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Old Orchard resident Mike Brice, standing in front of his Barrington Drive home, discovered a discrepancy in council districts.
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Curious voter finds error on Lucas County Board of Elections website

The Blade/Lori King

Curious voter finds error on Lucas County Board of Elections website

Voters in a West Toledo precinct were identified in the Lucas County Board of Elections’ online information as being in the wrong City Council district, a voter in that district discovered last week.

Michael Brice, who lives in the Old Orchard neighborhood, said he was intrigued by the appointment of a new District 4 councilman on Tuesday, so he visited the elections board’s website to look up his own council district.

He was surprised to learn he lives in District 1, which is represented by Councilman Tyrone Riley.

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Mr. Brice, a recent transplant to the 2300 block of Barrington Drive, said he was pretty sure he lived in council District 5, so he emailed that district’s representative, Councilman Tom Waniewski. His precinct is bounded by Bancroft Street, Secor Road, Kenwood Boulevard, Middlesex Drive, Darlington Road, and Barrington.

“He replied, ‘You’re in District 5 for sure,’ ” Mr. Brice said.

Mr. Brice contacted The Blade, which learned Mr. Brice’s precinct, 12D, is identified by the elections board as part of District 1, apparently based on an obsolete set of maps.

Elections Director Gina Kaczala acknowledged the problem Friday but said it exists only in the online council district maps and the online “Polling Locator” used by the public, not the underlying voter registration system.

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Ms. Kaczala said all the districts are correctly identified in the board’s voter registration list — known as DIMS, or data information management system — so voters would have received the correct ballot when they turn out for elections in the fall.

Thanks to Mr. Brice’s alert to the problem, the online information will be corrected, she said.

A check with the online service Saturday showed that voters in the precinct were correctly identified as voting in District 5.

All six council districts will be on the ballot in September and November. In addition, District 4 will have a special election on May 5. A Blade review of District 4’s current boundaries found no misplaced precincts. District 4 is centered close to downtown, while District 1 includes neighborhoods on downtown’s west side, and District 5 covers Toledo’s northwest corner.

For the District 4 seat, council last week appointed political independent Scott Ramsey to succeed Paula Hicks-Hudson, who automatically was promoted from president of council to mayor following Mayor D. Michael Collins’ Feb. 6 death.

Mr. Brice said that when he called the elections board to point out the obvious discrepancy between the boundaries of council District 5 and information in the online Polling Locator, the person answering the phone assured him he lives in Council District 1.

“The person pulled the name up in the computer just like I did, but they didn’t pull up the map,” Mr. Brice said, expressing disappointment the person wasn’t more curious about the matter.

“I’m glad it’s going to be fixed,” Mr. Brice said.

Old Orchard has been in District 5 since council districts were established in 1994. All council seats were at-large during the preceding city-manager based government.

Ms. Kaczala and LaVera Scott, the elections board’s deputy director, traced the problem to action the board took in February, 2013, to implement a change in district boundaries that council adopted in 2011. To identify updated council districts, City Council Clerk Gerald Dendinger used precinct labels that had apparently changed by the time the elections board acted.

Ms. Kaczala blamed the elections board’s previous administration for waiting too long to input information provided in 2011.

The elections board’s previous director, Meghan Gallagher, said she had problems as director getting the information technology department to input information. She said that since she’s been gone for a year, she shouldn’t be blamed for outdated maps and information online.

The elections board received a harsh performance review last year by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, who labeled its operations “dysfunctional” and fired three of its four board members.

Under a new director and mostly new board, the elections board is no longer embroiled in public disputes and open political partisanship. However, the Lucas County Republican Party, of which Ms. Gallagher is the vice chairman, has recently launched an attack on Ms. Kaczala’s administration, accusing her of neglect of duty and misconduct in office. Ms. Kaczala, also a Republican, has denied the allegations.

In a multipoint “citizen complaint,” Republican City Council candidate Alfonso Narvaez asked Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates to undertake an investigation. So far, Ms. Bates has not responded to the request.

Ms. Kaczala and Ms. Scott are both in interim status, and the four-person elections board is in the process of evaluating candidates for permanent appointment, including both of them. Interviews are set for April 13.

Contact Tom Troy: tomtroy@theblade.com or 419-724-6058 or on Twitter @TomFTroy.

First Published March 8, 2015, 7:03 a.m.

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Old Orchard resident Mike Brice, standing in front of his Barrington Drive home, discovered a discrepancy in council districts.  (The Blade/Lori King)  Buy Image
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