Post-Election Audit Confirms Accuracy of Election Night Results;
BOE Move to Geauga County Office Building (GCOB) is Uncertain
Geauga County Board of Elections (BOE) - Special Meeting 11/26/2024
Meeting Info: Special Meeting on November 26, 2024 at 9:00 am in BOE Conference Room at 470 Center St, Bldg 6A, Chardon, OH, 44024. Attendance options were both in-person and virtual, via Microsoft Teams. An agenda was provided in advance and copies were distributed to all attendees.
Attendance: Present were:
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Board Chair - Dennis Pavella
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Board Member - Joan Windnagel
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Board Member - Richard Piraino
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Director - Michelle Lane
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Deputy Director - Nora McGinnis
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Office Administrator - Scott Daisher
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Board Member - Janet Carson
County Representatives: Frank Antenucci, ADP (Automatic Data Processing) Chief Deputy Administrator
Appointed Election Observers: Walter ‘Skip’ Claypool, representing and appointed by the Geauga County Republican Party
Others: In person, Ohio Secretary of State Liaison Fiona Ruminski, 1 member of the public and LWV Geauga Observer Shelly Lewis. Virtually, 1 member of the public. Ms. Ruminski arrived shortly before noon.
Call to Order: 9:08 am
Minutes: None presented
Payment of Bills: Bills totaling $4,864.00 were approved, and included:
ADP Update: Mr. Antenucci inquired about the Board’s plans for vacating the current offices at the 470 Center Street location. For planning purposes, he indicated there are system updates ADP will need to make if the Board of Elections plans to remain at the 470 Center Street location. He assured the Board that ADP is fully committed to supporting the BOE regardless of where they are located.
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Mr. Piraino expressed unwillingness to occupy the Geauga County Office Building (GCOB) space until all outstanding concerns have been addressed.
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Mr. Pavella noted that a May Special Election seems likely, which will require that the BOE be moved and fully operational by Feb 5/Feb 6.
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Mrs. Carson questioned whether the GCOB has the capacity to handle voters’ growing demand for early in-person voting.
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Mrs. Windnagel inquired if ADP knew anything about plans for the Library Administration Building. Mr. Antenucci indicated there were unconfirmed reports that the Library may “amalgamate the admin [Library Administration building] into the Chardon Library whenever they build that.”
The board inquired about ADP’s plans for supporting other county tenants in the 470 Center Street office complex. Mr. Antenucci said they have been instructed by the Commissioners to support the probation office and law library “until the courthouse is completed, which could be 12, 18, 24 months at this point.” It was noted that CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) and Geauga Department on Aging are also tenants in the office complex and that plans to move Department on Aging to Dollar General Store location had recently fallen through.
Post Election Audit: The board moved from the conference room to BOE office space where the audit was being conducted. The in-person guests were invited by the Director to observe the proceedings, which took place from 9:20 AM until 2:05 PM with a 1 hour break for lunch. The GOP appointed observer arrived at 9:35 AM and departed before the audit concluded. The Secretary of State liaison, Fiona Ruminski, arrived late morning and remained through the conclusion of the board meeting.
Observer Note: During the November 19, 2024 Election Certification Meeting, the Board determined that 2,781 ballots were subject to audit for the Presidential, Senate and the Commissioner (1/2/2025) races. At that time, precincts were randomly selected from a jar until the total ballots exceeded 2,781. Ballots for those selected precincts (Montville B, Chardon Township D, Russell Township E and Hambden Township C) were hand counted during this meeting.
The Process:
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A bipartisan team of 2 workers, 1 Republican and 1 Democrat, was assigned to each precinct.
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Mr. Daisher explained that for each precinct, 4 groups of ballots will be examined:
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Provisional ballots (early and election day combined)
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Mr. Daisher distributed each precinct’s ballots to the assigned team which tallied the # of ballots and then confirmed that total with Mr. Daisher’s official total.
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The teams then tallied results for the races, noting votes for each candidate, write-ins, overvotes and undervotes. These figures were then compared to Mr. Daisher’s official total. Observer Comment: Overvotes occur when voters select more candidates for a race than is permitted. Often this results from the scanner picking up a stray pencil mark on the ballot. In such cases, the board examines the ballot, determines voter intent and accepts or rejects the voter’s selection for that race accordingly. Undervotes are those ballots where the voter did not select a candidate for a race.
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If variances were found, the teams sorted their ballots into piles by candidate, recounted the ballot piles and confirmed the totals with Mr. Daisher.
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This process was repeated for each group of ballots.
For all precincts and races, 100% accuracy was achieved, with the hand-counted totals matching the machine-scanned totals that were reported as unofficial results on Election night.
The Audit portion of the meeting ended at 3:05 PM and the Board returned to the conference room. Ms. Ruminski and Ms. Lewis were present in-person and one member of the public rejoined the meeting virtually.
Geauga County Office Building (GCOB) - Director Lane shared an email received from Linda Burhenne, Assistant Administrator for the County Commissioners, inquiring about BOE’s plans to move from the Center Street location to the GCOB. This led to a lengthy discussion about outstanding items specified in the May 26, 2023 Consent Decree between BOE and the Commissioners, the likelihood that a May Special Election would impact potential moving dates and the new demands on the BOE related to Geauga voters’ growing preference for early voting.
Although less than ideal, the Board feels their current location at 470 Center Street better serves Geauga voters than the proposed space at the GCOB. They noted that other Geauga agencies will continue to be temporarily housed in the Center Street office complex, at least until the Courthouse renovation is completed. Long term, they view the current Library Administration Center as being the preferred location for the Board of Elections. Specific concerns about the GCOB include:
1) Unreasonable Risk of Water Damage to Voting Equipment - BOE asserts that overhead water and sewer pipes in the basement storage area are a constant threat to the voting equipment and therefore threaten the BOE’s ability to carry out elections. The Secretary of State (SOS) requires that voting equipment be stored in a climate controlled space that maintains acceptable temperature and humidity levels. The equipment manufacturers also have storage and handling requirements that must be met to maintain warranties.
The Commissioners previously denied BOE’s request to store voting equipment off-site and to repurpose the storage space for other needs. BOE asserted this arrangement would safeguard vital voting equipment while also providing space for poll worker training and capacity for early voting. Commissioners also denied installation of a waterless fire suppression system.
To mitigate the risk of water damage, the Commissioners recommend vinyl covers for the voting equipment even though the manufacturer advises that this level of protection is insufficient to maintain their warranty. In the event of a burst pipe, Commissioners have agreed to pay for replacement of the equipment.
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Mrs. Carson commented, “They don’t think it’s going to happen.”
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Mrs. Windnagel continued, “And when we try to tell them if there’s a water main break, you know, a week before the election, you're not going to get the machines. There's no way that in one week's time we can replace them.”
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Ms. Rupinski, SOS Regional Liaison, stated, “There's another board that's moving out of their location because of pipes above their machines.” She noted that the Commissioners appear to be planning for best case scenarios, while they, as election officials, must plan for worst case scenarios.
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Mrs. Carson said, “We’ve been telling them what we need - it’s not like this just came up. We’ve got years of correspondence.”
2) Insufficient Storage Capacity for Voting Equipment - BOE noted the storage area at GCOB is significantly smaller and does not meet their needs. The Commissioners contend there is sufficient storage volume if BOE uses the vertical space. BOE asserts this reasoning is flawed, as:
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Voting equipment is large, cumbersome and does not lend itself to stacking.
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Voting equipment is heavy. Staff cannot safely store and retrieve the equipment without an unreasonable risk of personal injury or damage to the equipment.
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A mechanized conveyor system proposed by Commissioners required that cleats be attached to the voting equipment. The manufacturer indicated this would void the warranty.
3) Inadequate Early Voting Space - Officials discussed the long lines and two hour wait times that voters recently experienced during early voting at the Center Street location. They concluded a lack of space for voting stations caused the delays and noted that the proposed space at the GCOB is even smaller.
4) Lack of Queuing Space for Early Voting - officials are especially concerned about the public using the stairs from the main floor to the basement as part of the line for early voting. There were discussions about having voters queue in the main GCOB lobby, with election workers releasing voters to the basement as space permitted. It may also be possible to direct voters to the basement garage and to manage queueing areas there.
5) Building Security - There is no dedicated access to the Board of Elections at the GCOB, which presents challenges for securing the building during extended weekday and weekend early voting hours. The Commissioners and BOE are not in agreement on the question of who is responsible for securing the building.
6) Insufficient Parking Capacity - BOE asserts parking capacity at GCOB is insufficient to meet needs during early voting.
The Board instructed Director Lane to draft correspondence to the County Commissioners, requesting a meeting in January to discuss outstanding concerns.
Ohio Association of Election Officials (OAEO) Winter Conference - Mrs. McGinnis updated the board on hotel costs, attendees and class listings.
Director Report - Mrs. Lane reported she is completing reimbursement paperwork for the SOS and is working with the Prosecutor’s Office on a new maintenance contract with their voting equipment vendor. In response to a public records request, she confirmed that Board members, in their Board capacity, did not have any emails or texts with members of the Ohio General Assembly.
Deputy Director Report - Mrs. McGinnis shared a list of races that will be on the ballot for the November, 2025 General Election. Included are nonpartisan races for city mayor and council, village councils, township trustees, local school boards and educational service center.
Public Comment - Following the Director’s Report, Sharon Gingerich, former Geauga Recorder, shared virtually that 12 days into her new office, Tracy Jimison called at midnight to inform her a pipe had burst in the Probate Office and water was flowing through the Prosecutor’s Office to the Recorder’s Office. She explained that fortunately, no computers or records were impacted although the floor was ruined. She concluded by saying, “So when they tell you that this can’t happen to your machines, there’s a little story for you.”
Adjourned at 3:32 pm.
Next Meeting: Regular Meeting on December 19 at 9:00 AM.
Observer: Shelly Lewis
Editor: Sarah McGlone
Reviewers: Gail Roussey
Date Submitted: 12/3/2024
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