Election board sorts provisional ballots, will review more than 10,000 of them Nov. 20
11/10/2012The Lucas County Board of Elections will meet again Nov. 20 to review more than 10,000 provisional ballots.
Depending on how many of the ballots are counted, the ultimate fate of several close Lucas County races and issues could be affected, Meghan Gallagher, director of the Lucas County Board of Elections, told the board on Friday.
One issue the board mentioned that could be affected by the still-uncounted votes is the Imagination Station levy renewal request. According to votes counted so far, the request was defeated by a 1,075 margin.
Since Election Day, the board has received about 200 absentee ballots that were postmarked by the Nov. 5 deadline, Ms. Gallagher said. There are still about 3,500 additional unreturned ballots that, if posted by Nov. 5 and received by Nov. 16, could affect the outcome.
Election officials don’t expect to receive many more absentee ballots, though.
It’s more likely that many of those people who didn’t return their absentee ballots decided to vote in person instead, Ms. Gallagher said. If that occurred, their ballots would have been flagged and placed with the provisional ballots, she said.
The election board on Friday reviewed about 200 absentee and Election Day ballots that had questionable markings.
The board unanimously agreed on all of the ballots in question, throwing out only a handful of votes that couldn’t be determined.
Ms. Gallagher informed the election board that she is attempting to collect another eight to 10 absentee ballots that are being held by the U.S. Post Office because voters did not include the correct postage.
Ms. Gallagher said the election board has a special fund that will cover the cost of the outstanding postage.
The board has until Nov. 27 to certify election results.