MANSFIELD — It’s shaping up to be a highly unusual primary election season, according to Richland County Board of Elections Director Matt Finfgeld.
“This is really unchartered waters for everyone,” he said Monday. “I have spoken to people who have been involved in (Ohio) elections for years and years and they said they have not experienced this.”
The primary may go on May 3 as scheduled. It may be delayed. Or it could become be divided into two primaries.
At issue is the maps for the Ohio General Assembly, both the House and Senate, which the state’s redistricting commission has drawn and re-drawn — only to see them ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court.
The commission is controlled by Republicans and the court has ruled the districts are unfair to Democrats.
The latest maps, adopted Thursday, are still up for review by the court and the May 3 primary date is just over two months away.
However, state lawmakers control election dates and have directed Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose to proceed, a directive he took to heart Saturday in a letter to 88 county election boards.
LaRose told election boards to “begin taking the necessary steps to place candidates for the General Assembly and state party Central Committees on the May 3rd primary ballot. The order follows the adoption last week of new state House and Senate district plans by the Ohio Redistricting Commission.”
The state’s elections chief, in his letter, said he has communicated his concerns with “rushing this process.”
“These are serious concerns, but our directive is clear, and we will work tirelessly with Ohio’s bipartisan election professionals to achieve it, delivering the secure, accessible election Ohioans expect and deserve,” LaRose said.
The good for the Richland County elections board is the latest versions of the new General Assembly districts are not changed from districts used in previous years.
Richland County remains its own House district, the 76th District. Richland County also remains in a Senate district with Ashland and Medina counties, the 22nd District.
What’s also still up in the air are the U.S. House Districts in Ohio. The Supreme Court gave the commission until mid-March to adopt that new map, though members are trying to get one enacted prior the March 4 filing deadline.
On Monday, the Ohio Association of Election Professionals sent a new letter to state Sen. President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, and House Speaker Bob Cupp, R-Lima, asking the May 3 primary be delayed.
“We ask you to consider delaying the May 3rd primary for all contests,” said Brian Sleeth, association president and director of the Warren County Board of Elections. “Please rest assured that we do not ask this lightly.
“Our strong preference has always been to hold the election on the day it was originally scheduled. However, we feel obligated to share our concerns about the consequences of maintaining our current course,” said Sleeth, whose letter was also signed by Sherry Poland, first vice president of the association and director of the Hamilton County Board of Elections.
“Many counties around the state no longer have the ability to run a successful May 3rd election, and more counties lose that ability each day that we do not have final maps and the legal descriptions we need to implement them,” Sleeth said.
Finfgeld, however, said the local board is proceeding as directed by LaRose and will adapt as needed.
“We need to lay out the ballot,” he said. “We are set to start testing our (voting) machines in two weeks.
“We will get it done, whatever the state decides,” Finfgeld said.
