Portage County voters will be going old school at the polls, exchanging the usual electronic check-in process for a paper protocol.
Portage is one of 47 Ohio counties impacted by a March 27 news release issued by Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office. There are 88 counties in all.
Portage County Board of Elections Deputy Director Theresa Nielsen said poll workers have been using an electronic pollbook to scan a barcode on the back of voters’ identification cards. The pollbook would automatically display the voter’s name and address.
Voters will still present a photo ID, but now each polling location will have a signature book and pollbook. One poll worker will find the voter’s name and address in a signature book and will record the type of ballot the voter requested (partisan, primary or issues-only) and the stub number. A second poll worker will record the ballot style and stub number in a separate pollbook.
Each voter will then sign the signature book to receive a ballot.
In his news release, LaRose stated that the change is rooted in an ongoing investigation into an electronic pollbook Perry County bought to check voters into their polling location. LaRose said it violated state election security standards and noted it was never actually used in an election.
Electronic pollbooks are never connected to voting or tabulation equipment, so those devices are not impacted, he stated.
The paper pollbook protocol will remain in place while LaRose’s office reviews all voter check-in processes for security compliance. No end date was provided. LaRose said voters will experience “little to no impact,” especially since he anticipates voter turnout to be “relatively low.”
Wendy DiAlesandro is a former Record Publishing Co. reporter and contributing writer for The Portager.