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Ohio secretary of state honors the Mahoning County Board of Elections for its free voting app
Mahoning Board of elections receives award
YOUNGSTOWN
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted honored the Mahoning County Board of Elections for being the first county in the state to offer a free app for smartphones that provides voting information.
“It’s geared toward millennials; I’ve noticed with my children that they do everything from their smartphones,” said David Betras, the board’s vice chairman and the county Democratic Party chairman. “Websites will go the way of the Yellow Pages. Instead of going to websites, younger people are doing everything on their smartphones. We came up with this to get them involved in voting.”
The app offers information such as polling
locations and directions there from Google Maps, sample ballots, election results, a link to a downloadable absentee form and what forms of identification are needed when voting.
“We’ve had 1,200 downloads,” said board Director Joyce Kale-Pesta. “Many are looking to find out where do they vote and are they registered.”
A QR code can be scanned at the board’s website, vote.mahoningcountyoh.gov, and on Google Play and the Apple app store through a search for “Mahoning County Votes.” It’s also on board envelopes and will be on the postcards the board will send for the March 15 primary with polling locations, Kale-Pesta said.
Husted recently gave the board his office’s Bright I.D.E.A. (Innovative Developments in Election Administration) award.
“By using technology in creative ways, we’ve been able to bring government into the 21st century, offer better services to Ohioans and save the taxpayers money,” he said. “It is that same creativity that is improving the voting experience in Mahoning County through the creation of their smartphone app.”
“We’re certainly pleased that the secretary of state recognized our efforts in developing the app in conjunction with the Mahoning County IT department,” said board Chairman Mark Munroe, who also is the county Republican Party chairman. “I think electronic voting will be the wave of the future and we’re ahead of the curve with our app.”