Provisional and absentee ballots were accepted and rejected from May election

MEDINA — The Medina County Board of Elections officials accepted and rejected absentee and provisional ballots from the recent May election on Tuesday. When someone fills out a provisional or absentee ballot with all the correct information, their ballot is automatically accepted, chairperson of the Board of Elections Pam Miller said. However, if there are errors on the ballot, the board decides whether to accept or reject it. Some ballots were accepted such as those that were not scanned by the machine. The ballots that were rejected at Tuesday's meeting were not completed by someone who is registered in the state of Ohio to vote or by someone who tried to vote twice. Other instances of rejection involved people not showing identification in the allotted time or having missing or incorrect personal information. Those who voted at the wrong precinct and the wrong polling location were rejected, but some of those who voted in the wrong precinct but at the right polling location were accepted. This occurs when a poll worker puts the right ballot type into the wrong precinct envelope making it appear as if the voter voted in the wrong precinct. "There are not enough ballots from any that we had left over, from absentee or provisional, that I think are going to make any difference in this particular election," Miller said. "But there are sometimes cases where something is so close that it could make a difference." An audit will be conducted soon to double check that the results from the election are correct. A certain number of polling places will have the votes gone through and checked by hand using bipartisan teams to verify that the numbers match the unofficial results. On May 26, the board will certify the results of the May election. This will be done in a similar way as the public test which is completed before the election to certify that the voting machines are accurate. A zero report will be done first and then the ballot results with the final numbers will be compared. The board will then sign off on the final numbers. Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.