With one week until Election Day, the League of Women Voters of Ohio recently hosted a webinar to discuss Ohio’s post-election procedures to highlight the security of our elections and the security mechanisms in place when handling ballots and verifying results.
In addition to voting for president, Ohioans will cast their ballots on a variety of state and local issues, including the hotly contested U.S. Senate race between incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Bernie Moreno, Issue 1, and three Ohio Supreme Court races.
Election day is Tuesday, November 5, polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. You can find your local polling place Here. Early voting in Ohio began three weeks ago.
What happens after the polls close?
A non-party group of electoral commission employees works in each constituency.
“The first thing they do is take all the totals from all their machines,” Wood County Board of Elections Director Terry Burton said during the webinar. “They verify their totals between the electronic ballot boxes and the counters on the machines and make sure it all adds up. They then review their paper ballots for anyone who submitted paper ballots or provisional ballots.”
Election board workers load everything into a car and, in a bipartisan team that includes one Democrat and one Republican, drive the board away.
“Our office is closed and only the sheriff and board of elections staff have access to us,” Burton said.
He said the bipartisan team is uploading the ballot tabulation using a USB flash drive provided by the Ohio Secretary of State.
Election results are unofficial until Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose certifies the election results after they are officially submitted by county boards of elections.
“Election night is not results night, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” said Jessica King, senior policy specialist at Verified Voting. “Election officials have processes and procedures that they will follow, and again, we need to give them the space and time to do that.”
What is a provisional vote?
AND A provisional ballot is used for registration voting if the voter’s eligibility is in question. This would, for example, occur if a voter did not have photo ID, changed their name or forgot to update their address. A person who casts a provisional ballot on Election Day has until November 9 to verify their vote.
For example, if a voter does not have photo ID and casts a provisional ballot, for their vote to be recognized, they must return to their district electoral commission with ID by November 9.
“What I’m trying to explain is that this is a safeguard for our board of elections,” said Michelle Wilcox, director of the Auglaize County Board of Elections.
What are the modern voting ID laws in Ohio?
A law requiring Ohio voters went into effect last year have a photo ID to vote in person.
Photo ID maybe be a valid Ohio driver’s license, U.S. passport, military ID, Ohio ID card, Ohio BMV fleeting identification form, Ohio National Guard ID card, or U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ID card.
Absentee ballots
As of Monday afternoon, sixty-five percent of absentee ballots had been returned Secretary of State of Ohio.
Applications for absentee ballots must be submitted to the local board of elections on October 29 by 8:30 p.m., and absentee ballots must be postmarked by November 4 and received by November 9.
Absentee ballots are counted and tabulated first on election night.
“Ohio is really lucky,” King said. “Election officials may process mail-in votes throughout the election cycle. We don’t wait until Election Day to start voting.”
A common misconception King hears is that ballots received or processed after Election Day are not counted.
“It’s completely untrue,” she said. “Temporary ballot envelopes are checked to see if they contain the required information and whether they should even be opened and sent for counting. Absentee ballots received after the election are checked to see if they were postmarked before Election Day so they can be counted.”
If a provisional ballot cannot be counted or an absentee ballot is not mailed or received by the deadline, those votes will not be counted.
“These ballots don’t even come out of the envelope,” King said. “There is no doubt about these ballots. They are isolated. They are retained, but they do not even make it to the circle where they can be counted or tabulated.”
Voting machines
The Ohio Board of Voting Machine Examiners must approve voting equipment.
“Their approval qualifies it for purchase and implementation in the state,” King said. “So if they don’t pass this detailed set of requirements, they won’t even be eligible for admission in Ohio, they won’t even be eligible for utilization.”
But the process doesn’t end there.
“Once the county selects these machines, election officials follow procedures before and after each election that are designed to ensure the safety and reliability of the machines,” King said. “When the machines are returned to management, they will be inspected. “They will be reviewed to ensure they are in good condition and that nothing questionable has occurred.”
Early voting hours
October 29: 7:30 – 20:30
October 30 – November 1: 7:30 a.m. – 7:30 p.m
November 2: 8:00 – 16:00
November 3: 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m
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