The Lucas County Board of Elections on Sunday rejected 42 provisional ballots from the Nov. 8 election because the voters had also submitted a valid absentee ballot.
During the special meeting Sunday, the election board considered the validity of provisional ballots cast in the county that had a variety of errors or problems. In all, the board accepted 4,952 provisional ballots cast in the county and rejected 945.
In the cases of voters who doubled up in this way, the board counted the absentee ballot and rejected the provisional ballot.
Board officials speculated that the absentee/provisional duplicates were in part to blame on confusion and concern after a number of requested absentee ballots were delayed in arriving before the election. As of Nov. 1, election officials said more than 1,050 people in northwest Ohio had ballots that were delayed for weeks or were not delivered at all.
In response to reports of missing or delayed ballots, the elections board made arrangements to try to keep mail local and have last-minute replacement ballots processed and distributed by the U.S. Postal Service facility on St. Clair Street in Toledo instead of the Michigan Metroplex Processing and Distribution Center in Pontiac, Mich.
LaVera Scott, deputy director of the Lucas County board of elections, said at Sunday’s meeting that 182 absentee ballots have arrived since Election Day in time to be counted. All must have had a postmark of Nov. 7 or earlier and must be returned within 10 days of the election to be counted.
Among the other reasons the provisional ballots were in question: dates of birth and addresses were missing or didn’t match voter records, ballots cast by unregistered voters, or ones from voters who went to the correct polling location but wrong precinct.
The board will next meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday to review remade ballots and at 1 p.m. Wednesday to certify the election results. Both meetings will be held at the Early Vote Center, 1301 Monroe St.
Contact Lauren Lindstrom at llindstrom@theblade.com, 419-724-6154, or on Twitter @lelindstrom.
First Published November 21, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
