Lucas County voters will go to their fifth early-voting location in eight years beginning in 2016 — and this time, it’s expected to be permanent.

Commissioners have approved a plan for the Board of Elections to take over part of the building used by the county and state employment offices, formerly as The Source and now as OhioMeansJobs, at 1301 Monroe St., according to Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken.

The move is planned for mid-January, which will be in time for the March 15 primary election early voting.

For early voting, the elections board will use space that had been used by the Lucas County Veterans Service Commission. That organization moved in February to 2595 Arlington Ave., where it is close to the Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic and other veterans and military-related services.

Mr. Gerken said the move means early voting should have a permanent home, after being in four locations over the past eight years. Eventually, the rest of the elections board’s operations, including the administrative offices and the warehouse, would follow the early vote center.

The elections board for years has been operating out of multiple buildings. The administrative offices are on the third floor of Government Center. Voting machines, computers, scanners, and printers are stored in a warehouse building on Southard Avenue.

Early voting most recently was conducted at the BTC Building, 1946 N. 13th St. near downtown. BTC has leased the space to another user, and the elections board must move its equipment and furniture by the end of December, said Gina Kaczala, Board of Elections director.

Ms. Kaczala said that early voting will begin in February for the March 15 primary election, so the board must be able to move in equipment and reconfigure wiring and interior partitions by mid-January.

Elections officials have said moving equipment from the warehouse to various early voting locations, along with having to shuttle voting materials on election night first to the warehouse, then to the early vote center for counting, have contributed to machines malfunctioning and delayed reporting unofficial results on election night.

Ms. Kaczala said the Source location meets the board’s requirements because it has ample parking, is near I-75, and is on a TARTA bus line.

“People feel comfortable there. I’m happy just to get in a permanent location when you’re talking about millions of dollars worth of equipment that has to be stored in an area controlled for heating, humidity, and electricity,” Ms. Kaczala said. “I’m hoping more people will use the early voting if it’s in one location.”

OhioMeansJobs would move to a location that hasn’t been determined yet before complete elections board operations move to the center, according to County Administrator Laura Lloyd-Jenkins.

She said the Source building has about 47,000 square feet, and the consolidated elections board needs 40,000 square feet.

— Tom Troy

First Published December 9, 2015, 5:14 a.m.