Some Northeast Ohio voting locations ran out of ballots
CLEVELAND (WJW) – Issues on the November election drew in so many Ohio voters that some voting locations ran out of ballots.
About 43% of registered voters turned out in Cuyahoga County, surpassing the August special election and perhaps more than the board of elections anticipated.
Some voters reached out to FOX 8, saying when they went to cast a vote, their polling place had run out of ballots.
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FOX 8 received emails from voters in Lakewood, Bay Village, Valley View and a few other locations in the area.
A spokesperson for the board of elections says a handful of precincts reported being short on ballot forms. However, he also says a backup system called “ballots on demand,” used for the second time, allows them to print ballots on the spot while more are brought to a location.
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He admitted that printing ballots from scratch is a slower process, but some voters say they didn’t have the extra time to wait.
“We’re sorry that anybody had a delayed experience,” said Mike West, Cuyahoga County Board of Elections spokesperson. “We do our calculations as best we can. Naturally nobody wants us to print so many excess ballots that it’s wasteful, so we have to be mindful of the taxpayers’ expense of printing ballots, which is an expensive process, special paper, multiple pages and things of that nature.”
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West says everyone who wanted to vote should have been able to cast a vote.
The August special election had a 38% voter turnout and last November’s election had about 48%.
Both Issues 1 and 2 passed Tuesday night, and plenty more local races and levies are being decided. Keep up with the latest election results here.
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