Ohio

All 88 Ohio election boards report getting requests for 2020 election documents. Why? | Karen Kasler/NPR

With just eight weeks till the November vote, boards of elections in all 88 Ohio counties report getting a small number of requests for records from the 2020 vote, just as they were about to be destroyed. The requests appear to be identical, and they’re asking for a huge haul of documents, such as all ballots and voter ID envelopes. There’s a source that seems to be generating the idea. As of September 3, it’s been 22 months since the 2020 vote, and documents and records related to that federal election are set to be destroyed. But at the Warren County Board of Elections in southwest Ohio, that’s not happening. Warren County Board of Elections Director Brian Sleeth said he got a handful of identical and huge requests for those documents, starting with 180,000 ballots from the election that the requesters have asked to review. But that’s not the only type of request the Warren County Board of Elections received, he said. The people making the requests have asked to see the paper tape from the voting machines. “They’ve asked for register – it’s like a cash register tape, the results tapes out of our voting machines for that election,” Sleeth said. “It’s about 70 to 80 foot long, and that’s just one piece of paper.”

Full Article: All 88 Ohio election boards report getting requests for 2020 election documents. Why? | WVXU

Ohio Raises a Volunteer Army to Fight Election Hacking | Katrina Manson/Bloomberg

Chris Riling says he “could never join the military.” He’s 37, has cerebral palsy, and wouldn’t have managed basic training, he says. Yet he recently swore an oath to protect the country and obey his commanding officers. At any moment, Ohio’s governor can call him up for active duty reporting to the state’s National Guard. And if he missteps, he can be tried under the Ohio Code of Military Justice. That’s because Riling, a systems architect at Cisco Systems Inc., is a volunteer for a novel kind of civilian reserve—a group of mostly private-sector tech professionals tasked with combating cyberattacks in the state. Right now, in the runup to the midterms, the group’s focus is election integrity: Voting-related hacking attempts could have disastrous implications for American democracy if successful, and cash-strapped state and local governments are often ill-equipped to face down new technological threats. Already, other states are seeking to copy Ohio’s model as they race to catch up with the threat of ransomware hacks, election interference, and other punishing cyberattacks, both foreign and domestic. Created just before the pandemic, the Ohio Cyber Reserve has assembled 80 members who can be called up under the command of Major General John Harris of the National Guard. They work mostly in cybersecurity by day and moonlight as crime-fighting reservists on weekends and Tuesday evenings from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The program already has state funding to expand to 200 people and could ultimately grow to 500, organizers say. Most members take leave from work to fulfill their reserve duties and receive travel expenses for training.

Full Article: Ohio Raises a Volunteer Army to Fight Election Hacking – Bloomberg

Ohio elections officials being hit with requests for lots of records from the 2020 vote | Karen Kasler/Statehouse News Bureau

Despite no credible claims of problems with the November 2020 vote in Ohio, dozens of huge requests for voting records from that election are coming in to county elections officials, as they’re finishing up work on a second statewide primary and gearing up for this fall’s election. Delivering on those could mean more work and costs for those boards and obstacles for workers, who are already dealing with a challenging election year. Ohio Association of Elections Officials president Brian Sleeth directs the Warren County Board of Elections. In an interview for “The State of Ohio”, he said seven requests have come in for basically anything related to the 2020 vote, including copies of all ballots and the results tapes that voting machines recorded twice a day, which can be up to 70 feet long each. “There’d be significant cost and copying everything in our office, for example, all of our ballots. Providing two-sided copies would be a job in itself,” Sleeth said. “And then they’ve asked for voting machine tapes. And those are like just a little cash register tapes that you would get at your supermarket when you go grocery shopping. Those are about 60 to 70 feet long each twice a day in the morning and evening. And they’ve asked for copies of those tapes too.”

Full Article: Ohio elections officials being hit with requests for lots of records from the 2020 vote | The Statehouse News Bureau

Ohio: Scanning problems at Cuyahoga County polling locations temporarily caused voting delays on Election Day; but ‘integrity’ remained intact, officials say | Kaitlin Durbin/Cleveland Plain Dealer

Technical issues Tuesday morning temporarily caused delays in voting across Cuyahoga County. Although some voters left without casting a ballot, officials say residents were never turned away, and voters can have confidence their ballots will be counted. The scanning issues did not affect the ability to vote; it only affected how voters were checked in, Cuyahoga County Board of Elections spokesman Mike West said, and everything was resolved shortly after 8 a.m. The problem occurred with the electronic poll books, which are the online rosters of eligible voters in the district or precinct. When a voter checks in at the polls, the machines are supposed to verify the person is in the correct location and scan and record the stub number for that person’s ballot. But machines were “not automatically recording,” West said. Instead, poll workers were having to look up voters in paper poll books and enter the stub numbers manually. None of the problems prevented a person from voting, he said. He didn’t know how many ballots had been submitted in the roughly 90 minutes that the electronic scanners weren’t working, but he said by 9 a.m. more than 12,000 people had already voted.

Full Article: Scanning problems at Cuyahoga County polling locations temporarily caused voting delays on Election Day; but ‘integrity’ remained intact, officials say – cleveland.com

Ohio: ‘It’s been extremely stressful:’ Summit County scrambling amid redistricting chaos | Abbey Marshall/Akron Beacon Journal

With less than three weeks until the May 3 primary, the Summit County Board of Elections is scrambling to keep up with near-constant changes in redistricting after a fourth set of maps was rejected Thursday afternoon. The court has already rejected four sets of Republican-drawn maps, which would give long-awaited clarity to what candidates are running in which district and whom they’re serving. Early voting in Summit County is already underway with Ohioans casting ballots in other elections including U.S. Senate, congressional, gubernatorial and local races. But as the redistricting confusion continues, candidates for state House and Senate are missing from the ballot. Local election officials can offer no clarity to voters and candidates before the murky redistricting process is resolved. The uncertainty places a major burden on Summit and other county boards of elections, which will likely have to run a second primary later this summer at a cost that surpasses half a million dollars. But the effects go beyond just cost, as election officials feel the pressure of overtime hours, uncertainty and potential staffing problems.

Full Article: Summit County scrambling to keep up with redistricting confusion

Ohio: Attempted breach of Lake County election network draws FBI and state scrutiny | Amy Gardner, Emma Brown and Devlin Barrett/The Washington Post

Full Article: Attempted breach of Ohio county election network draws FBI and state scrutiny – The Washington Post

Ohio Republican says Trump may try to ‘steal’ 2024 election if he loses | Mychael Schnell/The Hill

Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio) on Sunday said former President Trump may try to “steal” the presidential election in 2024 if he ultimately decides to enter the race but ends up losing. Gonzalez, during a pretaped interview with co-host Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said Trump has evaluated what went wrong on Jan. 6 — when Congress certified the Electoral College vote despite the former president’s requests for the ballots to be rejected — and is now installing loyal personnel at levels of the government to do “exactly what he wants them to do.” “I think any objective observer would come to this conclusion that he [Trump] has evaluated what went wrong on Jan. 6, why is it that he wasn’t able to steal the election? Who stood in his way? Every single American institution is just run by people. And you need the right people to make the right decision in the most difficult times,” Gonzalez said. “He’s going systematically through the country and trying to remove those people and install people who are going to do exactly what he wants them to do, who believe the big lie, who go along with anything he says,” he added. The Ohio Republican, who is not seeking reelection, said he believes Trump’s actions now are “pushing towards one of two outcomes. He either wins legitimately, which he may do, or if he loses again, he’ll just try to steal it, but he’ll try to steal it with his people in those positions.”

Full Article: Ohio Republican says Trump may try to ‘steal’ 2024 election if he loses | TheHill

Ohio: Stark County election officials: new Dominion voting machines aced their first election | Robert Wang/The Canton Repository

Stark elections officials say the initial deployment of the county’s new roughly 1,400 Dominion ImageCast X voting machines went better than expected in Tuesday’s general election. “We had mostly positive responses to (the machines) because the screen is bigger and the brighter. And the voter-verified voter trail (the printout showing voter’s choices) lights up so people can see it,” said Regine Johnson, the deputy director of the Stark County Board of Elections, a Democrat. “It’s fairly similar to the previous (TSX voting machine) so it’s a newer generation. So it wasn’t a big change for most of the voters.” The controversial purchase of the machines became a political tug-of-war in 2021 between the Stark County elections board and county commissioners, resulting in a lawsuit and an Ohio Supreme Court ruling ordering commissioners to buy them. Johnson said voters did not seem to experience much of the learning curve she thought might be required. “We didn’t get a whole bunch of phone calls. And we thought we would because they were brand new,” Johnson said.

Full Article: Board of Elections: No major issues reported with voting machines

Ohio: Stark County elections workers have tested 1,400 new Dominion voting machines | Robert WangThe Canton Repository

Staffers at the Stark County Board of Elections have completed testing on the final batch of new touchscreen Dominion Voting Systems machines that will be used on Election Day on Nov. 2. Full-time and seasonal election workers did what is referred to as logic and accuracy testing, required by the state. They ensure the machines…

Ohio’s top elections official rejects fraud claims | Marty Schladen/Ohio Capital Journal

A spokesman for Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said the office didn’t want to get dragged in last week when a fellow Republican echoed former President Donald Trump’s baseless fraud claims and called for an audit of Ohio’s 2020 election. But the state’s top election official won’t condemn Trump or say whether he’ll support the former president if he runs again in 2024. And despite his assertion that “it’s easy to vote and hard to cheat in Ohio,” LaRose wouldn’t comment on restrictions that forced large-county voters to wait hours to cast early ballots last year. Former state Treasurer Josh Mandel is one of many Republicans eagerly trying to take up the Trump mantle in the race to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, who is also a Republican. Trump has lied relentlessly about his 7 million-vote loss in the 2020 election. His challenges have failed in more than 60 court proceedings and repeated reviews of the vote in states where the contest was close have upheld the legitimacy of President Joe Biden’s win. Even a highly partisan “audit” of Arizona’s results last week confirmed Biden’s  victory there. But that didn’t stop Trump from lying about it, too.

Full Article: Ohio’s top elections official rejects fraud claims – Ohio Capital Journal

Ohio: Judge dismisses key defendants in Stark County Dominion voting machine lawsuit | Robert Wang/The Canton Repository

A lawsuit by a Washington, D.C.-based group won’t prevent Stark County from using Dominion voting machines for the Nov. 2 general election. Look Ahead America opted Wednesday not to appeal a key decision by Stark County Common Pleas Judge Taryn Heath. Her Aug. 20 ruling dismissed the county commissioners and Dominion Voting Systems as defendants from the case and killed any chance of immediately reversing the county’s purchase of the voting machines. Originally in May, the group filed suit against the Stark County Board of Elections, alleging the board had met in illegal executive sessions to discuss the machine purchase. However, the Board of Elections is not the governing entity that authorized the purchase of the machines. That was the Stark County commissioners. With the commissioners and Dominion no longer parties to the suit, it was not legally possible for Look Ahead America to get a preliminary injunction to pause or reverse the purchase, said Assistant Stark County Prosecutor Lisa Nemes. Heath’s magistrate, Kristen Moore, canceled a preliminary injunction hearing scheduled for Wednesday. She has set a phone conference for Monday for the parties to discuss what happens next.

Full Article: Look Ahead America lawsuit stymied in Stark voting machine lawsuit

Ohio: Dominion dismissed from Stark County voting machine lawsuit | Jake Zuckerman/Ohio Capital Journal

A Stark County judge dismissed Dominion Voter Systems on Friday as party to a lawsuit filed by a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit seeking to reverse the county’s procurement of the company’s machines. The lawsuit, filed in May by Look Ahead America LLC, steers clear of any explicit allegation that Dominion voting machines were used to defraud the 2020 presidential election. However, Look Ahead founder Matt Braynard has been touring the county in recent months offering supporting testimony, to no avail, in various forums perpetuating a lie spread by President Donald Trump and his allies that the 2020 election was somehow rigged. Look Ahead accused the Stark County Board of Elections of violating open meetings laws as it considered its eventual recommendation that the County Commission (which was also dismissed from the lawsuit Friday) buy new machines from Dominion. In a ruling on a separate lawsuit in May, the Ohio Supreme Court ordered the county commission to heed the board of election’s recommendation. Look Ahead America’s lawsuit sought to block the county from purchasing the machines and stop Dominion from providing them.

Full Article: Dominion dismissed from Stark County voting machine lawsuit – Ohio Capital Journal

Ohio: New Dominion voting machines start arriving in Stark County | Robert Wang/The Canton Repository

Stark County’s new touchscreen voting machines are rolling into the Board of Elections. The past couple of weeks, warehouse managers have been accepting shipments of the Dominion Voting Systems ImageCast X machines – which have been a point of controversy in the county. Workers have been opening the boxes, inspecting the machines for damage and testing them. Travis Secrest, an administrative assistant for the Board of Elections, said the equipment so far has passed all of the tests. Many of the machines still had plastic film on their touchscreens as of last week. All 1,450 are expected to arrive by the end of August. They’re scheduled to be used for the Nov. 2 general election and during the in-person early-voting period. It’s been a major ordeal for the county to buy the equipment – including a legal fight between the elections board and county commissioners. In May, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled commissioners were required to fund the purchase. Dominion quoted a retail cost for the new voting equipment of $6.17 million upfront, plus $331,550 a year to cover the software license, the hardware warranty and some ballot printing. The state covered $3.27 million. Dominion extended a trade-in credit of $1.7 million, reducing Stark County’s upfront cost to $1.48 million.

Full Article: Stark workers are testing the new Dominion voting machines now

Ohio refers 13 ballots — out of millions cast in 2020 — for investigation as possible voter fraud | Andrew J. Tobias/Cleveland Plain Dealer

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said Monday that voter fraud is “exceedingly rare” as his office announced it had referred 13 votes cast last year for further investigation as possible voter fraud. The 13 votes — or a tiny fraction of 1% of the 5.9 million votes cast during November’s presidential election — came from non-citizens who illegally cast a ballot, LaRose said. In Ohio, it is a felony for non-citizens to register to vote or to cast a ballot. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, will review the cases for potential prosecution. State officials regularly cross-reference voting records with BMV records, which list someone’s citizenship status on their driver’s license. LaRose said his office also referred 104 instances in which non-citizens registered to vote but didn’t cast a ballot. Democrats have criticized LaRose, a Republican, and his GOP predecessors for publicizing rare instances of voter fraud, saying it creates a false impression. But LaRose said he does so to emphasize how rare it is. “What Ohioans should know is that voter fraud is exceedingly rare in Ohio and when it occurs, we take it seriously,” LaRose said.

Full Article: Ohio refers 13 ballots — out of millions cast in 2020 — for investigation as possible voter fraud – cleveland.com

Ohio Governor signs partisan judicial election bill | Jackie Borchardt/Cincinnati Enquirer

Ohio voters will see an R or a D next to the names of state Supreme Court and appellate court candidates on the November 2022 ballot after Gov. Mike DeWine signed legislation Thursday. Ohio was the only state where judicial candidates run in partisan primaries and nonpartisan general elections. Now it will be one of seven states that elect judges for its higher courts in partisan elections, according to the National Center for State Courts. DeWine signed into law Senate Bill 80, which makes partisan elections for only state Supreme Court and appellate court races. Lower court races will continue to be a hybrid of partisan and nonpartisan elections. The legislation followed two state Supreme Court elections where Republicans lost three of four seats, moving the court from a 7-0 GOP majority to a 4-3 majority. Five Republicans in the House and Senate joined Democrats in voting against the bill. Republicans backing the change said it was needed to better inform voters, who are less likely to vote in judicial races than partisan offices. “With party affiliations already listed for primaries, this bill follows that precedent and continues that implementation of transparency for the general elections here in our state,” Rep. D.J. Swearingen, R-Huron, a sponsor of the companion bill House Bill 149, said in a statement.

Full Article: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signs partisan judicial election bill

Ohio takes tougher line on election tech wireless connectivity | Benjamin Freed/StateScoop

Back in February, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the federal board that sets guidance on how Americans vote, adopted a comprehensive, and long-awaited update to its security standards on election technology. But while the election security community largely embraced the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines 2.0, the five-member EAC stopped short of banning wireless connectivity in ballot scanners and electronic tablets, a decision that led to a group of technologists and former election officials saying that even switched off, wireless capabilities pose a security risk. Still, individual states are free to set their own guidelines for election technology, and on Tuesday, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced updated standards that explicitly prohibit wireless capabilities in the equipment used there. “VVSG was a big change. This was a small but impactful change,” LaRose told StateScoop of the EAC update that allows the inclusion of wireless radios. The changes were made by the Ohio Board of Voting Machine Examiners, a four-person bipartisan group that reviews and certifies the election equipment used by the state’s 88 county boards of elections, including electronic pollbooks, printers and ballot scanners.

Full Article: Ohio takes tougher line on election tech wireless connectivity

Ohio embracing more efficient way to audit state election results | Tyler Buchanan/Ohio Capital Journa

As lawmakers debate proposed changes to Ohio’s election system, the Secretary of State’s Office is planning ahead on ensuring future election results are accurate. County boards of elections conduct General Election audits in midterm and presidential years, in accordance with state law. The results announced on election night are “unofficial” until they are officially certified by elections workers. The audits help to make sure Ohio reports the correct winners through comparing a sample of paper ballots with the results produced by tabulation machine. Ohio has traditionally used a system wherein elections officials choose certain voting precincts and review five percent of the total votes cast in a given county. States are now embracing a more efficient way to conduct these audits using sophisticated computer software. This new “Risk-Limiting Audit” system considers the margin of victory in a given race. To put it simply, officials don’t need to spend as much time auditing a large sample of ballots to verify a blowout election result. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, there are a handful of states that have switched to conducting audits this way. NCSL sums it up this way: “If the margin is larger, fewer ballots need to be counted. If the race is tighter, more ballots are audited.” The software does much of the work, taking the election margin and spitting out a corresponding number of ballots necessary to check in order to conclude the result was correct with a high degree of confidence. With a number of ballots in mind, the program selects individual paper ballots at random for elections workers to check.

Full Article: Ohio embracing more efficient way to audit state election results – The Highland County Press

Ohio: Stark County commissioners approve purchase of Dominion voting machines | Robert Wang/The Canton Repository

Stark County commissioners on Wednesday approved an agreement with the Ohio secretary of state that will allow the Stark County Board of Elections to purchase Dominion voting machines. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Monday that state law required the commissioners to approve funding for the voting system, which the elections board had previously agreed to buy. The board plans to purchase 1,450 Dominion ImageCast X touch-screen voting machines, ballot scanners and other equipment. The elections board intends to test the equipment and train poll workers in time for it to be used in the Nov. 2 general election. The three-member Board of Commissioners had refused to fund the purchase in March. They said the Board of Elections failed to get the best value for taxpayers, failed to aggressively negotiate enough with Dominion Voting Systems and didn’t thoroughly consider the offerings of other vendors such as Election Systems & Software. Also dozens to more than 100 people, at least some influenced by unsubstantiated claims that hacked Dominion voting machines had cost former President Donald Trump re-election, had contacted the commissioners to urge more scrutiny of the purchase. After the application by Dominion of a trade-in credit, the county’s share is about $1.48 million, plus about $331,000 a year to cover the cost of software support, maintenance and warranties. The state is covering $3.27 million of the cost.

Full Article: Stark commissioners approve purchase of Dominion voting machines

Ohio: Top state court orders commissioners to fund buying Dominion machines | Robert Wang/The Canton Repository

The Ohio Supreme Court in a 6-1 ruling Monday said that state law requires the Stark County commissioners to fund the purchase of Dominion voting machines. The court granted the Stark County Board of Elections its request in April for a court order mandating the commissioners appropriate county funds, about $1.5 million, for the purchase. The court’s opinion stated that contrary to what the commissioners argued, a state provision requiring payment of expenses to come from money appropriated by the commissioners did not apply to the purchase of the voting machines. “I’m very pleased and happy that they saw the law the same way we did,” said Samuel Ferruccio, the chairman of the Stark County Board of Elections. “I think it’s now in the county commissioners’ lap for them to pay for the voting machines.” He said the commissioners have to vote to appropriate county funds for the machines within a reasonable time or the high court could hold them in contempt. Jeff Matthews, the director of the elections board, said in a prepared statement: “We look forward to the County Commissioners moving per the Court’s order to expeditiously acquire the new voting equipment so that it will be in place for the November election. The system has been fully certified as reliable and secure by the bipartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission and the bipartisan Ohio Board of Voting Machine Examiners.”

Full Article: Top state court orders commissioners to fund buying Dominion machines

Ohio county ordered to purchase disputed voting machines | Andrew Welsh-Huggins/Associated Press

ArticlThe Ohio Supreme County on Monday sided with a county elections board in a dispute over the purchase of voting machines tied to unfounded allegations of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. At issue before the high court was a rift between the bipartisan elections board in Stark County and that northeastern county’s GOP-dominated board of commissioners, involving Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems machines. Under a 2018 law approved by Ohio lawmakers, “the commissioners must acquire the voting machines selected by the elections board,” the Supreme Court said in a 6-1 ruling. Although the current selection process doesn’t allow commissioners to scrutinize the election’s board choice of voting machines, that’s a matter for state lawmakers, not the court, the justices said. Stark County commissioners respect the court’s ruling and will comply with it, said their attorney, Mark Weaver. He added that commissioners “remain disappointed that taxpayers were not given, and now may never receive, the information necessary to discern whether this proposed purchase is the best value and most effective.” Messages were left for for the elections board and for Dominion Voting Systems. Elections board officials argued that without an order from the high court forcing the purchase, the machines wouldn’t be available in time for the November election.

e: Ohio county ordered to purchase disputed voting machines

Ohio: DC group founded by former Trump campaign staffers files open meetings lawsuit against Stark County Board of Elections | Robert Wang/The Canton Repository

A group founded by former Trump campaign staffers has filed a lawsuit against the Stark County Board of Elections, alleging the board held an illegal private discussion before voting to buy Dominion voting machines. Look Ahead America is asking a Stark County Common Pleas judge to invalidate the board’s Dec. 9 vote to approve the purchase of 1,450 Dominion ImageCast X voting machines and other voting equipment. The other plaintiff in the case is listed as Merry Lynne Rini of Jackson Township. Look Ahead America is based in Washington, D.C. Look Ahead America’s 19-page complaint filed Tuesday alleges the Board of Elections’ minutes show the four-member body met in closed-door executive sessions to discuss the purchase of public property four times. The complaint lists the board meetings for Dec. 9, Jan. 6, Feb. 9 and March 15. State law allows public bodies to discuss in executive session the purchase of public property. But only “if premature disclosure of information would give an unfair competitive or bargaining advantage to a person whose personal, private interest is adverse to the general public interest,” the complaint said. The Board of Elections gave no indication that it was meeting in executive session to avoid revealing information to give someone an unfair competitive or bargaining advantage, Look Ahead America argues. Therefore, it says the executive sessions are illegal and by law any actions based on discussions in illegal executive sessions are invalid.

Full Article: DC group alleges Stark County Board of Elections had illegal meetings

Ohio bill to overhaul voting laws would only allow ballot drop boxes at county boards of elections | Laura Hancock/Cleveland Plain Dealer

A newly introduced voting overhaul bill in the Ohio House would put into law that absentee ballot drop boxes are only allowed at one place in each county and for a shorter length of time than in November’s election. Up to three boxes would be allowed at each county board of elections under House Bill 294, sponsored by Republican Reps. Bill Seitz of Cincinnati and Sharon Ray of Wadsworth, and introduced Thursday. Drop boxes were widely used for the first time in Ohio for last year’s presidential election and have been a flashpoint in voting politics, even ending up in the courts. HB 294 also changes how people can register to vote, request absentee ballots, among other issues. The bill comes after a wave of election law changes in Republican-controlled states. Many Republicans falsely believe that widespread fraud in the 2020 election led to the loss of former President Donald Trump.

Full Article: Ohio bill to overhaul voting laws would only allow ballot drop boxes at county boards of elections – cleveland.com

Ohio: Inside Stark County’s Dominion Voting machine controversy: What do other counties use? | Robert Wang/The Canton Repository

The Stark County Board of Elections will be using 16-year-old touchscreen voting machines in the May 4 primary while most of the state uses more modern equipment. Most Ohio counties bought new voting equipment in 2019 with the state funding much of the purchase. The Stark County Board of Elections wanted to first see what the other counties experienced. Now the election board is mired in a legal battle with Stark County commissioners over its plan to buy Dominion ImageCast X touchscreen voting machines. Commissioners say the board failed to sufficiently consult them, vet Dominion’s price quote and properly consider other options. The commissioners also heard from dozens to more than 100 people influenced by baseless claims by former President Donald Trump and his supporters about Dominion voting machines. The Stark County Board of Elections wants to buy Dominion ImageCast X machines, with Director Jeff Matthews later citing several reasons. The ImageCast X machines are the most similar to the old TSX machines, presenting voters and board staff with a minimal learning curve. Votes are recorded on USB sticks and on paper receipts. Dominion was the only vendor offering a trade-in credit. And Stark County had a good long-term relationship with Dominion.

Full Article: Other counties using new voting machines as Stark mired in lawsuit

Ohio GOP lawmakers propose election changes, limiting drop boxes and allowing online ballot requests | Jessie Balmert/Cincinnati Enquirer

Proposed changes to Ohio election law would eliminate voting on the day before Election Day, limit drop boxes and allow voters to request absentee ballots online. The changes, which will soon be introduced as a bill by Rep. Bill Seitz, R-Green Township and Rep. Sharon Ray, R-Wadsworth, would eliminate in-person voting on the Monday before Election Day so county election officials could prepare for Tuesday. However, those hours of in-person voting could be reallocated to another day. The Ohio Association of Election Officials has been requesting the change. The proposal would also limit drop boxes for mail-in ballots to 10 days before Election Day instead of the entire early voting period. Each county board of elections could have three receptacles on their premises. Boards could have one drop boxfor the entire early voting period during a pandemic or emergency. Ohio lawmakers approved the use of drop boxes during the COVID-19 pandemic when Ohio’s primary shifted to mail ballots rather than in-person voting. Several judges ruled that Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose was allowed to set rules on how drop boxes were used, but he deferred to lawmakers.

Full Article: Ohio election bill: Limit drop boxes, allow online ballot requests

Ohio Supreme Court takes case over Dominion voting machines purchase | Andrew Welsh-Huggins/Associated Press

A dispute over the purchase of voting machines tied to unfounded allegations of fraud in the 2020 presidential election has reached the Ohio Supreme Court. At issue before the high court is a feud over the purchase of Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems machines between the bipartisan elections board in Stark County and that northeastern county’s GOP-dominated board of commissioners. Dominion machines became a flashpoint during the election because of unfounded allegations that the company changed votes through algorithms in its voting machines that had been created in Venezuela to rig elections for the late dictator Hugo Chavez. Dominion has pushed back against these allegations, including in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed last month against Fox News, arguing the cable news giant falsely claimed that the voting company rigged the 2020 election in an effort to boost faltering ratings. Because of such claims promoted by on-air Fox personalities, the company is now widely targeted by conservatives who falsely believe it manufactured former President Donald Trump’s defeat, the lawsuit said. This conspiracy theory even reached Stark County, the elections board alleged in its complaint to the Ohio Supreme Court last month.

Full Article: Ohio Supreme Court takes case over voting machines purchase

Ohio: Progressive group circulates election bill; GOP lawmaker says it’s not final | Jessie Balmert Anna Staver/Cincinnati Enquirer

A progressive group published a draft of an Ohio election overhaul that would eliminate a day of early voting, require more forms of identification to vote early in person and allow drop boxes only during a statewide emergency. However, Rep. Bill Seitz, R-Green Township, says that draft won’t turn into proposed legislation. “What you have is not what will be introduced,” said Seitz, one of several lawmakers working on changes to Ohio election law. “Drafts are drafts. That’s all they are.” What changes will be introduced? Seitz wouldn’t share any details, but Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney, D-Cleveland, said the fact that a draft like that exists at all says something about the “misguided notions” of her Republican colleagues. “They have had these false notions of we need to have more strict voter ID laws because of voter fraud, and that’s just not true,” Sweeney said. “That’s a lie, and it’s part of voter suppression.” Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, has pushed for a way to request mail-in ballots online, the ability to update voter information at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and direction on how many ballot collection drop boxes each county should allow.

Full Article: Progressive group circulates Ohio election bill; GOP lawmaker says it’s not final

Ohio Supreme Court outlines deadlines for voting machine case | Cassandra Nist/The Canton Repository

The Ohio Supreme Court has laid out its calendar for hearing the Stark County Dominion voting machine dispute. There won’t be a ruling before the primary election on May 4 but Stark County Board of Election had hoped to buy the new voting machines in time for elections later this year. The elections board has until April 26 to file all its evidence and legal briefs. Stark County commissioners have until May 10 to file its briefs, then the BOE must respond by May 14. The Ohio Supreme court noted the clerk of court shall refuse to file any requests for a time extension. “Whether this case is heard quickly or on a normal timetable, we’re confident that the law and evidence support the position of the county commissioners. They have the ability and the duty to carefully review recommended expenditure to ensure taxpayers are getting the best value,” attorney Mark Weaver, who represents county commissioners, said Monday. The elections board filed the 69-page lawsuit in the Ohio Supreme Court, and a motion to expedite the case due to a “fast approaching election-related deadline of June 15, 2021.” The board is seeking an order from the Supreme Court directing county commissioners to acquire Dominion Voting Systems Image Cast X machines, The bipartisan elections board unanimously voted to buy the new machines for use in Stark County’s elections nearly four months ago. The machines, according to the complaint, are similar to the voting machines that the county has used since 2005 and competitive in price.

Full Article: Ohio Supreme Court outlines deadlines for voting machine case

Ohio: Get COVID-19 vaccine and vote at Hamilton County Board of Elections all at once. Vax & Vote seeks to increase voter turnout and COVID-19 immunity. | Scott Wartman/Cincinnati Enquirer

Ever wonder if there’s a way to both support democracy and help end a pandemic without having to make two trips? There is, the Hamilton County Board of Elections said in a statement Thursday. Officials with the board of elections and Hamilton County Public Health Department hope to boost turnout out in the May 4 primary and COVID-19 vaccination rates with a Vax & Vote initiative. Early voting at the Hamilton County Board of Elections office in Norwood started April 6 for the primary that features the Cincinnati mayoral race and some local levies. The board of elections also happens to house Hamilton County’s central COVID-19 vaccination site. The county health department has administered the vaccine in the 15,000-square-foot space at 2300 Wall Street in the same Norwood office complex as the board of elections. The board of elections rented the space in 2020 for early voting.

Full Article: Get COVID-19 vaccine and vote at Hamilton County Board of Elections

Ohio: Stark County Board of Elections filed a lawsuit in Ohio Supreme Court | Cassandra Nist/The Canton Repository

The Stark County Board of Elections has followed through on its promise to file a lawsuit against county commissioners for refusing to fund the purchase of Dominion voting machines.The elections board filed the 69-page complaint Friday in the Ohio Supreme Court, and a motion Monday to expedite the case due to a “fast approaching election-related deadline of June 15, 2021.” The board is seeking an order from the Supreme Court directing county commissioners to acquire Dominion Voting Systems Image Cast X machines. The bipartisan elections board unanimously voted to adopt the machines for use in Stark County’s elections nearly four months ago. The machines, according to the complaint, are similar to the voting machines that the county has used since 2005 and competitive in price. The board wanted commissioners to approve upfront funding of about $1.5 million to purchase 1,450 Dominion touchscreen voting machines and other voting equipment. The state is providing another $3.27 million to finance the purchase. However, Commissioners Bill Smith, Richard Regula and Janet Weir Creighton, all Republicans, voted last month against accepting the Dominion recommendation and have questioned the cost.

Full Article: Stark County Board of Elections filed a lawsuit in Ohio Supreme Court

Ohio: Stark County commissioners refuse demand to fund Dominion voting machines | Robert Wang/The Canton Repository

Facing the threat of an imminent lawsuit from the Stark County Board of Elections, county commissioners stated they would not be complying with the board’s demand to approve funding by Wednesday for new Dominion voting machines. Commissioner Bill Smith, president of the three-member board of commissioners, read a statement shortly before the board adjourned at the conclusion of its regular Wednesday meeting. “Since March 10th, the Board of Elections has not submitted any new information, or new analysis to the commissioners. What has been missing during this process, or at least it has never been shared with the commissioners and the public, is a comprehensive and transparent review of all the available and state-approved voting systems, including a side-by-side comparison and analysis of the pros and cons of each voting system. Back in December, the commissioners requested much of this information, but it was never provided. Also missing has been any kind of vigorous negotiation by the Board of Elections with voting systems vendors to ensure Stark County taxpayers are getting the best bargain for their money,” the statement said. “Regrettably, none of these things have changed since March 10th, therefore, this board (of commissioners) will not be taking any new action today.” Neither Board of Elections Chairman Samuel Ferruccio nor the Board of Elections’ Columbus-based election law attorney, Don McTigue, could immediately be reached for comment. An email seeking comment was sent to Dominion. The commissioners issued their statement a day after meeting either in person or by teleconference with attorneys in executive session to discuss pending or imminent court action.

Full Article: Stark commissioners refuse to comply with voting machines demand