Around 100 duplicate absentee ballots sent out in Cuyahoga County, paper says

CLEVELAND (AP) — As many as 100 voters in Cuyahoga County received multiple absentee ballots in the mail, a newspaper reported Saturday.

About half of the county’s residents who received two ballots are registered twice, The Plain Dealer found in a review of records.

The county’s elections director, Jane Platten, said the mishap is likely the result of voter confusion or clerical errors by election workers. She said voter fraud is highly unlikely.

Republicans have frequently said Ohio’s election system is vulnerable to voter fraud, while Democrats have said the complaint is just a diversion from real election issues.

More than a dozen people who received two ballots told the newspaper on Friday that they did not vote twice.

“If you have a database of 1.1 million voters, there’s always the potential for operator error,” Platten said Friday. “It happens, absolutely. We know we have duplicates in the system that we are consistently trying to minimize and clean up. But it cannot be absolutely pristine.”

The newspaper’s records review also found up to 13 cases of double ballots in Franklin County and three in Summit County.

Priscilla Mosby, 58, of Cleveland, said she has been trying for nine years to work with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections to get rid of her duplicate registration.

“Every year they send me two ballots. I always tear one up and use the other to vote with,” Mosby said. “Every year it’s the same thing. I try to get it straightened out, but it never changes.”

Charlene Adams, 68, of Bedford Heights, received two ballots but doesn’t know why.

Platten said it’s likely in these cases that the first ballot was invalidated when the second ballot was sent out.

“If they sent the first ballot back, we have already suspended that ballot, and I can’t count it,” Platten said.

Up to 10,000 people in Cuyahoga County may be registered twice, the newspaper said.

People can get multiple registrations by moving, by changing their names through marriage or divorce, and by submitting multiple cards.

In Miami County, officials received 69 absentee ballots from voters who said they never received or submitted them.

Elections Director Steve Quillen said the board has set aside 70 ballots that were returned without a signature, and thus were ineligible.

Election officials have asked the sheriff’s office and prosecutors to investigate. Only one voter acknowledged receiving a ballot and forgetting to sign the envelope.