By Don Rutledge and
Carol McIntire
December 8, 2009
Voters may be using paper ballots if they prefer to cast in-person absentee ballots at the Carroll County Board of Elections office.
In their response to 11 questions from the Ohio Secretary of State’s office, the Carroll County Board of Elections said they plan to adopt a policy stating only paper ballots will be used in the office for early voting at elections.
The board met its Dec. 5 extension of the deadline to respond to the 11 additional questions from David M. Farrell, deputy assistant secretary of state and director of elections. The letter from Farrell was a result of an inquiry about 27 absentee ballots cast in person on an electronic voting machine in the Board Elections office prior to the Feb. 3, 2009 special election. It was the second request for answers regarding the uncounted ballots.
The board’s response went on to note that if the Board of Elections should decide to use the TSX unit (electronic voting machine) for in-office early voting, a new policy for accepting ballots in GEMS or on the TSX unit would need to be adopted.
They also plan to prohibit any future problems with uncounted ballots by requiring the official canvas and unofficial results and any other ballots added in for the official canvass must balance. Reports must be printed out and signed.
In a letter to Farrell dated Oct. 20 from the Board of Elections, it was noted that a preliminary check was done on the poll books between the unofficial and official count. After the official count (known as the official canvass) was complete and during the posting of voter history, it was discovered the number of voter signatures in the precincts did not match the total votes cast for the precincts. When the clerks compared the amount the books were off, they discovered it was the same number as the number of absentee ballots cast in person in the Board of Elections office.
It was noted during a Board of Elections meeting in October that once the mistake was discovered, the clerks notified the director who in turn notified the chairman of the board, but no action was taken. Chairman Glenda Carter said during that meeting she was told about the situation, but she did not tell other board members and she did not file an amended report with the Secretary of State’s office.
That led to the first letter from Farrell, seeking information about the election. The response to those questions led to the second request for answers from Farrell.
In the response to the second set of questions, it was noted that, at the first sign of any problems, in the future, all board members must be notified by telephone and followed up by a letter. Then, the board is responsible for the action to be taken.
The response letter to Farrell provided technical responses to the use of the TSX machine during in-person early absentee ballots, a timeline of events concerning the use of the machine and memory cards from the time of testing prior to the election through the official canvass Feb. 17, identified the people who handled the machine and memory cards during the various stages of the election. The timeline noted the machine and memory card were only handled by Amanda Tubaugh, now the deputy director of the Board of Elections, who was at that time an employee of Trinity Consultants & Services; Christine Vernier, director of the Board of Elections, and the presiding judge at the Minerva A precinct where the machine was transported on Feb. 3 when one of their voting machines failed to work.
The board was also asked to explain how the signatures in poll books, memory cards and summary statements were reconciled with election results during the official canvass and if the board was given a chance to examine them before the official canvass.
The response indicated the Feb. 3 election was the first election an accounting sheet was used and the clerks wrote their reconciliation on the front cover of the signature books instead of on an accounting sheet, as was done in the past. The board members did not have the opportunity to examine the information. |
