Oct. 8: Cuyahoga County Board of Elections
Covered by Documenter Marvetta Rutherford (notes)
Challenges to voter registrations
The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections heard several challenges to individual voter registrations, mostly from people who have received campaign literature or a Board of Elections letter addressed to someone who does not live at that residence, according to Director Anthony Perlatti.
Moreland Hills resident Ron Janke appeared at the meeting via Zoom to challenge a voter registration for a man he doesn’t know. He said he received mail from the Ohio Secretary of State’s office for that person both in 2022 and 2024. Janke said he has lived in his home since 1984. He was sworn in by election officials and attested to having never known the man in question. That registration was canceled.
Of the five challenges, several, including Janke’s, involved voter registrations completed and/or circulated by Black Fork Strategies, an Ohio voter engagement firm. The Board of Elections asked the state to investigate Black Fork in 2023 after finding at least 18 discrepancies in voter records obtained through Black Fork, including address changes voters said they didn’t make.
Dorene Polensek-Miller and Susan Sonnet of Wayne County, Donna Lanza of North Royalton, and David Martin-Funnell of Bay Village, asked the board to sign a resolution created by United Sovereign Americans committing to fair elections. It said that the group’s audit of open-source data in Ohio uncovered “massive inaccuracies” during the 2022 election. A paper copy of the resolution was left with board staff.
Delivering someone else’s absentee ballot? You’ll need to fill out a form
People dropping off an absentee ballot to Boards of Elections for another Ohio voter must sign a form, called an attestation, according to new regulations handed down by the Secretary of State’s Office.
The new directive is meant to prevent “ballot harvesting.” The directive states, “As a practical matter, this means that only a voter’s personal ballot may be returned via drop box.”
Anyone delivering a ballot on behalf of another person who is not considered disabled must be a direct relative. The person must take the ballot to the local Board of Elections office, which has to sign off on the attestation. Persons with disabilities are permitted to select anyone, not just a relative, to deliver their ballot.
Board of Elections members approved the directive. People delivering ballots will get the form at the Board of Elections office at 2925 Euclid Ave.
Final election preparations are underway
Perlatti said the state approved the board to use the Campus International school parking lot across the street as a place to collect vote-by-mail applications on Election Day. The board used the same parking lot in 2020 rather than collecting those ballots in the board office’s parking lot.
Board Member Inajo Davis Chappell asked if the board had enough staff to manage the vote-by-mail tabulation process. Perlatti said he was “confident” there will be enough staff and that county leadership has assured him additional staff can be made available.
Chappell said that, as of early October, the board had already received nearly 145,000 vote-by-mail applications. She said a lack of trust in the U.S. Post Office to deliver ballots on time results in an increase in in-person drop-off, and the board needs to be prepared.
Board members approved the use of the Campus International parking lot.
The board also approved payments up to $45,620 total for the use of 95 private polling locations, three of which are Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority properties.
The board also approved the purchase of additional computers to comply with a state mandate requiring all systems operate on Microsoft Windows 11 by 2025. Perlatti explained that with the computers the board currently uses, “about half of them are upgradable to Windows 11, the other half of them aren’t.”
🗳️For more on this year’s November election, visit our Election Signals 2024 page.
Board of Elections to move in February
Two representatives from the Cleveland Department of Public Works presented an update on the board’s new facilities in the Plain Dealer Building at 1801 Superior Ave. The move is set to begin in February 2025. The county entered into a $50 million lease agreement for the space. Board Member Terence McCafferty asked about the current condition of the building and was told that needed demolitions were complete, re-wiring of the building will begin soon, and permits to expand parking at the site were under way.
Read the notes from Documenter Marvetta Rutherford:
Early Voting and Election Day hours
*Election Day – Tuesday, November 5 6:30 a.m.- 7:30 p.m.
