COLUMBUS, Ohio — Viewers and readers reached out with concerns that some electronic ballots can cause you to accidentally skip Issue 1 on the Ohio ballot. I looked into it — and don't worry, election officials showed me that can't happen.
Issue 1 is the proposed constitutional amendment that would remove politicians from the redistricting process. I explain more further in the story.
I spent the day at the Lorain County Board of Elections, where we walked through the electronic process. I also reached out to all the Northeast Ohio counties with epolls to see if there is validity to the concerns.
When you are using their electronic ballot, you will scroll through and tap all your options. When you get to Issue 1, you see the full screen and a "Yes" and "No" at the bottom.
But there is an option to make the text bigger. When you make it larger, the amendment will require multiple taps to continue reading. Still, at the bottom of each different tap — you will still see a "Yes" and "No" at the bottom. There is no way to "view more text" without seeing the voting option.
Board Director Paul Adams explained that there are also safeguards.
“After you complete voting, you're going to have a summary screen that comes up on the page that you confirm how you're voting," Adams told me. "As well as when the ballot comes out, you'll be able to see your selections on the ballot before your ballot is actually cast, which it's not cast until it goes into a scanner.”
Each one of the counties in Northeast Ohio that use electronic ballots has similar systems.
Wayne County requires you to scroll down to reach the voting option, but that is the same as how it works for their presidential option.
Lake County allows you to make the text bigger and read the full amendment, bringing you to another screen. Still, you can’t proceed without going back to the voter option.
There is nothing to worry about for the electronic ballots.
But there are concerns about the paper ballots — since Issue 1 is long.
Cuyahoga County has its ballot in English and Spanish, so it is five pages front and back. This means you need to make sure you have three full sheets of paper.
Board Director Tony Perlatti explained that your Issue 1 voting options are after the Spanish translation.
"It's about halfway down page five where you'll see, it'll call the question to vote yes or no," Perlatti told me. "We don't want people to think, 'Oh my gosh, there's nowhere to mark,' — it's just the way that we laid it out. So if they just follow along, they will get to where they need to be."
If you realize you mismarked, it's not a problem. As long as you didn't fully submit it by placing it into a tabulator, you have options to start over.
For electronic ballots, follow what Adams said and use the button indicating you want to go backward to make your correct choices.
If you print the ballot and then put it into the tabulator, you still have options to fix an answer. You are allowed to request two additional ballots max if you continue mismarking.
If you mess up on paper, you can request another ballot up to two times, as well.
However, you CAN skip it if you want to. But for those who want to vote on it, there isn't a glitch or a system flaw that could cause you to skip it on accident.
With the 2024 general election underway, we created a guide on everything you need to know about voting on or before Nov. 5.
RELATED: 2024 OHIO VOTER GUIDE: Everything you need to know
Voting on Issue 1?
Voting yes on Issue 1 would create a 15-member Ohio Citizens Redistricting Commission (OCRC), made up of Republican, Democratic and independent citizens who broadly represent the different geographic areas and demographics of the state.
Voting no on Issue 1 would be rejecting the independent commission proposal and keeping the current setup of having lawmakers draw the maps that impact themselves and their colleagues.
We have covered this topic extensively, including a piece answering your questions about the proposed constitutional amendment.
RELATED: What does a yes vote on Ohio Issue 1 mean? What does a no vote mean?
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