Board of Elections in early stages of planning for November, director says

ELYRIA — Lorain County elections officials already are planning for the general election in November, with expectations that the presidential race will make it a busy one. Paul Adams, director of the Lorain County Board of Elections, told Lorain County commissioners via video Wednesday that per Ohio law, voters may vote early and request mail-in absentee ballots. Early voting begins Oct. 6, or just shy of 30 days prior to Election Day, which is Nov. 3. The Board of Elections will continue to advertise changes on its Facebook page and in the newspaper. The board also is looking for interested poll workers, who may call (440) 326-5900 and ask for the poll worker department if they are interested, or sign up on the board's website at loraincountyelections.us. The work is paid, and it takes approximately 1,000 workers to open the polls on Election Day, he said. County elections officials are now lobbying the state through their association so that whatever changes are made for November will be known in advance and can be communicated to voters, Adams said. In a interview later Wednesday, Adams said Secretary of State Frank LaRose has released some recommendations, as have Ohio House Democrats. House Republicans also have issued their own version, so Adams said a number of issues remain up in the air depending on how the Legislature votes. "I'm just hesitant to say, 'This is the direction we're being pushed in,' because who knows where things are going to end up," he said. There may also be an option to request an absentee ballot online for the November election. That's not possible now, but LaRose and House Democrats have backed the option, Adams said. He said he does expect a large number of mail-in ballots for the November vote, possibly a historically large number. With that in mind, Adams and his staff are talking about how to improve the board's capacity to receive and process those ballots. The March 17 primary was delayed for almost six weeks until April 28 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some poll workers decided not to work the primary due to COVID-19 concerns, but Adams told commissioners his office is committed to staying in contact with the state and making the polls as safe as possible through training and providing safety equipment. Polling locations also may change in November, as some of them were in private facilities or nursing homes in the past. It is still not known how many of those or which ones will allow polls in November, Adams said. Adams said one of the main problems in the primary, which was rescheduled from March 17 to April 28, was that many people didn't understand the process. He said the aim is to change that for November if more voters choose the mail-in ballot option. The confusion wasn't unique to voters, he said, as "there were many moments where we as elections officials in the state of Ohio didn't understand what the procedures were." Approximately 17,000 had already cast their votes by the time the election was delayed, and the Secretary of State's Office sent out postcards to every registered voter telling them about the changes. That resulted in Adams' office being "inundated with phone calls," from voters who said, "I already voted, are you telling me I have to vote again?" Adams said he didn't think that was the right way to manage the changes. "The postcard was small, it was confusing," he said. Lorain County, which had not budgeted for an extended election, received $113,000 from the state to assist and offset the costs associated with the election being delayed almost six weeks. That included paying for return postage on mail-in ballots for the first time ever, as well as additional staff to help. "That was very helpful to us," said Adams, who put the estimated cost of the primary at slightly more than $160,000. The county also saved money by not opening polling locations, he said. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.