Provisional ballots reviewed

Seneca County Board of Elections members made decisions on 16 provisional ballots from the May 2 election Monday evening. Board of Elections Director Jim Ehrman said there were fewer provisional ballots than usual because of implementation of electronic poll books. He said the new equipment led to fewer errors at the polls and a quicker process when auditing results after the election. Ehrman said 11 of the 16 provisional ballots were approved by the board. Seven of the approved were people who moved to a new precinct, but filled out their ballots correctly; three were people who moved from outside of the county, but only voted in Seneca County; and one was a person who requested an absentee ballot but voted in person instead. Ehrman said five ballots were rejected by the board. Two were submitted by people who were in the wrong building and were told they were voting in the wrong building, but insisted on voting there. "Ohio law says you can vote in the wrong building, it just won't count," Ehrman said. One was a person who was given the wrong ballot and then voted again with the correct ballot. The board rejected the ballot because voters are responsible for what they put into the voting machine and no one can vote twice. Another person's ballot was not counted because the person was not registered in Ohio. Ehrman said the ballot would serve as registration for the next election. One ballot was rejected because the person accidentally tried to vote twice. The 11 ballots approved were added to the count and the election numbers were finalized. Ehrman said no election outcomes were changed. In other business, the board discussed confusion at two polling locations on election day. Ehrman said workers had a mix-up and took ballots to the wrong buildings, leading to a person having to wait on new ballots to vote. Board President Jim Fruth said the person felt turned away. "I don't want that to happen ever again," he said. Board member Mike Bridinger chalked up the mistake to "human error." Fruth said the mistake would be emphasized during future training.