Security added to election materials

Improvements for handicapped accessibility were also made.

STAFF REPORT

LISBON — The Columbiana County Board of Elections is making changes to improve security, even though board members said it would be almost impossible to cheat the voting system.

The county was one of more than 20 in the state that allowed poll workers to take election materials home the day before an election.

In Columbiana County, the idea was to ease the Election Day work for poll workers, board members said. But Jennifer Brunner, Ohio secretary of state, has pressed for changes.

Lois Gall, deputy director for the county board, said materials will now be delivered to polls on Election Day, Nov. 4.

The company hired by the county to deliver the materials will have to keep a log of its stops early Election Day. The county has 103 precincts in about 80 locations.

Gall said there will be seals on supplies, such as ballots and on the ballot counter itself. Those materials will have to be in secured rooms until the poll workers arrive.

County voters blacken a circle on a paper ballot to record their votes. The ballot is then fed through a counter and goes into a metal container.

The counter’s memory card — the tally of the votes — will be returned to the elections board in a sealed container on election night.

The memory card for each precinct is counted at the board.

Board member Larry Bowersock said it would be almost impossible to tamper with the voting system with or without the new measures in a precinct.

Each memory card is programmed for specific races and issues, which may differ from precinct to precinct. The paper ballots can be checked against the electronic counting if needed.

The cost of the new measurers isn’t known. Bowersock said the county expects to get some money from Brunner’s office for some of the extra costs.

In other action, a small area has been paved in the gravel parking lot behind the county elections board. That will allow people in wheelchairs to go into the election offices to vote before the elections, where an interior ramp will allow them access to voting machines.

Bowersock said the county has debated making improvements for the handicapped since the 1970s.