A polling location in Lucas County will be relocated because of concerns about the coronavirus when voting in Ohio’s primary election takes place next week, the Lucas County Board of Elections said Tuesday.
The polling place originally located at Sunset Retirement Village on Metamora Road in Sylvania will be relocated to Joseph Diehn Legion Post at 5580 Centennial Road, Sylvania. Only voters in precinct Sylvania K will be affected. The primary election will be next Tuesday.
Tim Monaco, deputy director of Lucas County board of Elections, said the polling location serves a single precinct with 1,342 voters. It’s the only polling location in Lucas County that was in a senior living facility.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced Tuesday that all polling places located at senior living facilities will be moved elsewhere for the upcoming primary election. Statewide, Mr. LaRose said there are 128 polling locations that would be moved as a result of the directive.
Polling places located in schools would not be moved, Mr. LaRose said, because there are so many that it wouldn’t be feasible. And children, he said, are currently considered a low-risk group when it comes to coronavirus.
“The threat increases with age,” Mr. LaRose said. “The population we’re most concerned about is our seniors.”
He encouraged everyone to practice good hygiene, guard against disinformation, and vote early if possible.
Dr. Amy Acton, director of the Ohio Department of Health, said voters who belong to one of the high-risk groups — elderly people, people with pre-existing medical conditions, and people with impaired immune systems — should try to vote early if they can. At the same time, health officials are working to sanitize voting machines and ensure that everyone who participates in the election is protected, she said.
“My team has worked tirelessly to make sure voting is safe,” she said.
Gov. Mike DeWine signed a state of emergency after three people in Cuyahoga County tested positive for the virus. More than two dozen people in the United States have died from COVID-19, which began in China.
The Lucas County Board of Elections is providing cleaning instructions and materials to all voting locations for election day to keep the equipment disinfected, officials said.
In Lucas County, early voting will continue at 1301 Monroe St., as scheduled, according to officials. The deadline to request an absentee ballot for the March 17 election is noon on Saturday, and absentee ballots must be postmarked by the day before the election in order to be counted or dropped off at the Lucas County Board of Elections on March 17 from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
First Published March 10, 2020, 4:36 p.m.
