Midwest Direct gaffe has Ohio elections officials looking at options

SHEFFIELD TWP. — Midwest Direct, the company that bungled absentee-ballot mailings for thousands of Ohio and Pennsylvania voters in the fall, may be dropped by the Lorain County Board of Elections. Paul Adams, director of the elections board, said he's had multiple conversations with the Cleveland-based company in the past week, focusing on quality control. If elections officials decide not to cancel Midwest's contract to provide voting materials, they want to know delivery will be timely and accurate, he said. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is looking to crack down on problems caused by third-party vendors like Midwest Direct. He's floating a proposed revision to the Ohio Election Official Manual. It would bar local elections boards from outsourcing the printing and mailing of absentee ballots without written permission from LaRose's office. Before choosing a vendor, the Board of Elections would have to "consider any action, appearance of impropriety or political bias that the choice of vendor might impute," the proposed language says. It also would force the vendor to give assurances it has the human resources, technology and supplies to fulfill contracts on time. In mid-October, Lorain County voters grew restless waiting for absentee ballots to arrive in the lead-up to the high-stakes presidential election. It turned out that fewer than half the 63,000 absentee ballots that should have been mailed Oct. 6 actually made it to the post office. Midwest Direct eventually acknowledged the problem, and Adams and a bipartisan team of officials traveled to Cleveland to make sure it was fixed. By the time mailings were caught up, the ballots were 10 days late. Midwest Direct also faced national criticism because a flag supporting then-President Donald Trump flew over its Cleveland plant, raising questions about whether it was fulfilling its contract in a nonpartisan manner. CEO Richard Gebbie denied wrongdoing. "For the 10 years we've been producing ballots, Midwest has never held or prioritized ballot printing for any reason," he wrote. "This year, we processed every ballot without regard to party, geography or county, as we always do. Any suggestion that our personal political beliefs prompted us to slow down ballot production and distribution is absolutely false." Like all in Ohio, the Lorain County Board of Elections is bipartisan. In December, its Republican and Democratic members directed Adams to evaluate Midwest and look for possible alternative vendors. Adams said there aren't many who can do what Midwest does — maybe three vendors in Ohio can print, sort, fold, insert and mail absentee-ballot materials, he believes. A decision is coming, but not pressing, Adams said. Midwest Direct's help will not be needed for the spring primary, which is expected to have low turnout. Of the 158,732 ballots cast in the Nov. 3 election in Lorain County, 62,406 were absentee by mail. Adams said he "can't imagine more than 4,000 or 5,000" being needed for the May 4 primary, which includes a handful of municipal elections and local issues. It's likely some areas of the county won't have anything to vote on at all, he said. The Lorain County Board of Elections has the printers and personnel necessary to make and mail all the ballots for the 2021 primary, Adams said. Some small-population Ohio counties can print all their ballots in-house, even during bigger elections, he said — but that's not logistically possible here. A third-party vendor will be needed to share the load. Contact Jason Hawk at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.