43
10% avoid Tuesday lines in Columbiana County
Gallery
The county has given out about 7,000 absentee ballots.
staff report
LISBON — About 10 percent of Columbiana County voters are expected to have voted before today’s election.
Voters were lined up outside the elections board Monday.
Elections officials had said previously that some 1,046 people have cast walk-in votes at the elections board and an additional 7,000 absentee ballots had been given out.
The county has about 69,000 registered voters.
Kim Meek, the elections director, said late Monday that she had not tallied the number of people who voted Monday.
But she said, “It’s been steady all day.”
When asked why people were voting in advance, she said she had heard some bosses were letting people out of work to vote who may be tied up later in the week.
Lois Gall, the deputy elections director, said the that absentee ballots will have to have been postmarked by Monday and have to reach the elections board within 10 days in order to be counted.
The county’s 103 voting machines have been placed in about 80 locations.
Meek said that she planned to keep the doors open for voters who were in line when the board closed at 4:30 p.m.
The Ohio Secretary of State’s Office earlier this year wanted county poll workers to drive to the board early on Election Day to pick up ballots and other materials, including ballots, a sign-in book for voters, and instructions.
For years, the county allowed precinct workers to take the materials the day before the election. County elections officials protested, saying that the drive would create problems in recruiting workers.
Poll workers were taking election materials home Monday.
The county uses a paper-ballot system. The machines have been put in polls by a private company.
Poll workers install the memory card in the machine. Voters mark paper ballots that are counted electronically. The memory card and paper ballots are returned to the elections board.
Elections officials belief the system is also tamper-proof, since the number of ballots and the memory card must match.