Vote went smoothly, or had glitches, depending on source
Election Day 2020 has come and gone, the deluge of political ads has disappeared, and ballots not cast at the polls are being counted.
How the voting process went at the polls, however, depends on who you talk to.
Tina Fedko, communications specialist for the county Bureau of Elections, said all went well at the 89 precincts in the county.
“There were no problems,” Fedko said. “We have heard nothing.”
She said the county is pleased with the huge voter turnout, which was handled well by poll workers.
“We had good workers and all were trained,” Fedko said. “It was very smooth.”
But officials with the two political committees in the county tell another tale.
Catherine Lalonde, chairwoman of the Democratic Committee, and Trish Lindsay, internal vice chairwoman of the Republican Committee, said there was some confusion Tuesday morning regarding the procedures on the surrendering of ballots by mail-in voters.
Lalonde said some judges of elections thought those handing in a mail-in ballot were to receive a provisional ballot when, in fact, they were to vote with a regular ballot because they had surrendered their mail-in version.
Only those listed as mail-in voters who did not have their ballot with them to surrender were to vote using a provisional ballot, Lalonde said.
“The judges of election have a hard job and the ones that I saw were really working hard to do things the correct way,” she said.
Lalonde said the elections bureau called some precincts to inform the judges of elections that a mail-in voter's secrecy ballot was not necessary when surrendering a ballot at the poll.
Lindsay, who worked as a judge of elections for 20 years in her precinct, Buffalo Township 1, said some poll workers were confused about the process.“Some were not prepared for handling mail-in ballots that were coming back into the polls,” she said of surrendered ballots.Lindsay noticed a stack of mail-in ballots at Buffalo 1 that did not have the signed affidavit of surrender attached as required.At the judge of elections' request, Lindsay went through the ballots to ensure each surrendered mail-in ballot had the required surrender affidavit attached. A handful did not.“I only touched the ballots that were going to be voided,” she said. “For 20 years, I tried to get those numbers right at the end of the day and if you have a snafu like that, you're going to be there until 5 a.m.”One mail-in ballot did not have a surrender affidavit attached, so the voter was contacted to come in and sign the document, which he did.“It was just a record-keeping thing,” Lindsay said of her involvement with the mail-in ballots at Buffalo Township 1.Lindsay said she trusted that the issues were eventually resolved by the bureau of elections, but she was glad she had the experience to handle the immediate problem Tuesday morning.“That was my concern, whether or not (judges of elections) were clearly informed on how to manage that,” she said.Lindsay said she called Leslie Osche, county commissioners chairwoman, to report that she was helping with the issue at Buffalo 1.
Lalonde said she was told the poll watchers from the Republican Committee were asking poll workers for the names of all voters who came to the polls. She did not understand why the Republican poll workers were asked to do so, which she confirmed is legal.Lindsay said it was just a prudent way to document the proceedings at the polls.“They are permitted to find out who's voting, so they can check off voters,” Lindsay said. “That's one of their jobs.”She gave an example of an elderly couple who had voted at their precinct in many consecutive elections being told by poll workers that they were marked “inactive.”The couple was given provisional ballots, which was noted by the poll watchers.The poll watchers also recorded which voters used a provisional ballot because they did not have their mail-in ballot with them.“They're just keeping track, so if there's any question at the end about the numbers matching, they can refer to their notes,” Lindsay said.
Regarding the counting of the 33,000 mail-in and absentee ballots received at the elections bureau, Osche said via email Wednesday afternoon that 27,000 of the ballots had been counted as of 3:45 p.m.She said the high-end scanner that failed Tuesday night was replaced Wednesday afternoon.The machine can count 300 ballots per minute as opposed to the 75 per-minute capacity of other scanners at the elections bureau, which Fedko said continued to be used on election night after the main scanner failed.Osche said the bureau expected the mail-in and absentee ballots to be completely counted by early Wednesday evening.Lalonde said attorneys for both parties were present when the mail-in and absentee ballots were counted, and they called county solicitor Wil White if an issue cropped up.“It's the first general election with a lot of mail-in ballots, so knowing the procedure is hard,” she said.
Both parties in the county were thrilled with voter turnout.Of the 112,090 registered voters in Butler County, 78,310 cast a ballot at the polls, according to unofficial summary totals. That is almost a 70% turnout rate.Lindsay said while about 15,000 of those ballots were cast for former Vice President Joe Biden, incumbent President Donald Trump received about 64,000 votes in Butler County.She said in the 2016 election, Trump earned two votes to Hillary Clinton's one, but that doubled this year.“Butler County brought in a four to one result for Mr. Trump and we were very proud of that,” Lindsay said.Fedko said 75 to 100 ballots were delivered Wednesday, Thursday and Friday by county Sheriff's Office deputies to those who are unable to get to the elections bureau and vote on a mail-in ballot.On Election Day, rovers throughout the county restocked the precincts with ballots and other supplies that had run out because of the large voter turnout.“It was a really well-oiled machine from the county to the polls,” Fedko said.She said when a scanner stopped working in the Clay Township precinct, another was rushed from the county elections bureau to the site by a rover.Fedko said some wait times were up around an hour and 20 minutes, but others were in and out of the polls in 15 minutes.“It varied based on when you went,” she said.
