Two votes get stalled at board of elections

A state official attending the meeting hoped to have the deadlock resolved soon.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- In Trumbull County's first year of having a computerized voting system to avoid ambiguous results, one elections official worries the county is headed for a messy ending.
"This board is opening itself up to Florida-like issues" such as having to examine "hanging chads," warned Deputy Elections Director Rokey W. Suleman II, Monday after the elections board deadlocked 2-2 on two votes and referred them to the Ohio Secretary of State to resolve.
The deadlock stopped the elections board from certifying results of the election. Under normal circumstances, the board would have certified official results Monday. Those results would have been for double-checked election-day results and for votes cast on provisional ballots.
Based on the still-unofficial results, six races are close enough to warrant a free automatic recount, the elections board indicated.
Counting provisional ballots
One of the issues was related to whether the elections board should count provisional ballots by hand or accept the optical scanning method already used on them. Provisional ballots are cast by voters who for a variety of reasons are not listed on the voting rolls. One common reason is because the voter moved just before the election.
At the center of the recount issue was the 3rd Ward Warren race in which Democrat Andy Barkley now finds himself ahead by one vote over Republican George Brown.
Republican Party Chairman Craig Bonar raised questions about whether over-votes or under-votes cast on provisional ballots in that race should be checked by hand because of the possibility that optical scanning equipment that reads them might produce a different result than eyballing them would.
Elections board member Nettie Ashelman agreed with Bonar, and the board split 2-2 on the question. Board members Nick Melfi and Sherron Platt voted no. When county elections boards in Ohio reach a tie vote, the issue is submitted to the secretary of state's office to decide.
Myke Clarett, Ohio secretary of state representative in the area, who attended the meeting, said he would expect a secretary of state decision to be made as soon as possible because the deadline for certifying the results is Dec. 8.
If elections officials were to look at all of the provisional ballots by hand, they would be looking at whether voters had meant to erase certain marks on the ballot or not, something that could be done more fairly by the scanning equipment already used, Suleman said.
Warren 3rd Ward race
The board also split 2-2 on the question of whether to eliminate five provisional ballots cast in the Warren 3rd Ward race because voters failed to include their birth dates on the envelope in which the ballot was mailed to the elections board.
Kelly Pallante, elections board director, said the board has traditionally allowed such votes to be counted, but Bonar and Ashelman said they wanted them eliminated.
That raised questions about whether Bonar was asking for past election practices to be changed after the election as a means to change the outcome of a specific race since only 3rd Ward Warren provisional ballots were being questioned.
"Most people would say that's unfair," said James Saker, legal counsel for the elections board, when asked for a legal opinion on the motion. He added, "This is the kind of thing that instills lawsuits."
"I think all we're trying to do is provide the most accurate election results," Bonar countered. With regard to the provisional ballots, Bonar said he was OK with the system of having optical scanners read the ballots until he started to inquire in other counties and found that many others are recounting the provisional ballots by hand.
Joyce Kale-Pesta, deputy director of the Mahoning County Board of Elections, said over- and under-votes are generally checked in Mahoning County with the use of a scanner, but the scanner will "kick out" certain ones that are not conclusive. Those will usually be checked by hand if it involves a close race, she said.
Other races at issue
Five other races are close enough to warrant an automatic recount:
ULaBrae Board of Education race for two elected spots. Tim Gibson is now second in the balloting with 863, two votes more than Roger L. Cope, who previously was tied with Gibson.
UGustavus Township trustee race for two seats. William C. Palette is in second place with 212 votes, two votes ahead of Steve Ragalyi.
UChampion Township trustee race for two seats. Tom Tracey is leading Bob Farmer, 1,010 to 1,003 for second place.
UMaplewood Board of Education race for three seats. David M. Drawl leads Justin D. Pykare 971 to 963 for the third seat.
ULiquor option for Sunday sales in Kinsman Township Precinct B. The vote is now tied 95-95 after the initial vote was 93-94 against the option.
The elections board is next scheduled to meet at 9:30 a.m. next Tuesday.