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Tip For Absentee Voters: Read The Instructions

Andy Chow
/
Statehouse News Bureau

The Franklin County Board of Elections Director Ed Leonard says a nearly 10-year old scanner is to blame for ballots mailed out Monday to the wrong addresses.  The Board and the contractor who supplied the scanner are still working to determine the scope of the problem, but voter rights groups have a message to people who are new to filling out mail-in absentee ballots: Read The Instructions. Advocates say there are several ways a voter can get tripped up which is why it's important to send the ballot in early. Statehouse correspondent Andy Chow reports.    

Ohio absentee mail-in ballots an envelope requiring a voter to provide information to verify their identity and an outer envelope that protects that information. The ballot without both envelopes is considered “naked”.  A Pennsylvania court has rejected “naked ballots” but that ruling doesn’t apply in Ohio.

 

Kayla Griffin with the group All Voting Is Local says the most important thing is to read through all the instructions.  

 

"So if it says fill it out in black ink, fill it out in black ink. And do now wait to fill out your ballot and return it, do it as quickly as possible." 

 

Griffin says returning a ballot quickly gives a voter more time to fix an issue if a mistake is made.

 

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