The Lucas County Board of Elections has not changed its training procedures for poll workers in Tuesday's special election, despite the problems caused by flawed provisional ballots in the last election.
The board's handling of provisional ballots in the Nov. 2 election prompted an investigation by the Ohio Secretary of State that led to the dismissal of the board's former director and deputy director, and is continuing.
And a review by The Blade found nearly half the 4,000 provisional ballots cast in that election had some flaw in the way the ballot envelope was filled out, including more than 500 envelopes with flaws that arguably could have rendered the ballot invalid.
Board Chairman Patrick Kriner Wednesday said new training requirements for future elections, based on new secretary of state guidelines, will be presented to the board for a vote on Tuesday, but the training procedures were not amended for that day's election.
Asked whether that was appropriate given the problems with the ballots last year, he declined to comment.
Kelly Mettler, the elections manager and one of two senior elections staffers taking on management duties in the absence of a director and a deputy director, said the board gave the same prescribed three-hour training as was given in the previous election.
"We train them based on what our directives are. We train them the same way every time," Ms. Mettler said.
She said she didn't attend the training sessions, but the trainers probably highlighted the problems that surfaced in the Nov. 2 election.
"I'm sure they did. Whenever something comes up from another election, they always train using that as a tool and say, 'Last election this happened or that happened, and this is how they handled it,' " Ms. Mettler said.
Problems with provisional ballots included instances in which poll workers failed to sign the ballot envelopes, failed to specify the identification the voter presented, or accepted ballot envelopes from voters who didn't fill out their portion of the forms completely.
The problems with the ballots led George Sarantou, the defeated Republican candidate for Lucas County commissioner, to complain that flawed ballots cost him the election. He lost to Democrat Carol Contrada by 193 votes after about 4,000 provisional ballots were added to the unofficial total from the Nov. 2 election.
Mr. Sarantou said he hopes the elections board pays more attention to how provisional ballots are handled.
"God help us if there's a close levy," Mr. Sarantou said. "My understanding is that there's not a final report done yet on my election. I would hope that the secretary of state's office is closely supervising this election, not just in the preparation, but on Election Day, so the voters can be assured there are uniform regulations that are being enforced."
Provisional ballots are used mostly by voters who have recently moved without updating their voter registration, and are counted 10 days after the election if the elections board has verified the voter's registration.
Lucas County's former director, Linda Howe, and deputy director, Jeremy Demagall, were fired in March after they recommended the board count 114 ballots that were cast in the wrong precinct over the advice of the secretary of state's office.
Lucas County Republican Chairman Jon Stainbrook said the board should step up to fix its procedures.
"The board has continually claimed they followed proper procedures on handling and counting of the ballots. If that was true, people would not have been fired," Mr. Stainbrook said. "The board has never taken responsibility for what happened with George Sarantou. It's the same mistakes over and over, and then it's on to the next election."
The secretary of state's office has been meeting weekly in telephone conference calls to prepare the board for the upcoming election.
A spokesman for Secretary of State Jon Husted declined to allow members of the secretary of state's team to comment on what advice it has given the local board.
Poll workers are required to take a three-hour training before each election. They can qualify for an extra $10 payment if they take an on-line training from the secretary of state's office.
The addition of provisional ballots in the Nov. 2 election changed the outcome of the Lucas County commissioner race, putting Mrs. Contrada in the lead to stay, and it changed the outcome of a Springfield Local School District levy from defeated to passed.
Tuesday's election takes place in only three jurisdictions in Lucas County.
In Toledo City Council District 4, voters will choose among appointed incumbent Councilman Paula Hicks-Hudson, a Democrat; unendorsed Democrat Terry Shankland; and endorsed Republican Alfonso Narvaez.
Voters will decide on a 5.9-mill, continuing operating levy in the Maumee school district and a 4.9-mill, continuing operating levy in the Sylvania school district.
Contract Tom Troy at: tomtroy@theblade.com or 419-724-6058.
First Published April 28, 2011, 5:58 a.m.
