem like it's harder to find an example where Democrats and Republicans not only get along with each other but can work together for the greater good. However, examples of this are on display inside the state's 88 county boards of election, where the ability to pull off the election is tied to its bipartisan teams of election workers.
"I think one of the hallmarks and strengths of our system in Ohio is the bipartisan oversight, and that starts well before the election, well before election day," said Aaron Ockerman, head of the bipartisan Ohio Association of Election Officials. "With things like reviewing petitions to make sure who is even going to appear on the ballot for us to vote on. That's all done in a bi-partisan fashion. That continues on through right up to where we test our equipment before Election Day.
"Obviously on Election Day we've got Republicans and Democrats out there as pollworkers checking people into vote, checking IDs and all that kind of work. And then after the election, we audit our elections here in the State of Ohio and those audits are conducted in a bipartisan manner as well."
On Tuesday, we caught up with Jim Stafford of Gates Mills and Eda Reymander of Strongsville. They come from different parties but have a shared purpose, seeing democracy is carried out in this election.
"Voting is just so essential to democracy, and that has the higher level of priority than being allegiant to our own party or something like that," said Stafford. "No, it's important that we all get along. This is what democracy's all about."
And if you have any questions or concerns about the security of the election process? There is agreement between this Republican and Democrat — follow their lead and get involved.
"If you feel any uncertainty, this is how you find out for sure," said Stafford.
Ockerman adds that when it comes to elections, questions or concerns are actually a good thing.
"If people have questions or concerns, they should call their local board of elections; they should sign up to be a poll worker. It will be a life-changing experience for them I have no doubt," he said.
"We love for people who have those questions to come in and actually be a pollworker. They end up becoming our biggest evangelists because they do get to see everything that goes into conducting elections here in the state."
