Early voting is still possible

Options remain before Nov. 3 Election Day

Lorain County voters who want to cast their Nov. 3 ballots early, will have options on the two days before, said the county’s elections chief.

And the polls will be open on Election Day, said Paul Adams, director of the Lorain County Board of Elections.

Bring back ballots

In fall 2020, the elections board has created a parking lot department, with up to 15 staff working rotations at an outside information tent and drive-thru ballot drop-off station.

The drive-thru station allows voters who requested absentee ballots by mail to drop them off at the board office, 1985 North Ridgeville Road in Sheffield Township.

It is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends and during the open hours of inperson absentee voting at the board office.

Voters returning their ballots that way do not need to affix postage to the envelopes.

Nov. 1

The elections board will open from 1-5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, for in-person early voting.

On Sundays, there usually is a hefty line when the doors open at 1 p.m., Adams said.

He added he was not sure if that happens because people come immediately after breakfast or church, or they assume the board opens at noon.

Usually, the line dwindles by 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

By 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., there has been almost no waiting to vote on Sundays, Adams said, and people should note the board is open till 5 p.m.

Nov. 2

The board office will open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, for in-person absentee voting.

Anyone in line by 2 p.m., can vote early at the board office.

After that time, the board office will be open, but will not have in-person absentee voting.

Voters who show up will be instructed to go to their polling place from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Nov. 3.

Where to go

The Lorain County Board of Elections maintains an online locator for voters to find their polling places.

Voters can search for polling places using their names or addresses.

Nov. 3

On Election Day, the Board of Elections office will open.

But only voters casting provisional ballots can vote there on Election Day.

Regular voters cannot vote at the board office on Election Day.

They must go to their polling places that day, which is a requirement of Ohio law, Adams said.

Observers gonna observe

This year, the Lorain County Democratic Party and Lorain County Republican Party have filed paperwork to have observers at the polls on Election Day.

That is nothing new or unusual, Adams said.

The parties can make changes to filings up to 4 p.m., Nov. 2, so as of Oct. 28, there was no list of who those observers would be.

“It’s very, very simple of what the observer can do,” Adams said. “The observer gets to do exactly what the title says they’d do, which is observe.”

Observers cannot get involved in voter processing or stop election officials from their duties.

They cannot use video or audio recordings or photograph how people vote on races or issues.

Observers may leave a polling location and call the Board of Elections to notify the board of their observations.

Any who violate the rules will get a warning; a second violation means the observers are relieved of their position, Adams said.

Lorain County has never had any major problems with observers on Election Day, and that likely will be the case Nov. 3, he said.

Change your mind?

If voters already cast their ballots, but decide they want to change a vote, they should not bother going to the polls or elections board office to try.

Ohio has no legal mechanism to be able to change a vote once it is cast, Adams said.

Even if Ohio law did allow that, the voting system is set up for anonymity, he said.

Once Lorain County voters put their paper cards into the scanner, there is no identifying mark to show a specific ballot belonged to a specific voter.

The same holds true with mail-in ballots, Adams said.

Once workers open the identification envelope, they remove an identifying ballot stub and put the ballot into a batch to be scanned.

So again, there is no way to know whose ballot that is, Adams said.

Spanish language

The elections board has about 50 to 60 poll workers fluent in Spanish working on Election Day.

Bilingual workers are stationed at polling places in South Lorain and at larger polling places around the county, Adams said.

If translation is not available at a polling place but a voter needs it, poll workers can call the board office and bilingual workers can assist.

The Lorain County Board of Elections maintains a Spanish language version of its website.

Wear a mask

Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Ohio Secretary of State has directed the Ohio governor to order people to wear masks inside voting locations.

“We expect that voters will wear a mask when they arrive at a polling location,” Adams said.

If they do not, the Ohio

Secretary of State has mandated the following procedure:

Poll workers will ask voters if they want a mask and will supply one to wear at the polling location.

If the voter says no, poll workers must ask if the voter would like to vote curbside from the car.

If the voter says yes, Democratic and Republican poll workers will take a paper ballot out to the car to vote outside.

If the voter says no, poll workers will process the voter inside at the polling location.

Elections staff used the same procedure for in-person absentee voting at the board office.

Working with about 2,000 people a day, just one or two people would opt for voting inside while not wearing a face covering, Adams said.

“I don’t anticipate it’s going to be a major issue,” he said. “But, I think it is important for voters to know, those questions that a poll worker is going to ask you, that’s not something we made up in Lorain County.

“That’s something that every board of elections is mandated to do, to ask those questions and follow the procedure that I just outlined.”

Poll workers will ask voters if they want a mask and will supply one to wear at the polling location.