Warren delays counting absentee ballots

Jessica Brown reports:

Between 2,000 and 3,000 absentee ballots in Warren County will not be counted until Nov. 21 – a move that could potentially affect a Kings school levy which failed by fewer than 300 votes.

Board of Elections Director Susan Johnson said Wednesday morning it’s standard procedure that absentee ballots that are voted Friday or Saturday or are received at the board office by mail on Monday or Tuesday are not counted right away because elections officials have to verify that the voters didn’t also cast a ballot at the polls.

“We got most of them counted that we would normally count,” said Susan Johnson of the board of elections. “Usually the ones that come in right before Election Day don’t get counted until the official count ( on Nov. 21) because we have to verify they didn’t go to the polls twice,” Johnson said. “Also, the ones that came back in the mail, we didn’t have time to validate those Monday or Tuesday.”

With a change in Ohio law that allows anyone to file an absentee ballot, many more absentee ballots were filed this year. Now, there's a higher volume of uncounted absentee ballots, making them a bigger issue that could affect some races.

Although the percentage of uncounted ballots is about the same as in years past, the volume is about three times greater because of the sheer number of absentee ballots voted this year.

For example, in the last governor’s race the elections board received about 2,800 absentee ballots. This year it received 9,600.

“There is a bigger volume. I don’t know that the percentage is different,” Johnson said.

Kings Superintendent Charles Mason said last night that the board’s decision to hold off on counting those ballots was “disappointing.”

The Kings $27.2 million bond issue failed by 284 votes – or 48 percent to 52 percent, according to unofficial results from the board of elections.