MANSFIELD — A bill signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Mike DeWine all but guarantees Ohio will have in-person voting available on Nov. 3.
The question remains — will be there enough workers to process those who choose to cast their ballots at polling places around the state during the COVID-19 pandemic?
House Bill 272, which also protects closure of churches, makes it clear there will be no last-hour Election Day stoppage like the state saw during the primary cycle in March, which was postponed by the DeWine administration as the coronavirus reached into Ohio.
Under the new law, “… no public official shall cause an election to be conducted other than in the time, place, and manner prescribed by the Revised Code,” which means only state lawmakers have the authority to change election day schedules and procedures.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who oversees elections, has ramped up recruitment of residents to work the polls in the state’s 88 counties with a stated goal of more than 55,000 and a minimum need of 37,000.
Many of Ohio’s traditional elections workers are older residents, an age group that has proven to be especially vulnerable to COVID-19. According to the state’s Department of Health website, as of Wednesday, 92 percent of the state’s 4,555 deaths have been among those 60 and older.
Richland County Board of Elections Director Paulette Hankins said Wednesday it’s still too early to determine if the county will have its normal complement of poll workers. The board previously surveyed poll workers who have served in the past, but didn’t hear back from about half.
“Right now, all we can do is ‘guestimate.’ Since we only received about half of the survey letters we sent out to poll workers to see if they planned on working or not, it’s really hard to quote definite numbers,” Hankins said.
She said poll worker assignment letters will be mailed by Friday and that her office would know more then since workers planning to opt out will likely then respond after getting the letter. Hankins said much of that may depend on the local spread of COVID-19.
Richland County has been ranked “yellow,” or level one, for the past month in the state’s Public Health Advisory System. According to ODH, there were 66 active COVID-19 cases in the county as of Wednesday in a county of 121,154 residents.
“At this point, we’re just trying to recruit as many as possible to take the training (in October),” Hankins said. “If we end up with more than enough, we’ll add a couple of extra workers to the larger vote centers. The extra workers’ duties would include helping with the inside traffic flow, sanitizing the equipment, and assisting with curbside voting, which we expect to increase.”
Hankins said the elections board has mailed out between 500 and 600 letters and class schedules to prospective workers who have contacted us personally or signed up through the Secretary of State’s site.
“We have added two more class times for a total of three for new poll workers and will add more if necessary,” she said.
“Today alone, we received 195 names from that site. Hopefully this election is different, because in the past, we have not had a good track record with the online sign-ups following through and actually showing up for the training,” Hankins said.
“On the assignment letters going out Friday, we are probably short about 15 or 20 workers. We would like to have a minimum of 100 new workers trained and ready to work,” she said.
Hankins said local elections officials will continue to work to get the word out that poll workers are needed and that training dates are upcoming.
“It’s just difficult to predict whether we’ll have 25 people show up at our training, or 325,” she said.
LaRose’s office said Wednesday that nearly 40,000 Ohioans have signed up to serve as poll workers and has launched a poll worker tracking site online to show the needs and also the successes of recruitment efforts.
In an email Wednesday, LaRose said another 22,000 poll workers are needed for the election, now less than seven weeks away.
“Ohioans from all walks of life are stepping up, but there is more work to do,” said LaRose. “We’re recruiting on multiple fronts, and we won’t stop until we meet our goal.”
