MAHONING COUNTY Trumbull error causes ballot glitch

Nineteen people in the two precincts already turned in absentee ballots.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- An oversight by the Trumbull County Board of Elections could end up costing its counterpart in Mahoning County $500.
The Trumbull board failed to notify the Mahoning board that a 2.4-mill, 10-year renewal levy from the Trumbull Career and Technical Center should be on the ballot in two Mahoning precincts that are in the center's jurisdiction.
Those districts are Austintown Township Precinct 43, which borders Weathersfield Township, and Coitsville Precinct 1, which borders Hubbard.
It is up to the elections board with the largest number of registered voters for an elected position, issue, question or option to notify other election boards with residents who can vote on those candidates or items.
Norma Williams, Trumbull election board director, admits her office erred by not notifying Mahoning about the center levy, which raises $5.9 million annually.
Williams said that it was a mistake, and that her office, like many others throughout the state, is being overworked because of Ohio's being a key battleground in the presidential election.
"I hope we can be forgiven," she said. "We've never had the outside groups wanting so much information. It makes it hard for us, and sometimes mistakes happen. They have the right to public information, and we have the obligation to provide it. But that slows us down. I hope this is the only slip-up."
Mahoning County's challenge
The Mahoning election board can add the center levy to its electronic voting ballots, said Michael Sciortino, its director.
The problem is the board needs new absentee paper ballots for those two precincts, Sciortino said. There are 435 voters in Austintown 43, and 25 voters in Coitsville 1.
A bigger headache, he said, is that 18 people already sent in absentee ballots from Austintown 43 and 1 from Coitsville 1.
The election board will have to order 19 absentee ballots with just that issue, and mail them to the people in those precincts who've already voted, Sciortino said.
The new absentee ballots and the ballots with just the center issue will cost between $250 and $500, he said. Sciortino said he may ask the Trumbull board to pay that expense because it was its mistake.
The mistake was discovered by a career center official, who called the Mahoning board Monday and asked a clerk why the issue wasn't on the ballot in Austintown 43, Sciortino said. Officials with the career center couldn't be reached Tuesday to comment.
The Mahoning elections board got the go-ahead Tuesday from the Ohio Secretary of State's Office to send the single-issue ballots to the 19 people in the two precincts who cast absentee votes.
skolnick@vindy.com