Ohio Special Election as a Precinct Election Official
Emma Feldmeier
Walking into the Hamilton County Board of Elections building in Cincinnati, Ohio, I sit down in a room filled with other poll workers, ready for our training session.
“Hey, you’re not like us. Your hair isn’t gray,” a woman next to me jokes.
I laugh and take a quick glance at the many elderly people that fill each row. I would be surprised if there’s another person below sixty in the room.
This very same room looked much different last November during the 2022 General Elections. Classmates of mine filled the room, seniors in high school, many of whom were not eligible to vote yet.
A program called Youth at the Booth brought in young, up-and-coming voters such as myself and my high school senior class, providing us exposure and active participation in the process of running an election.
After completing the Youth at the Booth Program last November through my high school, I didn’t think I would have the opportunity to be a poll worker again, at least not in the foreseeable future. Elections almost always conflict with school or work. Additionally, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and our General Assembly passed a law earlier this year to eliminate August special elections (Ingles). These occur when I’m still home for summer break.
Yet, here I am at the Hamilton County Board of Elections in August, training to work an election with only one issue on the ballot.*
I receive a packet titled, PEO (Precinct Election Official) Quick Guide. During the training session, we walk through the packet. I learn how to set up and operate polling location equipment, communicate with voters, issue ballots, and manage special situations (like if a voter just moved).
The night before Election Day, I arrive at the Hartwell Elementary gym, my assigned polling location. Time to set up the equipment. Alongside other PEOs and the Polling Location Manager and Deputy (PLM and PLD), I set up the Vscans, Access Writer, Electronic Poll Books (ePBs), voting booths, and more.
Vscans are ballot scanners, where voters insert their ballot to be processed and then stored in a secure, locked box (PEO Quick Guide, 4).
The Access Writer is a piece of equipment to help those with disabilities mark their ballot. It has headphones for those who are visually impaired, enables voters to mark their ballot digitally, and then prints out the ballot to be processed by the Vscan (PEO Quick Guide, 5).
Then, we have the ePBs, which are electronic devices used by PEOs to process voters, confirm their registration, and issue their ballots.
After setting up the equipment, I return home for a short night's sleep and am back at 5:30 AM. Polls are open from 6:30 AM to 7:30 PM.
I sit in front of the bright ePB screen and greet the voters already walking through the door. I take their ID — almost always a driver’s license – and scan the barcode on the back. A name and address pop up on the screen.
“What is your name and current address?” I ask.
If the information matches, I click a green, CONTINUE button.
This means the voter is eligible to vote.
I proceed and flip the ePB to face the voter. I give them my stylus and have them provide their signature.
I then flip the ePB back over and check which ballot they need. Our polling location has two precincts and, therefore, two ballots. We differentiate by letters on the top right corner of the ballot. Our precincts were designated by G and C.
“I need a ‘G,’ please.”
Another poll worker hands me the correct ballot.
There’s a barcode on the bottom that I scan, rip off, and put in a bag.
I hand the voter their ballot and process the next.
This is the conventional process poll workers go through, but sometimes we run into issues and have to go a different route.
“Name and address, please,” I ask.
The voter provides an address that doesn’t match the one listed on my screen.
“I recently moved,” they say.
This is one of the scenarios in which voters must vote provisionally. Provisional voting occurs when the Board of Elections must check a voter’s eligibility to vote before counting their ballot. If a voter recently moved into the precinct, did not update their address in the system, or requested an absentee ballot, they must vote provisionally (LaRose). Voters without valid ID may also vote provisionally, however, their vote will only count if they go to the Board of Elections and provide valid ID within 4 days (LaRose). The grace period was previously 7 days.
Voters put their completed ballot in a long envelope with a form on the front, asking for personal information such as name, address, zip code, signature, etc. We store these ballots in the blue ballot box, which is returned to the Board of Elections at the end of the day.
In other “special instances,” voters are at the wrong polling location and we must redirect them. Through our ePBs, we are able to use the voter’s address to search for their correct polling location. We can print, email, or text directions to the voter.
Throughout the day, we process voters, but we also have some time to go vote ourselves (I voted for the first time during my lunch break) and get to know each other.
Our poll worker team was bipartisan, which is a requirement for all polling locations. The polling location manager and deputy were each from opposing parties and partisan conversations or messaging on shirts is prohibited. For me, it was hard to refrain from discussing politics, since I have very strong opinions. However, in making the election operations strictly nonpartisan, our electoral system reinforces a trust in election integrity and security, a trust that some politicians are trying to undermine.
In working the polls twice, I’ve developed a greater appreciation for electoral processes, voting rights, ballot issues, and bipartisan collaboration. I want to encourage others, especially young people to volunteer to work the polls (there is some pay) in order to develop more enthusiasm for and knowledge of voting.
Contact your government teacher or Board of Elections to check if your county has a Youth at the Booth Program for high school seniors. See details on my county’s Youth at the Booth Program here.
*For information on Issue 1, reference the following sources:
https://www.ohiosos.gov/globalassets/elections/2023/spec/issuereport.pdf
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-issue-1-fails-to-pass-2023-results/