Ballot issues in Lucas, Williams Co. primaries

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Leaders with The Lucas County Board of Elections say they experienced issues with ballots on Primary Election Day.

According to a statement from the Lucas County BOE, there was an issue with electronic pollbooks due to an error with the vendor, Tenex. The electronic pollbook printed the incorrect barcode on the ballot card.

“So, say for instance it would have your name, your precinct, as it’s supposed to, and it would have the party that you chose written on the card itself, but when it was getting inserted into the voting machine it was bringing up the opposite party ballot,” said Lucas County Board of Elections Director Lavera Scott.

Officials with the board of elections said poll workers were aware of the issue and followed backup procedures, assuring the public that this will correctly record their vote.

“You can go over to the machine with the worker, choose the correct party, choose the correct precinct and cast your ballot on a machine,” said Scott.

Basically, voters who received the wrong ballot were told to create a new one on the voting machines. Voters with concerns can ask for a paper ballot.

The BOE said the barcodes are created and assigned by the vendor and other counties experienced the same issue.

Tuesday afternoon, the Lucas County Board of Elections issued an update that the vendor error had been corrected.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose issued a statement on social media Tuesday saying his office was aware of “potential check-in issues” and was working with county boards to fix it. LaRose said no voters should be turned away due to these issues.

LaRose confirmed the ballot issues happened in Lucas and Cuyahoga counties. It’s unclear at this time exactly how many other counties were impacted.

The Williams County Board of Elections said it experienced problems providing voters with the right ballots at all polling locations in the county on Tuesday. The BOE there said officials are printing new ballots there to correct the issue but said it could lead to short delays. The board assured the public that voters can still cast their vote at all locations and that precinct officials will be able to help.

This is a developing story.

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