MANSFIELD — Matt Finfgeld held up a thick stack of envelopes, bound together with a rubber band.
They were 31 ballots for the Nov. 7 election that should have been counted but weren’t. The ballots were all mailed to the Richland County Board of Elections, but didn’t arrive in time.
“These should have been good ballots,” said Finfgeld, the county’s elections director, during a board meeting on Nov. 17. “It’s very disappointing.”
Under Ohio law, mailed absentee ballots must by postmarked by the day before the election and received by the elections board no later than four days after the election in order to be counted.
According to Finfgeld, the 31 ballots were postmarked between Oct. 25 and Nov. 2. Some were mailed from out-of-state, others were from within the county.
The bundle of ballots arrived at the board of elections office on Nov. 16 — five days after the deadline.
Finfgeld said the problem isn’t local postal officials, but the United States Postal Service (USPS) processing center in Cleveland.
“Our mail carrier was so disappointed,” Finfgeld said. “This is a Cleveland problem. This is the worst I’ve seen it.”
USPS spokesperson Naddia Dhalai confirmed that Mansfield used to have a processing center, but it closed 10 years ago. All mail is now routed through Cleveland, regardless of its destination.
Finfgeld told elections board members that the United States Postal Service is supposed to prioritize the delivery of election mail — envelopes with absentee ballots are clearly marked for that purpose.
“From what I understand they’re supposed to be sorting it, pulling the ballots out first. I know that’s what our local carriers try to do,” Finfgeld said.
Finfgeld added that the local USPS delivers mail twice a day to the elections board during election season.
Of the 31 ballots, Finfgeld said there weren’t enough from any one jurisdiction to sway election results.
Nevertheless, Finfgeld told board members he will be filing a complaint with USPS.
During a follow-up call Tuesday, Finfgeld said he’s been in contact with both USPS and the Secretary of State’s office.
“They’re going to see if they can figure out what happened,” he said. “I’m sure we’ll get some answers and hopefully this never happens again, because it shouldn’t.”
Not just a local problem
Dhalai said told Richland Source the agency is “not aware of any issues” in Cleveland or with local postal services in Richland County.
She said USPS has reached out to the Richland County Board of Elections for further information.
“The Postal Service is committed to fulfilling our role in the electoral process when public policy makers choose to utilize us as a part of their election system,” Dhalai said.
“We provide election officials with a secure, efficient and effective means to enable citizens to participate in elections. The Postal Service is committed to delivering Election Mail in a timely manner. We have a robust and proven process to ensure proper handling of all Election Mail, including ballots.”
Jane Zimmerman, deputy director of county elections board, said this issue isn’t unique to Richland County.
“From our Secretary of State Liaison, this isn’t just our county’s problem. There are other counties receiving other counties’ ballots,” she added. “It’s just an overall systematic problem from Cleveland.”
Aaron Ockerman, executive director of the Ohio Association of Election Officials (OAEO), said his organization’s members experienced similar issues.
“I received word from the League of Women Voters on the evening of the election that they had heard from about 24 students concerning undelivered ballots,” he said in an email. “They noted issues in Franklin, Cuyahoga and Lucas counties.”
Ockerman emphasized the fact that “Ohio law accounts for the possibility that a voter may not receive their ballot in a timely manner and allows voters to cast a provisional ballot on Election Day.”
“In the case that the voter’s absentee ballot is not received by the board of elections, that provisional ballot may count,” Ockerman said.
Amanda Jones, director of the Ashland County Board of Elections, said mail delivery this election cycle has been the slowest she’s ever seen.
Jones told Ashland Source the problems led her to file a complaint with electionmail.org, a project of Democracy Works, which aims to be a resource to election administrators.
Should I still vote by mail?
Finfgeld said he won’t discourage residents from voting by mail. He advised absentee voters to mail their ballots in as soon as possible, preferably at least three weeks prior to an election.
Another option is to hand-deliver absentee ballots to the board of elections. Voters can visit the office or place ballots in the secure dropbox outside the building.
Finfgeld said the drop box is monitored 24/7 with a security camera and emptied two to three times per day by a bipartisan team of elections officials during election season.
The board of elections is located inside the county building at 1495 Longview Avenue, Suite 101 in Mansfield.