There must be a better way.
That better way requires a change in state law.
The Anthony Wayne Board of Education election, resolved Nov. 19 by a coin toss, threw light on a bad law.
The coin toss isn’t the problem. A coin toss is about as legitimate a way as any to resolve a tied election.
The real trouble is state law prohibits elections officials from offering updated unofficial totals from timely postmarked but late arriving absentee ballots and provisional ballots. Corrections made to the count caused by human or machine error also fall under this rule of silence. Such a case occurred when some votes in Sylvania weren’t properly tallied because of an error uploading them. They can’t even say a certain race is tied.
Boards of Elections can only release the unofficial count once all precincts report on election eve or the next morning, if the count ran late. The final totals, which can affect the outcome of races, only are revealed when the votes are certified.
The practical effect of that law in the school board election is that the tie vote between Andrew Prine and Troy Lutz was certified by the elections board and then immediately resolved by the coin toss. Mr. Prine won the toss. Neither candidate was present, the Anthony Wayne Board of Education wasn’t notified, and few citizens were present. The only inkling of information issued earlier in the week was that a tied race needed resolution. Not a particular tied race — that might violate the law. That is absurd.
The Lucas County Board of Elections didn’t violate the law; it followed the law. That law must be changed to be fair to candidates and local officials affected by the election.
Why would state law delay the disclosure of updated vote counts by boards of elections? It is nonsensical.
It could be argued that offering updated totals might either be misleading or an election security issue. As long as the voting machines remain secured, that should not be an issue. The release of changing tallies happens all election eve. Disclosing further updated numbers before final certification couldn’t be more misleading than keeping them under wraps.
More information available about elections is a good thing. Letting the people know about changing totals helps tame conspiracy theories about stolen elections.
Those theories gain additional credence with concealment of updated numbers than by the release of those numbers.
The toss Ohio needs is that of an arcane law into the garbage can.
The law should require boards of elections to issue updated unofficial vote tallies once absentee and provisional ballots are counted or errors corrected. That law would be fair to candidates, fair to officeholders, and fair to the public.
First Published November 24, 2021, 5:00 a.m.
