We are glad to see the Butler County board of commissioners take steps to streamline elections and head off potential problems with their purchase of new software earlier this week.

The cloud-based software, among other benefits, is designed to improve communication, reporting and tracking at the elections bureau.

Aaron Sheasley, elections bureau director, points out that the large volume of mail-in votes that arrived at the bureau during the November general election resulted in employees’ decreased ability to tend to the polls during elections.

“This is going to free up time for us to be able to do more,” Sheasley said.

Leslie Osche, commissioners chairwoman, said communication between elections officials, poll workers and judges of elections at the polls also was a major problem in the 2020 presidential election.

The software purchase was based on a recommendation of the county Election Review Commission. The board — composed of 12 people of varying experience or expertise in county elections, the three county commissioners and Sheasley — was formed to address issues regarding the November election.

Their report was issued earlier this year that listed the issues experienced in the chaotic 2020 presidential election and recommendations to ensure those issues will not reappear in future elections.

An example of the issues that arose during the election are a lack of consistent procedures to surrender mail-in ballots, confusion on the use of provisional ballots, inadequate supplies of ballots at some polling places, insufficient training of poll workers, numerous changes in the instruction materials and guidelines given to election officials, and poll book inaccuracies, including the names of deceased voters in the books.

The voters of Butler County should appreciate the commissioners’ dedication to carrying out a fair and proper election each year, which is why they formed and served on the Election Review Commission.

Through the resulting new software, tasks and deadlines for multiple elections as well as equipment and supplies can be tracked by the bureau of election, ultimately speeding up the processing and, ideally, the reporting of election night returns.

— JGG