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By Katie Byard
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 08:12 p.m. EST, Nov 03, 2009
Polling places in at least five Summit County communities -- Green, Norton, Springfield, Tallmadge and Twinsburg, ran out of ballots Tuesday evening as voter turnout was much higher than expected.
Would-be voters said they left sites without voting, not knowing when additional ballots would be delivered.
Summit County Board of Elections officials acknowledged earlier today that the had apparently underestimated turnout. They had predicited that turnout could be as low as 20 percent.
Elections board member Wayne Jones said this evening that about 30 polling sites ran out of ballots for some period of time. These sites are among 100 that called the board office today saying they were running short.
Poll workers had been instructed to call the board office when they were down to 25 percent of their alloted ballots, Jones said.
Summit uses paper ballots, unlike Medina, Portage, Stark and Wayne counties, which use touch-screen comptuers.
Some Summit polling places remained open past the 7:30 p.m. closing time, waiting for additional ballots for those in line.
State law says that anyone in line at 7:30 p.m. must be permitted to vote. Some voters reportedly had been waiting two hours for ballots to arrive at First Baptist Church in Tallmadge.
Janet Feeman said she attempted to cast a ballot two times at Southeast Church of the Nazarene -- about 5:15 p.m. and again about an hour later. No ballots were on hand either time.
"It's sad when you get off work and you go to cast a vote and they are already out of ballots," she said.
Feeman, whose three children graduated from the city's public schools, was hoping her vote could help the district pass a levy for new operating money after six failed attempts in the past two years.
Renee Bartlow, who also wanted to vote for the school levy, said she left the polling place at Southeast Church of the Nazarene after 5 p.m. because she needed to get home to her family and did not know when ballots would arrive.
"I've been voting for 20 years and I've never heard of this," Bartlow said.
Kathi Kassinger, a voter at Schrop Intermediate School in Springfield Township, said that she had seen about a half-dozen people leave the polling place without voting around 6:45 p.m.
She said she planned to wait for more ballots. The polls closed at 7:30 p.m.
''I'm anxious,'' she said as she waited. ''We had have some big levies for the [Springfield] schools'' on the ballot. ''If people can't vote, how is that going to affect that?''
Kassinger said poll workers said they ran out between 6 and 6:30 p.m.
Springfield was trying to pass three renewal levies that together raise about $4.5 million a year — about 18 percent of the district's annual operating budget.
Voters in Green reported that a polling place had been without ballots for about 15 minutes.
The Ohio Secretary of State's Office said this evening that at about 5 p.m. it authorized the Summit County Board of Elections office to photocopy dwinding ballots.
About 19,000 additional ballots were printed with the board's four ''ballot on demand printers,'' the Secretary of State's Office said.
Poll workers had been advised to call the board office when ballots were running low, the state said.
Areas asking for more ballots include Twinsburg, where there is a tax increase on the ballot, and Green, where there is a school issue, the office said.
This afternoon, Summit County election officials said voter turnout was higher than expected and they had to order additional ballots.
Officials had predicted an overall turnout of as low as 20 percent, including absentee ballots cast in the weeks before Election Day.
''It's heavier than we thought,'' Marijean Donofrio, head of the Summit County Board of Elections, said Tuesday afternoon. ''It'll be more than that.''
Workers were hurriedly trying to get ballots printed and get them out to several polling places that were running low, she said about 3 p.m.
''Issue 3 [the statewide issue on casinos] is bringing a lot of people out,'' she said. '''That's what the poll workers say.''
She theorized that pleasant weather also was playing a role. Also, she noted that several school districts were trying to pass school levies.
The hotly contested Barberton Municipal Court race could be attracting a lot of voters in the court district: Barberton, Clinton, Green, New Franklin, Norton, and Copley and Coventry townships.
In addition to Issue 3, the election features municipal and township trustee races, school board races and ballot issues.
Elections officials in Summit and other area counties reported no significant problems.
Lois Enlow, deputy director of the Portage County Board of Elections, said workers scurried to get a Streetsboro polling place open on time after having to track down someone to unlock a door.
Fast-thinking poll workers ''even took their oaths outside in the cold,'' while waiting at the site at the Camelot Village mobile home park.
''We have resourceful people,'' Enlow said. ''They had their machines up by 6:30 a.m.,'' when voting begins, she said.
Heavily contested races were prompting Portage elections officials to predict an overall 40 percent turnout.
Nine candidates are vying to become Streetsboro mayor.
The Rootstown Township trustee race attracted 11 candidates for two seats.
Two municipal judicial races in Portage races also have been hotly contested.
Polling places in at least five Summit County communities -- Green, Norton, Springfield, Tallmadge and Twinsburg, ran out of ballots Tuesday evening as voter turnout was much higher than expected.
Would-be voters said they left sites without voting, not knowing when additional ballots would be delivered.
Summit County Board of Elections officials acknowledged earlier today that the had apparently underestimated turnout. They had predicited that turnout could be as low as 20 percent.
Elections board member Wayne Jones said this evening that about 30 polling sites ran out of ballots for some period of time. These sites are among 100 that called the board office today saying they were running short.
Poll workers had been instructed to call the board office when they were down to 25 percent of their alloted ballots, Jones said.
Summit uses paper ballots, unlike Medina, Portage, Stark and Wayne counties, which use touch-screen comptuers.
Some Summit polling places remained open past the 7:30 p.m. closing time, waiting for additional ballots for those in line.
State law says that anyone in line at 7:30 p.m. must be permitted to vote. Some voters reportedly had been waiting two hours for ballots to arrive at First Baptist Church in Tallmadge.
Janet Feeman said she attempted to cast a ballot two times at Southeast Church of the Nazarene -- about 5:15 p.m. and again about an hour later. No ballots were on hand either time.
"It's sad when you get off work and you go to cast a vote and they are already out of ballots," she said.
Feeman, whose three children graduated from the city's public schools, was hoping her vote could help the district pass a levy for new operating money after six failed attempts in the past two years.
Renee Bartlow, who also wanted to vote for the school levy, said she left the polling place at Southeast Church of the Nazarene after 5 p.m. because she needed to get home to her family and did not know when ballots would arrive.
"I've been voting for 20 years and I've never heard of this," Bartlow said.
Kathi Kassinger, a voter at Schrop Intermediate School in Springfield Township, said that she had seen about a half-dozen people leave the polling place without voting around 6:45 p.m.
She said she planned to wait for more ballots. The polls closed at 7:30 p.m.
''I'm anxious,'' she said as she waited. ''We had have some big levies for the [Springfield] schools'' on the ballot. ''If people can't vote, how is that going to affect that?''
Kassinger said poll workers said they ran out between 6 and 6:30 p.m.
Springfield was trying to pass three renewal levies that together raise about $4.5 million a year — about 18 percent of the district's annual operating budget.
Voters in Green reported that a polling place had been without ballots for about 15 minutes.
The Ohio Secretary of State's Office said this evening that at about 5 p.m. it authorized the Summit County Board of Elections office to photocopy dwinding ballots.
About 19,000 additional ballots were printed with the board's four ''ballot on demand printers,'' the Secretary of State's Office said.
Poll workers had been advised to call the board office when ballots were running low, the state said.
Areas asking for more ballots include Twinsburg, where there is a tax increase on the ballot, and Green, where there is a school issue, the office said.
This afternoon, Summit County election officials said voter turnout was higher than expected and they had to order additional ballots.
Officials had predicted an overall turnout of as low as 20 percent, including absentee ballots cast in the weeks before Election Day.
''It's heavier than we thought,'' Marijean Donofrio, head of the Summit County Board of Elections, said Tuesday afternoon. ''It'll be more than that.''
Workers were hurriedly trying to get ballots printed and get them out to several polling places that were running low, she said about 3 p.m.
''Issue 3 [the statewide issue on casinos] is bringing a lot of people out,'' she said. '''That's what the poll workers say.''
She theorized that pleasant weather also was playing a role. Also, she noted that several school districts were trying to pass school levies.
The hotly contested Barberton Municipal Court race could be attracting a lot of voters in the court district: Barberton, Clinton, Green, New Franklin, Norton, and Copley and Coventry townships.
In addition to Issue 3, the election features municipal and township trustee races, school board races and ballot issues.
Elections officials in Summit and other area counties reported no significant problems.
Lois Enlow, deputy director of the Portage County Board of Elections, said workers scurried to get a Streetsboro polling place open on time after having to track down someone to unlock a door.
Fast-thinking poll workers ''even took their oaths outside in the cold,'' while waiting at the site at the Camelot Village mobile home park.
''We have resourceful people,'' Enlow said. ''They had their machines up by 6:30 a.m.,'' when voting begins, she said.
Heavily contested races were prompting Portage elections officials to predict an overall 40 percent turnout.
Nine candidates are vying to become Streetsboro mayor.
The Rootstown Township trustee race attracted 11 candidates for two seats.
Two municipal judicial races in Portage races also have been hotly contested.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Akron, OH
Posted 08:58 PM, 11/03/2009
How could they run out of ballots if they had enough ballots for REGISTERED voters? WTF!?
:0/
Cuyahoga Falls, Oh
Posted 09:13 PM, 11/03/2009
A
C
O
R
N
Akron, OH
Posted 09:22 PM, 11/03/2009
How could they run out of ballots if they had enough ballots for REGISTERED voters? WTF!?
If they printed one ballot for every registered voter, the county and state would waste a hell of a lot of paper and ink for voters who never show up. It said in the article that they'd anticipated turnout of about 20% so they printed the number accordingly.
No big mystery, folks.
akron, oh
Posted 09:28 PM, 11/03/2009
dead people have been voting here long before acorn. MDW your right on; I think the average here is around 18%...that's how Ohio got this way.
Akron, OH
Posted 09:35 PM, 11/03/2009
MDW...
You are correct.
At the polling place where I was today, they were issued ballots for just over 50% of the total number of registered voters.
Since a Presidential election doesn't draw 60% turnout, I don't know why anyone at the BOE or in the general public would expect a turnout of over 50% for a municipal plus some state and county issues election.
It sounds like the areas with hotly contest school races may be the ones with unusually strong turnout today.
Barberton, oh
Posted 09:39 PM, 11/03/2009
Summit County is now OFFICIALLY a third world nation. Hamid Karzai won, it doesn't matter what, he won. He won in Afghanistan , he won in Summit County, he wasn't on the ballot you say!!!. What ballot, we don't need no stinking ballots!!!.
Akron, OH
Posted 09:41 PM, 11/03/2009
Unless I'm reading the preliminary results wrong it looks like Summit County actually had like > 70% turnout. Good for us. Bad for whoever tried to estimate it in advance.
Akron, OH
Posted 09:44 PM, 11/03/2009
@Bergermeister, ballot are customizes for every precinct. They did not print one assuming 100% attendance.
Akron, OH
Posted 09:45 PM, 11/03/2009
@Overtaxed and MDW,
So you are both admitting that it is okay to deny REGISTERED voters from voting, even though it is a Constitutional right!?!
Again, WTF?
:0/
tallmadge, oh
Posted 09:48 PM, 11/03/2009
How would any of you feel if you showed up to vote and could not? Is it not a contitutional right to do so????
Rome, OH
Posted 09:51 PM, 11/03/2009
for all the money being spent on the boe, you would think having enough ballots would be the least a voter could expect.
how much do the ballots cost per ballot?
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 09:51 PM, 11/03/2009
The Mayor wins again!
Let's recall Overtaxed Voter!
Yay!!!
330, oh
Posted 09:55 PM, 11/03/2009
Fast-thinking poll workers ''even took their oaths outside in the cold,'' while waiting at the site at the Camelot Village mobile home park.
they think it was cold today... they should move before winter hits
Akron, OH
Posted 09:55 PM, 11/03/2009
So you are both admitting that it is okay to deny REGISTERED voters from voting, even though it is a Constitutional right!?!
Show me where I said that.
akron, oh
Posted 09:57 PM, 11/03/2009
I don't think I've ever said this but I kind of agree with all of you. Yes, registered voters have a right to vote but if the turn out is never about 20-40%, why print 100%?
With today's technology, they shouldn't have to wait for the state to allow them to print more. I think they should be able to print a ballot on demand so that everyone can vote that wants to and no paper is wasted. I know it's crazy of me to think that way. But do you print all of your emails? No, just the ones you want.
Akron, OH
Posted 09:58 PM, 11/03/2009
@GSMR,
I guess my city, state, and country really are as effed up as I thought they were; printing ballots based on "expected" turnout.
Yet again, WTF!
I have my "exit strategy" in the works; do you?
:0/
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 10:04 PM, 11/03/2009
*YAWN*
Akron, OH
Posted 10:05 PM, 11/03/2009
@MDW, er Knucklehead,
I guess you never passed 5th Grade math. By only printing a number of ballots based on past estimations, one exposes the masses to being left without a ballot to vote with on Election Day; provided a larger than expected turnout should happen.
Reference: Above headline and ensuing article.
:0(
Akron, OH
Posted 10:09 PM, 11/03/2009
Considering this is the first time I've ever seen reports of a polling place running out of ballots, seems to me that printing based on expected turnout has been pretty effective in the past.
I don't see anywhere in the story where you can assume people were "denied" the right to vote. They had to wait while there was a bunch of bureaucratic nonsense sorted out so more could be printed, but that's hardly the same thing at all.
I thought people were in favor of the government not wasting money?
tallmadge, oh
Posted 10:18 PM, 11/03/2009
How much money are we talking about? I can't imagine it costing that much (in the big scheme of gov't) to print out enough ballots. Yes, I was denied voting this evening because I had a small time frame I could go, fortunately for me when the polls were open - I could not go back when they "maybe" had the extra ballots....and, btw, no one could even tell me when that would be (neither the poll workers or the county election board).
MDW...."denied"...yes, if someone waits 2 hours and still no ballots to use, then yes, you are denied. Most of use have other commitments in our lives than to sit and wait for the ballots to arrive!
Next election I will use an absentee ballot. I cannot even imagine how this election can or will be considered fair!
Akron, OH
Posted 10:20 PM, 11/03/2009
@MDW,
"I thought people were in favor of the government not wasting money?"
You thought wrong! We are controlled by the Dumb-o-crats!
330, oh
Posted 10:22 PM, 11/03/2009
@MDW, it's discriminatory to people with jobs, families and other responsibilities that can't wait forever... DIDN'T YOU READ THE ARTICLE???
highland lakes, nj
Posted 10:27 PM, 11/03/2009
New Jersey goes Republican!! Corzine out !!!
Akron, OH
Posted 10:36 PM, 11/03/2009
"I thought people were in favor of the government not wasting money?"
You thought wrong!
Clearly you're in favor of it.
slb11701, I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to vote, I truly am. I've long held that election days should be holidays, which gets rid of the hassle for people who have to work. I don't know what it costs to print one of those ballots, but with over 8 million voters, the difference between printing 60% of the ballots and 90% of the ballots is likely not chump change. It's not as though those ballots are typical 8.5 x 11 office paper, you know.
Akron, OH
Posted 11:09 PM, 11/03/2009
@MDW,
You claim that, on one hand, you think it is acceptable for local,city, and therefore, state and federal governments to print the number of ballots based on an estimated turnout; which causes people not to be able to cast their own ballot.
Then, on the other hand, you feel sorry that a voter has a tight schedule, and, therefore, want the entire Election Day to be a holiday; full-well knowing that our BOE has not printed enough ballots for the REGISTERED voters to cast their ballots!
Two questions:
1) Are you a Dumb-o-crat? Yes or No?
2) What color is the sky in your world? Blue or ?
Answers: Yes, ?
:0/
Akron, OH
Posted 07:31 AM, 11/04/2009
@Bergermeister...
As MDW pointed out, neither one of us said that people shouldn't be allowed to vote.
Q. Why do we not have touchscreen voting in Summit County?
A. Because Dumb-o-crats like you didn't want a NORTHEASTERN OHIO company to get the contract because it might be a positive for a company which had supported Republican candidates. Of course that logic never went as far as to understand that Diebold employs Democrats who pay taxes to municipalities and a state that is controlled by Democrats.
As I posted earlier, I have no problem with:
1) The BOE only issuing ballots totaling 50% of registered voters when both early voting (absentee and in person) didn't eat into those ballot amounts AND turnout historically has been in the 20-30% range.
It's not like 'unused' ballots can be re-used for any other purpose after election day.
2) The BOE has a 'ballot on demand' printing system that allowed an ADDITIONAL 19,000 ballots to be produced (most polls get 500-600 for the entire day).
3) The SOS allowed photocopied ballots to be used to supplement the originally printed and the ballot on demand quantities.
Let's hope that Tuesday's stronger than expected turnout in approximately 10% of Summit County's precincts becomes a trend.
That would be a positive for all of us!
tallmadge, oh
Posted 08:28 AM, 11/04/2009
Ok, so they didn't print enough ballots. How will this be corrected NOW, so that those who attempted to vote, will actually get their vote counted??? Thats the issue. Maybe there will have to be a RE-VOTE at those polling places that ran out of ballots. Only fair.
Posted 11:15 AM, 11/04/2009
Corruption.
330, oh
Posted 11:41 AM, 11/04/2009
Overtaxed Voter, I don't think Bergermeister is a dumbo crat... he seems to put them down...
Akron, OH
Posted 12:01 PM, 11/04/2009
"Summit uses paper ballots, unlike Medina, Portage, Stark and Wayne counties, which use touch-screen comptuers."
So the surrounding counties have touch-screen voting (except, I assume, Cuyahoga County, which is a whole other mess), yet for some reason Summit does not. The voters need to put the screws to the Summit County BOE to get its citizens into the 21st century along with everyone else. If 4 nearby counties are finding it safe and reliable enough to use them, then why doesn't Summit?
Akron, OH
Posted 12:03 PM, 11/04/2009
On top of this, I am willing to wager that there is going to be a lawsuit against the Summit Co. BOE from those voters who were denied the opportunity to cast their ballots because of a simple lack of available ballots.
akron, oh
Posted 12:57 PM, 11/04/2009
@MDW: bs! Summit county ran out of ballots by 4pm in 2000. No one was able to vote in Hudson past 4, that day. Same at most plling places, outside of Akron.
akron, oh
Posted 01:05 PM, 11/04/2009
As a member of the 2004 recount committee, I've seen the evidense of the Diebold machines' corruption. There were 500 voted for Bush on every one. A federal judge thru the case out, due to national security. Stephanie Tubbs Jones was on the committee with us, and spoke volumes about it. The demcrats of Summit County don't want these machines around.
Akron, OH
Posted 01:18 PM, 11/04/2009
@StLeo...
Next time, could you tell us the fairy tale about how the Bush crime family infiltrated the Cleveland neighborhood tobacco shop and placed poison cigars there which were used to cause STJ's fatal brain aneurysm to cover-up the polling machine matter.
:::Rolls Eyes:::
Hudson, oh
Posted 01:44 PM, 11/04/2009
@overfoolish voter: Please be quiet. You know NOTHING. Now, I'm done with you, today. J E R K!
Posted 03:23 PM, 11/04/2009
The leaders stance on voting is all wrong!
They should be out influencing people to vote. Not quietly hoping they do not have to print ballots for voters.
Yeah I'm sick of this charade.
I guess I'll find my position and quit blogging about it.
Time for a Re Vote for summit county
Akron, OH
Posted 04:41 PM, 11/04/2009
@Bergermeister, you find me a city, county, or state that does not print ballots based on predicted numbers. It is normal procedure to prevent waste of resources and money.
As soon as you exit, will you stop posting or will you still complain about everything?
Akron, OH
Posted 04:42 PM, 11/04/2009
@Bergermeister, I guess you ignore the entire process that the election board had to getting more ballots to the locations that need them. Everyone that could vote and wanted to vote is given the opportunity. No one was told to go away and not vote.
Akron, OH
Posted 04:44 PM, 11/04/2009
@slb11701, it is not different than you showing up and having a line out the door that was longer than the time you had to wait. No you were not denied. You decided it was not worth your time to wait. Big difference.
Akron, OH
Posted 04:47 PM, 11/04/2009
@frank, it is not up to the Summit board of elections if we use paper or touchscreen. Those decision are made out if Columbus, and the decision were made in attempt to favor one party over another. It is what happens when a single individual got to make the call.
akron, oh
Posted 06:29 PM, 11/04/2009
@Gain...: You are wrong, again.
1) People get told to leave and that they CAN'T vote everytime the polling place runs out of ballots. It has happened to me several times, especially in Hudson.
2)The county board of elections does choose between paper or touch screen. Every county chooses differently. Why would Columbus make some counties have paper, and some computer?
akron, oh
Posted 06:33 PM, 11/04/2009
I d i o t
Posted 11:52 AM, 11/05/2009
Re-vote no ballots for registered voters
