Ohio, Medina County boards of elections performed well in November

MEDINA — Despite the turmoil surrounding the presidential election in 2020, Ohio stood out as exemplary, an Ohio secretary of state official said Tuesday. Alex Pavloff, Ohio secretary of state regional liaison, complimented the 2020 general election in Ohio. "From what we could tell, Ohio did a resounding job in the 2020 election," he told Medina County commissioners Tuesday morning. "Others have called Ohio a national model on how the election should be conducted. That's something we were very proud of. We were lucky we got through the election without any sizable problems or concerns." The 88 boards of election around the state have been practicing and drilling for the election since January 2019, and Pavloff said the commissioners should be proud of the Medina County Board of Elections. "Boy, do you have a good one here," Pavloff said. He said early in-person voting in Medina County was higher than in most surrounding counties. "At one point, they were doing about 1,200 voters per day heading up to the Nov. 3 election — about the same as Summit County," Pavloff said. "That was remarkable." He said he was particularly impressed with how the board of elections handled parking flow. Secretary of State Frank LaRose asked Medina County officials to film a segment to show those around the state. "They had no issues," Pavloff said. "No terrible lines to get into the parking lot. They did a very good job here. You should be proud of them." Around the state, 59 percent of all votes cast were absentee or early in-person — about a third higher than the 2016 general election — and there was an all-time low number of rejects and provisional ballots. Pavloff's office also was able to disperse $387,000 to the Medina County Board of Elections for a number of things, including security, cyber security and ADA compliance. It also dispersed some CARES Act funding to the board of elections for part-time staffing. "There was a 150 percent increase of absentee ballots," Pavloff said. "You needed people to open those envelops." He wanted to advocate for a few legislative priorities his office is promoting, including a request to get absentee ballots and to register for the election online. "It's a no-brainer (to register online)," Pavloff said. "It makes sense, and we'll save on printing dead tree registration forms. I'd like to see us brought into the 21st century." Commissioner Steve Hambley said the online absentee ballots make the most sense. In his capacity as a liaison to 16 counties in the state, including Medina, Pavloff also works with new businesses. He said there were a record 171,000 new businesses in the state last year during the COVID-19 pandemic. "That's wonderful news," he said. "It's a reasonable increase. It's not a stop-the-presses type of increase." In other news County Administrator Scott Miller said fencing soon will go up in the back parking lot behind the current courthouse as Gilbane Construction is putting together the bid package for the handicapped-accessible ramp."The parking lot will be closed," Miler said. "They'll have to park in the deck."The metal detectors will be moved to the front of the 1969 courthouse and a ramp will be built to make it ADA compliant. It will be the public entrance to the courthouse during construction. The west entrance of the parking deck will close, with the E. Liberty and E. Washington street entrances to remain open.The entrance and exits currently have dividers for inbound and outbound traffic. The city of Medina will have them removed. Commissioners authorized the advertisement of bids for the Medina County Human Services Building parking lot. Cost for the repairs is an estimated $592,000. Commissioners are in the process of renovating and reconstruction of the 1841 courthouse located at 92 Public Square and have determined it necessary to request proposals from qualified firms to provide abatement design services for the Medina County Courthouse project. The scope of the work is to include pre-renovation inspection, abatement specification development and abatement oversight air monitoring for the Medina County Courthouse project. Hambley said he attended a homeless coalition meeting March 11 at Grace East Church."We're trying to put together a drop-in shelter," he said.Several members of the coalition also visited the Salvation Army in Wooster to see its operations. So many homeless people now are staying in Medina County hotels, the coalition is "quickly running out of funds," Hambley said. There has been talk about the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency being in charge of statewide broadband dollars."It's not too widely supported in the Republican caucus," Hambley said. "It's something we'll have to monitor. If they do it that way, we have to make sure we have a seat at the table when they are distributing dollars." The Office for Older Adults will sponsor Senior Day on May 18 at the community center at the Medina County Fairgrounds. About 100 vendors will provide information to seniors, as well as food and entertainment. Cost is not to exceed $5,000 of donated funds. The Medina County Engineer will purchase a new Caterpillar Model 289D3 compact track loader. Purchase price is $88,548. MedinaTV has entered into an agreement for presentation of commissioners' meetings and additional issues involving local government at a rate of $52 per hour. Commissioners have agreed to establish and maintain a $10,000 capital improvement fund for the purchase of new equipment and maintenance of equipment used in the broadcast and production of Medina County government access programming. The Medina County Engineer will purchase one new cab and chassis with a dump body and hydraulics for use at the Medina County Highway Department. It will cost an estimated $160,000. Contact reporter Bob Finnan at (330) 721-4049 or rfinnan@medina-gazette.com.