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Election officials from 8 counties met in Youngstown
YOUNGSTOWN
Election officials from eight counties met Friday with the secretary of state’s director of elections to talk about changes in Ohio’s voting laws.
Though there are changes taking effect with the May primary, Matthew Damschroder, director of elections, discussed what will be different beginning with the November general election.
The meeting at the Mahoning County Board of Elections attracted about 35 election officials from that county and seven others — Trumbull, Columbiana, Carroll, Wayne, Portage, Stark and Holmes.
Gov. John Kasich signed a bill last month that makes changes to provisional balloting.
The “biggest change” is reducing the number of days from 10 to seven for those who vote provisionally to provide the proper identification to county boards of elections for their ballots to be counted, Damschroder said.
“But it won’t have a significant impact, as very few people” go to boards after voting with the proper identification if they don’t provide it at polling locations, said Damschroder, a former Franklin County Board of Elections director.
Also new with the general election is a law that won’t allow county boards of elections to send absentee ballot applications. The secretary of state could do it as long as the Legislature funds it.
Beginning with this primary, early voting will begin Tuesday, five days later than before. It eliminates what is called the “Golden Week,” which allowed people to register and vote at boards of elections at the same time.
Democrats have opposed the Republican-backed election-law changes saying it disenfranchises voters, particularly those in urban areas.
Much has changed in Ohio in the past decade that makes it easier to vote, said Mahoning County Board of Elections Director Mark Munroe.
“You could vote for 12 hours” at polling locations, and a medical excuse or other documentation was needed to vote by mail, he said. “Now, elections have become so different with no-fault and in-person voting. We’ve come a long way, and it’s been good.”
David Betras, the board’s vice chairman and the county Democratic Party chairman, told those at the meeting: “What you do is so critical to our democracy,” adding, “There is nothing more basic, nothing more trusting, and nothing more sacred than a person’s right to vote.”