The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Election chair: Votes secure
Lorain County’s voting process has checks and balances needed to avoid voter fraud at the polls, said Marilyn Jacobcik, chairwoman of the Lorain County Board of Elections.
Jacobcik and fellow Republican Jack Baird, with Democratic board members Thomas J. Smith and Anthony Giardini, are the four-person panel that oversee county election issues.
Director Paul Adams, a Democrat, and Deputy Director James Kramer, a Republican, oversee the daily operations at the board office, 1985 North Ridge Road East in Sheffield Township.
Voter fraud
In past elections, the Lorain County Board of Elections has rejected some ballots.
“Most rejected ballots are for something other than fraud,” Jacobcik said. “And every now and then, we do come across something that is potentially fraudulent.
“Th e point is, we catch it and we catch it before the ballots are counted.”
The board will investigate as much as it can before turning over the information to the Lorain County Prosecutor’s Office for further action.
“On occasion, we’ll have someone that, if we can find them, we’ll try to prosecute,” Jacobcik said. “Often, we don’t find them.
“But the good news is, they didn’t have a ballot that counted anyway.”
There are so many safeguards built into the process of registering and making sure voters are who they say they are, she said.
Ohio has a lot less fraud than people may think, especially compared to other states.
Come out on Election Day
As of Oct. 29, about 44 percent of Lorain County’s voters already had cast their ballots, Jacobcik said.
“So, we’re actually thrilled to see that interest this early,” she said. “We hope the other 56 percent are going to show up on Election Day at the polls.
“We still have that Election Day coming up, too, and we’ve done everything in our power to make sure that voting is easy for people and is as accessible as possible.”
Voter encouragement
Jacobcik lives in Avon and monitors social media sites pertaining to that community.
She said she really is encouraged when people post about the waiting times at the Board of Elections.
When people ask about waiting times at the elections board, people respond
by saying they waited 10 or 12 or 20 minutes at a certain time, and that the Board of Elections workers are organized and efficient, Jacobcik said.
“So, even voters themselves are encouraging each other to get out and vote,
and that’s really a good sign,” she said.
Help available
On Oct. 30, one local political campaigner took to social media to show video of rough conditions at the Board of Elections park
ing lot.
Joyce Early said on Oct. 30, she witnessed a woman, using a walker for assistance, fall down when her mobility aid dropped into a pothole in the lot.
The woman needed medical help and apparently was taken away by ambulance, said Early, who in the past was a frequent audience member at Lorain City Council meetings.
Board of Elections members know the parking lot is in rough shape, Jacobcik said.
They hoped to have it repaired before the election, but with the bidding process earlier this year, the work would have taken place while early voting was going on, she said.
Board members did not want that disruption.
Jacobcik said she was not aware of any formal complaints about the parking lot pavement.
Early said voters should know elections staff will assist them voting from their car if they have mobility issues that make it difficult to cross the parking lot.
Jacobcik confirmed staff will help voters that way and voters can ask workers at the parking lot information tent about curbside voting.
Voters who received ballots by mail also can use the drive-thru drop-off station to return ballots without leaving their cars, she said.