Ohio’s elections chief is confident that glitches encountered in November’s elections will be corrected before the battleground state holds its high-stakes presidential primary in March, he said on Friday. Secretary of State Jon Husted said he plans a series of steps to ensure that problems with postmarks and poll books aren’t repeated. The remarks came on a day when he received reports related to snags in the Nov. 3 elections and met with U.S. Deputy Postmaster Ronald Stroman. Husted insisted that the pivotal swing state will be ready for 2016. “There’s no other option,” he said.
Husted said he plans to require that all future absentee ballots be returned in letter-sized envelopes to avoid a problem encountered in the Akron area with postmarks. More than 800 ballots in Summit County arrived without postmarks and were discarded because the law requires a postmark for a ballot to be counted.
Husted said he also will promote the importance of poll-worker training and encourage the recruitment of tech-savvy newcomers after electronic poll-book issues caused voting delays in Cincinnati.
“With every problem that occurred in 2015, we’ve identified the problem, and we’ve identified the solution,” the Republican said. “We will make sure that the (county election) boards are doing what it takes to make sure that these recommendations are implemented.”
Full Article: Husted insists voting problems will be fixed | The Columbus Dispatch.