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LISBON -- The Columbiana County Board of Elections will meet at 1:30 p.m. April 3 to certify the final results of the March 19 primary election, accepting 71 eligible provisional ballots to be included in the official tally.
The board met briefly Wednesday to take action regarding the provisional ballots, both eligible and ineligible, and absentee ballots ruled uncountable for various reasons.
Provisional ballots are ballots cast on Election Day by people who may have moved so their registration must be checked to ensure they're eligible to vote where they voted.
The board rejected 13 provisional ballots, with two rejected for wrong precinct/wrong polling place, four rejected for invalid or did not provide ID and seven rejected for the voters not being registered.
In one case, Board of Elections Director Kim Fusco said there's an internal problem with one woman's registration because she was improperly merged to another county and has had to vote provisional the last three elections. She said they're working to get it fixed.
The board also rejected 10 absentee ballots due to various issues, with four received too late or with no postmark or a late postmark, one with no ID envelope completed, four undeliverable and one which came back marked refused.
Board of Elections Chairman David Johnson commented on the statewide voter turnout being just 20 percent, noting that Columbiana County did better than the state with 27.19 percent of overall registered voters casting ballots, still a low turnout.
In other business, Johnson said he has received five applications for the position of deputy director and he's been doing preliminary reviews. He said that he and Vic Maroscher, the other Republican member of the board, will be setting dates to interview the top three.
Deputy Director Bryce Miner will work his last day on April 5 before leaving to become Columbiana's new Deputy City Administrator/Deputy Zoning Inspector. He's been serving as deputy director since Feb. 4, 2019.
Since he's a Republican, the new hire has to be a Republican. The staff of the Board of Elections is made up of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, as is the four-member board.
mgreier@mojonews.com