Elections chief to test voting center plan in primary

The state’s 11,099 polling locations would be reduced to 1,163 sites.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio’s chief elections officer said she wants to use the March 4 primary as a test of her plan to replace schools, churches and other neighborhood polling places with a smaller number of more centralized voting centers.

The concept could be tested in two or three counties before adopting it statewide for the November presidential election, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said.

The idea emerged from a broader report issued two weeks ago citing security flaws with Ohio’s current voting system. The report also recommended that electronic touch-screen machines, which are used in 57 of Ohio’s 88 counties, should be scrapped in favor of an optical-scan system, in which a computer scans ballots that voters fill out by hand.

Voting centers could be located at shopping centers, libraries or other places with enough parking, and they would ease the crush of voters on Election Day by allowing voters to cast ballots up to 15 days before an election, Brunner said.

“By lessening the number of polling places but increasing the number of days, we’re meeting that demand but we’re also providing greater convenience for people,” she said.

Brunner’s plan would reduce the 11,099 polling locations statewide to 1,163 voting centers. There would also be some new expenses, such as an estimated $2.3 million needed to rent space for the voting centers, as well as added costs for printing, some new high-speed scanners, ballot boxes and other equipment.

Other states, including Indiana, Florida and Texas, also are trying voting centers.

Some critics say voting centers could make it more difficult for the elderly or people without transportation to cast a ballot.

Matthew Damschroder, director of the Franklin County Board of Elections in Columbus and president of the Ohio Association of Election Officials, said the concept deserves study, but he advocates a slower approach.

“I don’t think Ohio voters are ready for this kind of radical change,” he said.

Brunner, a Democrat, said she is willing to listen to arguments for modifying her proposal as the Republican-controlled state Legislature considers it in the new year.

“Vote centers, the way I’ve described this, may not be the way (to) do it 15 years from now,” she said. “But for right now, where we are and what we’ve got to work with, I think it’s the most workable (option) in order to guarantee people’s peace of mind that their vote is going to count.”

Many voting problems were reported in Ohio in the 2004 race between President Bush, a Republican, and Democrat John Kerry, including the accuracy of vote totals in precincts using electronic machines. Kerry conceded the election after narrowly losing Ohio’s 20 electoral votes.\