The director of the Lucas County Board of Elections on Monday blamed the use of an incorrect database and lack of communication by one of her managers for a mistake that left two candidates off the ballot in Sylvania on Nov. 3.

During a 30-minute discussion of the problem at the board’s regular meeting, Director Gina Kaczala said that the manager of the global election management system, referred to as GEMS, had created a database to use in the election but did not know that Sylvania city voters vote for Sylvania Township officers. The mistake showed up on the ballot, and no one caught it during the proofreading process.

The manager, Travis Moody, started his job in August, 2014.

David Simko, who was a candidate for township fiscal officer, and Neil Mahoney, who ran for township trustee, appeared only on ballots in the township, not in the city, until the mistake was corrected about the middle of Election Day, after consultation with the Ohio Secretary of State’s office.

The mistake had no effect on the outcome because both candidates were unopposed. Ms. Kaczala said the election report will carry a line explaining why the vote total was lower than would be expected.

Ms. Kaczala praised Mr. Moody as an excellent manager who had taken over from an election system manager whom the board had fired. 

She said the election counting is based on a database that is supposed to be carried forward from one election to the next, incorporating the latest changes in precinct boundaries.

She said the previous GEMS manager created a variety of databases for the county’s election system that were causing confusion. Unable to determine which databases were good, she said Mr. Moody created a new database without informing her or Deputy Director LaVera Scott.

“We advised him to ask for assistance as needed,” she said.

The mistake could have been discovered, but wasn’t, during staff review of the ballots and during a mandatory 24-hour period in which the ballot proofs were set out for public review. That review began Sept. 30.

In addition, before the election, any member of the public could have looked at his or her ballot through a website link established this year for the first time between the Lucas County Board of Elections and the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office. Because of the different issues and races in front of the voters this year, and with 352 precincts, some of them split between school districts, there were more than 400 different ballots used in Lucas County on Nov. 3.

Ms. Kaczala said the board has established new protocols for proofreading ballots that she said should make it less likely the mistake would reoccur.

Ms. Kaczala cited several other problems that contributed to the late reporting on Election Night, including the board’s ongoing complaint about having to split its operations between three office locations.

“We also hope in the next year we’re going to be in one location,” she said.

The Lucas County commissioners have retained a real estate agent to find a building for a consolidated elections office.

Contact Tom Troy: tomtroy@theblade.com or 419-724-6058 or on Twitter @TomFTroy.

First Published November 17, 2015, 5:06 a.m.