Mix-up prompts voters check

A case of voters being assigned to the wrong congressional district for the May 8 primary election has prompted the Franklin County Board of Elections to review and fix the way it determines boundaries.

When the error was first discovered in Grandview Heights, the elections board sent one of its employees there to make sure that voters were casting ballots correctly.

The county says that it has since begun a full review of the profile of every county voter to determine and verify his or her correct congressional district.

The board coordinated with mapping experts in the Franklin County auditor’s office to cross- reference data with its own.

On Friday, the board mailed letters to 790 voters in the 12th Congressional District whose district assignments needed to be changed.

Of those, 56 might have cast ballots in the wrong district — either the 3rd or the 15th congressional districts, said Aaron Sellers, spokesman for the elections board.

“We don’t know and we can’t tell how many people voted for the congressional races,” Sellers said.

The affected voters comprise 291 households throughout the district. The letters were sent to ensure accuracy in the Aug. 7 special election, for which early voting begins July 10.

Additional letters will be sent this fall to registered voters in the 3rd and 15th districts, where early voting will begin Oct. 10 for the November general election.

Affected voters also will receive recorded phone messages.

The board said about one- third of 1 percent of voters countywide will have their congressional district changed.

Board Director Ed Leonard said the errors likely began when complex district boundaries changed six years ago and precinct boundaries were used instead of census track lines to align the boundaries.

“Please know that we will make every effort to ensure that this does not happen again,” Leonard wrote to the affected voters.