Troubled scanners are issue one for some voters in Cuyahoga Falls

Voters come and go at the Beachwood Community Center on Tuesday morning, August 8, 2023 to vote on Issue 1 during the special election held to decide the issue. David Petkiewicz, cleveland.comDavid Petkiewicz, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A Summit County Board of Elections official said ballot scanners were temporarily down Tuesday at a polling location in Cuyahoga Falls.

The issues are among the few reported at boards across Northeast Ohio during the special election for Issue 1, the proposed constitutional amendment.

One of the scanners at the Church in the Falls, 837 Chestnut Blvd., has been replaced, and others are being monitored by board staff after some voters reported issues with their ballots, said Lance Reed, director of Summit County Board of Elections.

Reed said a number of people had trouble with the ballots being properly fed into the machine. While waiting for the technical error to be fixed, voters placed their ballots into orange auxiliary bags, which will be checked multiple times and submitted before the end of the day.

“We’ve seen similar issues pop up at other locations, but voters can be confident that their vote will be counted,” Reed said.

To help guide voters, Reed said precinct officials and “trouble shooters” will be placed at voting locations to assure assistance is available as quickly as possible.

Reed said he is expecting voter turnout for Election Day to exceed his expectations. Before noon, approximately 13% of Summit County voters had voted.

“I’m not putting an estimate on this one,” he said. “But people can be confident their votes will be counted.”

Some voters experienced other issues. Voters in North Ridgeville said they had trouble getting to the polling location at St. Julie Billiart Church on Lear Nagle Road, as crews were paving the street Tuesday. Church officials told voters to enter through Opal Street.

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