Polling Place Suffers Voting Machine Problems in Key Special Election - 'Frustrated' Voters Put Ballots in Orange Bags
If you happen to live in the Buckeye State, you’ve assuredly heard about this polarizing “Issue 1” that was going to be decided in a special Tuesday election.
However, if you tried to vote in Ohio on Issue 1, there is a non-zero chance that your voting experience was an error-riddled hassle.
How so? Multiple reports had emerged about technical difficulties afflicting Ohioans trying to vote.
According to the Akron Beacon Journal, a Summit County Board of Elections official told the outlet that poll workers were experiencing some difficulties with new voting equipment.
Deputy Director Pete Zeigler clarified earlier reports that claimed machines were malfunctioning.
Zeigler also noted that whatever issues were occurring did not affect voting.
“These machines have not malfunctioned; this has only been happening because of poll workers struggling to learn the new equipment.” Zeigler said. “At no point was voting halted. They only swapped out machines as a precaution.”
Additionally, Zeigler noted that only a few machines were even affected in the first place.
Earlier in the night, Zeigler admitted to the Beacon Journal that there had been several “hiccups” but insisted that every vote was being tabulated correctly.
“We anticipate that every legally cast ballot will be counted before it leaves the location tonight,” Ziegler told the outlet.
According to WEWS-TV, certain polling places that were having issues required voters to submit their ballots into “orange auxiliary bags.”
WEWS reporter Mike Holden reported on the “frustrated” voters and workers at the Cuyahoga Falls polling location, though an updated WEWS report suggests the issue at Cuyahoga Falls “happened at several locations.”
#BREAKING: ALL ballot scanners are down & not working at Cuyahoga Falls polling location. Voters & workers frustrated. Ballots either placed in orange bag & scanned later OR can void ballot & come back later. Stay with @WEWS #Issue1 #OhioIssue1 #OhioElection #SpecialElection pic.twitter.com/2DD9Jd43rg
— Mike Holden (@MikeHoldenNews) August 8, 2023
Whatever voting problems may or may not have existed, it appears to have favored the Democrats after Issue 1 was voted down following vote tabulation.
President Joe Biden took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday, crowing that “democracy won” and that voters had defeated “Republican lawmakers and special interests.”
Today, Ohio voters rejected an effort by Republican lawmakers and special interests to change the state’s constitutional amendment process.
This measure was a blatant attempt to weaken voters’ voices and further erode the freedom of women to make their own health care…
— President Biden (@POTUS) August 9, 2023
“Today, Ohio voters rejected an effort by Republican lawmakers and special interests to change the state’s constitutional amendment process,” Biden posted to X. “This measure was a blatant attempt to weaken voters’ voices and further erode the freedom of women to make their own health care decisions. Ohioans spoke loud and clear, and tonight democracy won.”
For the unaware, Issue 1 effectively aimed to adjust how citizens could affect change in the state.
Per the Beacon Journal, Issue 1 sought to:
- Require 60 percent of voters to pass a new constitutional amendment, as opposed to the simple majority currently in place (50 percent plus one.)
- Any citizen who wants to propose a change will require 5 percent of the signatures from voters the last gubernatorial election, but from all 88 counties. Currently, citizens need 5 percent of the signatures from 44 counties.
- Eliminate a 10-day “cure period” where a citizen will have those 10 days to replace a signature found to be faulty.
Critics of Issue 1 claim, as Biden alluded to, that the above measures would “weaken voters’ voices.”
Meanwhile, supporters of Issue 1 argue that the struck-down amendment would have helped protect Ohio’s constitutional amendment processes from a sudden influx of, say, Democrats fleeing New York and/or California.
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