Ohio elections offer look at voting in pandemic

Tuesday will give us a glimpse of what voting in a pandemic might look like in November.

Didn’t know there was an election on Aug. 4 in Ohio? You can be forgiven.

Only a handful of places throughout the state have anything to vote on.

In Hamilton County, there are two levies: one in the village of St. Bernard, another in Mount Healthy.

There will only be three polling locations where probably only a few hundred voters will show up in Hamilton County. Statewide, only 14 out of 88 counties will have an election, all levies or referendums.

Though small, it’ll be the first time in Ohio where there is in-person voting at precinct locations during the pandemic.

“It is a great opportunity to see how we can implement social distancing and sanitation protocols,” said Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio. “It’ll be good to hear from poll workers how it runs so we can improve how it’ll work in the fall.”

Here’s how Tuesday will work: Voters in St. Bernard, a village of 4,300, will be asked to renew a 7-mill property tax levy to pay for the village operations, which costs taxpayers $194 per $100,000 of property value.

A big tax hike is on the ballot in Mount Healthy. The 12.9-mill levy would cost homeowners an additional $451 per $100,000 of value. It would pay for full-time fire and paramedic services. Mount Healthy currently has a part-time fire department that can’t provide paramedics.

The city of 6,000 people just north of Cincinnati relies on mutual aid from neighboring communities to provide emergency medical runs. That has delayed response time, said Mayor James Wolf. Service calls to Mount Healthy have increased 60% since 2004, causing some of the surrounding communities to demand Mount Healthy provide its own full-time paramedics, he said.

“It’s very big,” Wolf said of the levy. “Unfortunately, it has to be.”

Polling booths will be spaced out. People in line will be made to stand 6 feet apart. All poll workers will be wearing masks, face shields and gloves.

Voters will be “strongly encouraged” to wear masks. Masks will be provided to those who need them, said Sherry Poland, director of the Hamilton County

Board of Elections.

Hand sanitizer will also be provided for every voter.

A poll worker at each location will be in charge of sanitation, ensuring each machine and station is wiped down before someone votes, Poland said.

Tuesday won’t answer the biggest concern election officials have about the November election: will there be enough people to staff the polls?

Tuesday’s election will only require Hamilton County to enlist 24 poll workers. November’s election will require 2,500 poll workers in the county, 35,000 statewide.

“That is our biggest concern,” Poland said.

Because the age of poll workers tends to skew older, many have backed out due to concerns over the coronavirus. Poland has estimated Hamilton County may need an additional 1,200 workers for the polls in November.

The Hamilton County Board of Elections has put the call out asking for businesses to give employees paid time off to work the polls. Financial company Western & Southern announced it would offer this to its employees. Secretary of State Frank Larose told The Enquirer recently he hopes more will follow suit.

Poland said they’re also trying to recruit high school seniors. The Ohio Supreme Court approved a plan to enlist attorneys as poll workers, allowing them to use it as credit for required continuing education.

No matter how well Tuesday goes, election officials want people to vote early. Early voting for the general election begins Oct. 6, when voters can first start submitting ballots and voting in-person at the Hamilton County Board of Elections.

Hamilton County has already received more than 11,000 requests, Poland said.

Starting Labor Day, boards of election across the state will send the 7.8 million voters in Ohio ballot request forms.

The Mount Healthy mayor has already voted early for Tuesday’s election. Wolf was one of 56 people who submitted early ballots for the Aug. 4 election as of Wednesday afternoon.

He’ll still be at the polls checking on how things are going.

“I think it’ll be an interesting test run,” Wolf said. “We’re tiny. We’re 1.4 square miles. We don’t have the density that we’ll see in November at the polls.”