News 5 asked voters to contact us if they ran into problems while voting in Tuesday's general election. Our newsroom heard from a handful of people who expressed concerns about their voting precinct running out of ballots.
Concerns from several areas in Cuyahoga County
A handful of people from Lakewood, Valley View, Brooklyn Heights, Rocky River and Walton Hills contacted our news team.
"I was just turned away at my normal place I vote," said Rosemary, who lives in Lakewood. "They ran out of ballots hours ago and haven’t had a reply from the Board of Election."
Michelle, who lives in Valley View, reported problems at her voting precinct, too, due to ballots running out. She was concerned about whether her vote was counted after finally getting a paper ballot.
Neal Barrett said he showed up to his precinct at Roosevelt Elementary in Lakewood and was told there were no more ballots.
"They said, 'We don't have ballots. Not sure when we're gonna get them,'" Barrett said.
He said he was told to write his name and number down on a piece of paper, and an election worker would call him back with any update.
Barrett said he got a call at 7:22 p.m. about a ballot waiting for him and to return to his polling location.
He said he returned at 7:35 p.m., five minutes after polls closed, and several workers went back and forth about whether or not he could cast a ballot.
"For what it seems like that there was no communication above that polling with the board of elections," Barrett said.
Barrett said he was eventually able to cast his ballot after signing an affidavit about what happened.
Renee Arrington-Johnson told News 5 that she's legally blind and ran into issues at her voting precinct at the Lyndhurst Community Center.
She said a worker didn't address her during the check-in process, the accessible voting machine wasn't ready to go, and there was an issue retrieving the completed ballot. Arrington-Johnson also said she requested the machine be re-positioned to protect the privacy of her ballot.
"Just because I'm legally blind does not mean I should be required to jump through hoops to be able to vote," Arrington-Johnson said. "I shouldn't have to tell people that I want privacy. I want to go, I want to vote, and I want to not have any issues that anybody else wouldn't have."
Cuyahoga County Board of Elections Responds
Wednesday afternoon, the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections issued a statement. It said in part:
The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections (CCBOE) had a successful November 7, 2023 General Election. It was a well-attended election with close to 400,000 ballots cast. A few of the 967 voting precincts had larger than anticipated election day turnouts in which the CCBOE sent additional ballot materials near the end of the voting day to impacted polling locations.
It said poll workers have instructions and can print additional ballots for voters until supplemental ballot materials can be delivered from the board of election office. Voters should remain at their precinct and wait for the printed ballot, which should only take a few minutes.
The board of elections said if a voter has any concerns, they should contact the office and be able to provide specific details.
Determining how many ballots to order
The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections said past election turnouts help determine how many ballots to order and send to precincts.
For example, in Valley View, election day turnout for the November 2022 Gubernatorial General Election was 687 ballots cast. It said election day turnout for the August 2023 Special Election was 609 ballots cast. The board of elections said 775 election day ballots were ordered for the Nov. 7, 2023, General Election, which accounts for a 10% increase based on 2022 numbers.
The board of election said, "The City of Valley View had an unprecedented Election Day turnout for an odd-year general election." It added, "Valley View's overall turnout on Tuesday was around 69%, which is comparable to Presidential General Election voting activity." The statement went on to say, "The Poll Workers did an excellent job administering the election until the additional ballots arrived."
