Answer: “We never throw out a ballot,” said Jan Kelly, director of the Montgomery County Board of Elections. “We call those damaged ballots.”
If a ballot can’t be fed into or read by a high-speed scanner, it goes onto a “reject” pile, but it’s not rejected, Kelly said. Those ballots are reviewed by staff, remade and taken before the Board of Elections.
But if you think your mail-in ballot is ruined — or you erred in how you’d like to vote — you can request a replacement ballot through your elections board or while voting in person.
If a voter marks and returns more than one ballot, the elections board must count only the first ballot, according to the Secretary of State’s Office, which adds it is a felony to vote more than once in the same election.
Question: If I leave things blank on my ballot will it still count? Do I have to vote for a judge of the court of common pleas?
Answer: Your ballot and the votes you cast will get counted regardless of how many or few races you vote, Kelly said.
“If you want to vote just for the dog catcher, vote for that,” she said. “You don’t have to vote for anybody you don’t want to, you don’t have to vote every race. Every ballot will count — the races you voted for or didn’t vote for.”
Question: With early voting at county boards of election, what kind of turnout can we expect at the precincts on Election Day?
Answer: According to the Ohio Secretary of State, a third of all registered Ohio voters have requested to vote early and nearly triple the number of Ohioans are voting early in-person compared to the same time in 2016.
Despite record-setting early voting, the high turnout expected for the election overall coupled with the coronavirus pandemic may mean some voters will face lines at their precinct site on Election Day, Kelly said.
“I don’t think we’re going to have as long of lines as we thought we were going to have,” Kelly said. “We’re still probably looking at a little bit of a wait on the day of the election because of social distancing."
State and county elections officials have emphasizing early voting to “flatten” the number of voters on Election Day to relieve pressure on precinct workers and increase voter safety.
Kelly said overall voter turnout is expected to be above 70% in Montgomery County, which still means some voting locations, particularly ones where multiple precincts are consolidated, could still be busy.
“It it depends on the size of their precinct and what time they get there,” she said.
When you can vote early in person
Early in-person voting hours are uniform across Ohio’s counties.
Sunday, Oct. 25, 1 p.m.-5 p.m.
Monday-Friday, Oct. 26-Oct. 30, 8 a.m.-7 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 31, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 1, 1 p.m.-5 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 2, 8 a.m.-2 p.m.
Where to vote early in person
Butler County Board of Elections
1802 Princeton Road, Suite 600, Hamilton, OH 45011 Telephone: (513) 887-3700 Fax: (513) 887-5535 E-mail: butler@OhioSoS.gov Website: elections.bcohio.gov
Champaign County Board of Elections
1512 S. U.S. 68, Suite L100, Urbana, OH 43078 Telephone: (937) 484-1575 Fax: (937) 484-1578 E-mail: champaig@OhioSoS.gov Website: www.boe.ohio.gov/champaign/
Clark County Board of Elections
CHANGE: Turner Studio Theatre at the Clark State Performing Arts Center, 300 S. Fountain Avenue. Mailing Address: PO Box 1766 Springfield, OH 45501-1766 Telephone: (937) 521-2120 Fax: (937) 328-2603 E-mail: elections@clark.boe.ohio.gov Website: www.boe.ohio.gov/clark/
Greene County Board of Elections
551 Ledbetter Road, Xenia, OH 45385 Telephone: (937) 562-6170 Fax: (937) 562-6171 E-mail: greene@OhioSoS.gov Website: www.greene.boe.ohio.gov
Miami County Board of Elections
215 W. Main St., Troy, OH 45373 Telephone: (937) 440-3900 Fax: (937) 440-3901 E-mail: miami@OhioSoS.gov Website: www.boe.ohio.gov/miami/
Montgomery County Board of Elections
451 W. Third St. Dayton, OH 45422 Telephone: (937) 225-5656 Fax: (937) 496-7798 E-mail: montgome@OhioSoS.gov Website: www.montgomery.boe.ohio.gov
Warren County Board of Elections
520 Justice Dr., Lebanon, OH 45036 Telephone: (513) 695-1358 Fax: (513) 695-2953 E-mail: wcboe@warrencountyohio.gov Website: vote.warrencountyohio.gov
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