By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
In the last presidential primary, 37,746 Wood County voters cast ballots. As of Friday morning, fewer than half of that number had turned in their ballots in this year’s unusual primary.
And just a few days remain until the returned ballots must be postmarked.
The Wood County Board of Elections had mailed out 16,363 ballots to local voters requesting them – and had received 11,736 completed ballots back as of Friday.
Another 3,299 voters cast their ballots in the board of elections office – before the March 17 primary election was postponed and shifted to a mail-in ballot election.
“It is low. That’s a little over half of the same turnout,” Terry Burton, of the Wood County Board of Elections, said Friday about the number of ballots received so far compared to 2016. “I don’t know if anyone could have possibly thought it would be otherwise.”
To be counted, ballots must be postmarked by Monday, April 27, or placed in the board of elections drop box outside the county courthouse by 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 28.
There are multiple possible reasons for the low turnout so far, Burton said. Among those are:
- Overall confusion about the primary, which started out as a regular in-person election, then became a mail-in only election due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials had warned that there was not enough time to convert to a mail-in process.
- The fact that both presidential primaries have already been narrowed down to Democratic candidate Joe Biden and Republican candidate Donald Trump.
- Reported delays in the mail system, with some mail taking seven to nine days to reach their destinations.
- Overriding concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
“Having to change in the middle of an election was difficult for voters,” Burton said. It was also a difficult transition for the staffs at boards of elections across the state.
The Wood County Board of Elections has streamlined its process of getting ballots out to voters who requested them. The staff has worked hard to ensure a same-day turnaround on ballot requests.
“My staff is about wiped out doing it,” Burton said. “It’s very labor intensive.”
The local board of elections hired a couple additional temporary staff to help, and went to two shifts so workers could maintain the necessary social distancing recommendations.
“We sent out 250 ballots yesterday,” Burton said.
However, it’s questionable if those ballots will be returned by the Monday deadline.
“It’s not reasonable to assume that mail would be delivered that quickly, even under the best of circumstances,” Burton said.
The board of elections is noticing more interest in ballots from those areas of the county with issues on the ballot – but less than normal for a presidential primary since the top candidates for both major parties have been decided.
“That drops interest off,” Burton said. “The presidential races aren’t driving people.”
If mail-in elections become a way of the future, Burton is certain Ohio can do better if given more time to prepare. The state could streamline the process – like other states do already – by automatically mailing ballots to every citizen, he said.
The process used for Ohio’s hastily changed primary election has required voters to mail in a request, then the board of elections to mail out a ballot, then the voter to return the ballot through the mail.
A last-minute decision made in response to delayed ballots in the mail, will allow voters who properly requested absentee ballots in the mail, but have not received them, to cast a provisional ballot in person at the board of elections office on Tuesday. People with disabilities or who are homeless were already allowed to do so.
“If we have a large number of people, that’s not good for anybody,” Burton said.
