Oh my goodness, I wasn't sure I'd really seen this, but there it was in all its bizarre glory...
There will be no more sleepovers with voting equipment in Ohio.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner issued a directive today forbidding the practice in Fairfield County and at least 22 other counties of having voting machines and other equipment taken home the night before an election by poll workers or others and brought to polling locations on Election Day.
Huh, who'd have thought this would actually be an issue? Really?
Okay, I'm from Oregon and we do all our voting by mail so perhaps I'm just a little naive about how the rest of the country does things--but is it REALLY a big hassle to, you know, have the voting machines in the polling places and make sure they get there without side stops in unsecured locations--like people's houses, f'rinstance?
Some elections officials have complained about the additional time and money required to have voting equipment delivered to polling locations instead of having poll workers handle them.
Brunner is offering to reimburse counties for their added costs with federal funds, which she expects to be less than $100,000 statewide, before the Nov. 4 election.
Aaron Ockerman, a lobbyist for the Ohio Association of Elections Officials, said some county officials won't be happy because of the additional work the directive will require with the busy election looming.
But he said he's encouraged by the flexibility the order allows, including permitting counties to set up regional storage sites for pick up of equipment on Election Day or allowing equipment to be set up early at secured locations.
"As long as there is enough flexibility, we can make it work," he said.
Apparently so. Huh. Color me somewhat amazed. I mean, after all, wasn't there some kind of PROBLEM with Ohio results and voting machines before? Some sort of controversy or something?
Another quote from the first linked story:
With the eyes of the world expected to be on Ohio again for the presidential election this fall, the order is part of a series of directives Brunner has been issuing to address voting security, including one implementing a new law requiring bipartisan teams to handle and transport ballots .
"We want Ohio’s voters and the rest of the nation to see that we have prepared a transparent process of transporting voting equipment, ballots and supplies," Brunner said, noting there have been reported cases of poll workers casting ballots on machines in their homes. "That begins with security practices at boards of elections and polling places, documented chain of custody, and now procedures to make secure voting machine delivery."
Yup, guess the Secretary of State for Ohio thinks there might be reason to show the rest of the country that voting in Ohio's on the up & up. What an alarmist she is! Why, there's no reason at all to think there'd be a problem with poll workers casting "practice" ballots on machines in their homes, right? I mean, they're probably just being helpful and casting the votes they just KNOW their neighbors would cast so they don't actually have to go out the next day and vote--it's uphill six miles both ways IN THE SNOW, don't'cha know!
Of course this explains everything...
My, those Midwest people sure do things funny! Guess us Pacific Northwesterners have a lot to learn about how a REAL state does REAL voting!
Learn something new every day. Huh.