SUPER TUESDAY | Mahoning elections board deals with GOP ballot requests

YOUNGSTOWN — The board of elections has been closely monitoring ballot supply and demand throughout Mahoning County today, as many Democrats and independents have been crossing over to vote in the Republican primary, said Mark Munroe, county Republican chairman and a county board of elections member.

In precincts where a high rate of demand for Republican ballots raised concerns, the board printed and delivered more ballots to those precincts to prevent a shortage, Munroe said, adding that he wasn’t sure of the specific polling places affected.

“As far as I know, nobody’s run out of ballots,” he said, noting that the board and City Printing of Youngstown can immediately print more, if necessary.

“Republican turnout is high this election, and we’ve taken extraordinary steps to make sure we have enough ballots in all polling places,” he said.

Democratic and independent crossovers to the Republican primary are attributable to people specifically wanting to support Donald Trump or Gov. John Kasich for president and to Hillary Clinton supporters wanting to vote for Trump because they believe it would be easier for Clinton to beat him this fall than for her to beat other potential Republican nominees, Munroe said.

County Democratic Party Chairman Dave Betras said in a text message that polling places never ran out of Republican ballots, but had run low. He said, however, the problem was resolved by late afternoon.

The polls close at 7:30 p.m.