Geauga County Board of Elections (BOE) - 08/28/2023
Meeting Info: Special Meeting on August 28, 2023 called to order at 9:10 AM in BOE Conference Room at 470 Center St, Bldg 6A, Chardon, OH, 44024. In-person and virtual, via Microsoft Teams. An agenda and itemized listing of expenses was provided to attendees. This Observer attended in-person.
Public Comment Policy: No written policy and not listed on agenda. In practice, the Board accepts public comment and addresses questions throughout the meeting.
Board Attendance: Present were Dennis Pavella (Chair), Janet Carson, Nancy McArthur and Joan Windnagel.
Staff Attendance: Geauga BOE Director Michelle Lane and Deputy Director Nora McGinnis
County Representatives: Frank Antenucci - ADP, Chief Deputy Administrator (virtual)
Public Attendance: 2 virtual attendees, including Chardon School Board candidate Sharon Madger.
Minutes - approved minutes for August 8, 2023 and August 17, 2023 meetings.
Bills - an itemized list of expenses totaling $91,116.64 was reviewed and included $90,725 for 95 poll pads approved for payment during the August 17, 2023 meeting.
Review of 4-Day Absentee Ballots: as part of the Official Canvas of the August 8 election, the Board considered absentee ballots received after Election Day. 86 such ballots were reviewed by staff for compliance with the August 7 postmark requirement and August 11 receipt requirement. The board made the following determinations:
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64 of 86 ballots were judged to be compliant and were accepted
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22 of 86 ballots were rejected. Eight were postmarked later than August 7 and two had unreadable postmarks. One had an incorrect social security number and three had removed the ballot stub. The remainder had valid postmarks but arrived after August 11, including two ballots from Geauga voters living overseas. It was noted that the new “4 day rule” disenfranchised some voters who previously would have had their vote count.
ADP Briefing - Mr. Antenucci addressed Board questions:
Mrs. Windnagel commented that the new phone system is working well and Mr. Antenucci noted that the phone system will be easy to move. Mrs. Lane requested that IT support for the phones be available early on Election Day.
Mrs. Carson inquired whether the County Administration Building was impacted by the recent storms. Mr. Antenucci reported that the back up generator does not appear to support air-conditioning, as the offices on Friday were quite hot. Mrs. Carson pointed out that BOE’s voting equipment is required to be maintained in a temperature and humidity controlled environment. Mrs. Lane was instructed to write to the County Commissioners to express the Board’s concerns about maintaining the required conditions for voting equipment.
Review of Provisional Ballots: as part of the official canvas of the August 8 election, 435 Provisional Ballots were reviewed by staff. The board made the following determinations:
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279 provisional ballots were judged to be valid by staff and were unanimously accepted by the Board. The majority of these ballots involved a change of address within Geauga County, a change of name or a Geauga voter who was registered in another Ohio county but had not voted there. All 29 provisional ballots that were cast for a lack of photo ID due to a religious exemption were accepted by the Secretary of State.
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156 provisional ballots were presented to the Board for further consideration. Of these:
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128 were rejected for ID issues or for not being registered in Ohio. Others were rejected for address or id information not matching the voter registration record.
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23 were judged valid and added to the accepted ballots.
In the end, 302 provisional ballots were accepted and 133 were rejected.
Break: The Board took a short break at 11:45 pm and this Observer departed. Otter Voice Meeting Notes were reviewed for the remaining agenda items.
Withdrawal - The Board recognized the withdrawal of Victoria Nicholas, candidate for Chardon School Board.
Ballot Boxes - approved motion to bolt together 2 ballot boxes so that drive up and walk up access could be provided in a single location.
Polling Locations - extended discussion about polling locations. Chardon City precincts will go back to Heritage House for the November election. There was acknowledgement that some Burton Village residents are unhappy with their current polling location but Board members agreed there are not compliant alternatives available.
Post Aug 8 Election Audit - to ensure accuracy of the election results, every Board of Elections conducts a post election audit as detailed in Chapter 11, Section 11.03 of the Ohio Secretary of State Election Official Manual. The audit is scheduled for September 14, 2023 at 9 am.
Certified Election Results - Board voted unanimously to accept but final figures were not discussed. At publication, the certified results had not been posted on the BOE website.
Next Meeting - Next regular meeting is scheduled for September 21, 2023 at 9:00 AM.
Approved Minutes - posted on the BOE website.
Observer: Shelly Lewis
Reviewer: Gail Roussey
Editor: Anne Ondrey
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