Elections board in Cleveland pushes absentee option

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

The county elections board in Cleveland, which is no longer mailing out unsolicited absentee-ballot applications, has asked more than 400 organizations to help get the word out to voters to cast their ballots by mail.

The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections on Thursday sent an online absentee-ballot application link to the community organizations, asking them to place it on their websites.

“The board of elections is taking steps to make it as easy as possible for voters to request and receive a ballot application,” Jane Platten, the election board’s director, said in a release.

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has barred county election boards from mailing unsolicited absentee applications, ending a practice of several years in Cleveland, where the board struggled with long lines and other election-day problems. Husted had said in issuing his directive that he wanted all counties to follow the same procedures.

Cuyahoga County officials had threatened to defy Husted’s order, but the dispute was settled this month. The state agreed to mail absentee ballot request forms to voters in all counties ahead of the 2012 presidential election, and the county’s officials agreed not to send out unsolicited mailings for absentee ballots for this year’s general election.