CANTON, Ohio — Voters in Stark County said they experienced long lines and a lack of ballots at polling locations during the August 8 special election; the county board of elections said that a "terrific level" of voter turnout forced them to make some adjustments, but officials were confident every voter was able to cast their ballot.
"I thought the poll workers were running around trying to fix a situation that they had no control over, other than to get a machine to accept a paper ballot," said James Freda, a Uniontown voter.
News 5 first received tips and saw Facebook messages from voters in Plain Township and Jackson Township at about 6 p.m. Tuesday stating that several precincts had run out of scannable computer ballots as voters were having to fill out paper ballots to cast their vote on Issue 1.
"They said they had special cards that were purchased only for this election, and they ran out of those cards," said Seth Arkow, a Stark County voter. "Plan B was to use paper ballots that they would use in case there was a problem with those cards, and they ran out of those cards. Plan C was to use provisional ballots, which they ran out of. Plan D, which they're doing now, I believe, which is to reprogram the cards that the poll workers use in case there's an error with the machine."
Some voters said they were in such long lines they left.
"It's disappointing because we want to have faith in our elections," said Arkow.
Boards of elections had reported logistical, budget concerns ahead of Aug. 8
The Aug. 8 Special Election was initiated by state lawmakers in May, just months after the General Assembly passed a law banning August special elections due to their historically low turnout and expense. This sudden reversal sent boards of elections across the state scrambling to organize a high-stakes special election in a tight time frame with a mountain of logistical challenges.
As election officials prepared for the August election, the budget became a real issue in several counties, with Cuyahoga County, as an example, having to make sacrifices to its typical election plan.
"We need to make some decisions on what do we cut," said Tony Perlatti, director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. "Voter education, making people aware of this election; the number of poll workers, so you have to wait in line longer to vote."
The Stark County Board of Elections, it would seem, was also not prepared for the high level of voter turnout Tuesday, and officials acknowledged that they had to make some changes on Election Day as a result.
"This is an election with a terrific level of voter turnout," the county's board of elections said in a statement posted to Facebook on Tuesday after the polls had closed. "We appreciate the patience and cooperation of all voters throughout the day. The greater turnout forced some adjustments to our procedures, including the utilization of additional paper ballots at polling locations. We remain confident that the redundancy we prepared for in the voting systems covered the ability of each voter to cast a ballot. We will look into any specific instances of voter reports or irregularities. But, we also remain confident that everyone who took the time and effort to vote today were extended that opportunity."
Voters we spoke with said they were eventually able to cast their ballots.
"It's good that people are coming out; it's good that people are listening and paying attention and showing what their thoughts are," said Theresa Greathouse, a Stark County voter.
Summit County had ballot scanner problems early Tuesday
Stark County was not the only Northeast Ohio county to experience issues on Election Day. Early in the day Tuesday, News 5's Mike Holden and John Kosich reported that the scanners at some polling locations in Cuyahoga Falls and elsewhere in Summit County went down, forcing poll workers to temporarily secure unscanned ballots until the scanners were back working. By 1:42 p.m., the Summit County Board of Elections confirmed that the issues were resolved, and all ballots were counted.
See our real-time reporting on this situation on our Election Day blog.
While some on social media were quick to suggest without evidence that these minor issues in two of Ohio's 88 counties were somehow part of a larger conspiracy to skew the election, it should be noted that the combined total votes in both counties - about 245,000 votes - is significantly less than the margin Issue 1 failed by — 428,748 votes.
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