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LISBON -- The Columbiana County Board of Elections allocated voting machines and ballots to get ready for the Nov. 3 election, issuing a reminder that the deadline to register to vote is 9 p.m. Monday.
The board met Thursday to discuss preparations for the general election and Director Kim Fusco made an early prediction for turnout.
"I'm going to say 50-55%. I think it's going to be over 50% this time around," she said.
The turnout for the last gubernatorial election in 2022 was 53-54% in the county.
The board office at 7989 Dickey Drive, Lisbon will be open longer hours from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to give potential voters plenty of time to register before the deadline. Currently, the number of registered voters is 63,905.
They can also register online at www.ohio.sos.gov under elections and voting. That deadline is also 9 p.m. Monday.
Early in-person voting starts Tuesday at the board of elections office in Lisbon.
The hours will be:
-- 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 6 to 9, Oct. 12 to 16 and Oct. 19 to 23.
-- 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Oct. 24.
-- 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Oct. 26 and Oct. 28 to 30.
-- 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 27.
-- 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Oct. 31
-- 1 to 5 p.m. Nov. 1.
After that, voters will have to visit their precinct to vote on Election Day.
As for absentee ballots, that also starts Tuesday and Fusco said about 3,900 have been requested so far, but she's expecting at least 5,000 requests. The last day the board can issue an absentee ballot is Oct. 27, with absentee voters cautioned about waiting until the last minute. Absentee ballots must be received through the mail or dropped off in the office by 7:30 p.m. Election Day to count. It doesn't matter if it's postmarked before the election -- it doesn't count if the ballot isn't physically in the office on Nov. 3.
The only exception will be overseas/military ballots.
In routine matters related to the election, the board allocated one DS200 optical scan and one Express Vote machine per polling location, with a few exceptions for multi-precinct locations. There will be three of the optical scanners at the East Palestine Church of Christ and Hanover Township United Local Schools. There will be two optical scanners at the Fairfield Township Government Center, St. Clair Township Administration Building and Wellsville High School. The board agreed to allocate printed ballots totaling at least 1% more than the number of registered voters per precinct.
The board approved Graphic Village of Cincinnati as the absentee outsource vendor, with a price per packet of $2.20. The company will mail out the absentee ballots to voters who request them. Fusco estimated the cost at $13,200 plus $1,775 for set up.
As for staffing the elections, she said the state is requiring the board to have at least 15% over the required number of poll workers, which is 256.
"We are in the hunt for poll workers," she said.
Both she and Deputy Director Niki Wilkinson said they always need poll workers. Training starts Oct. 23 and is mandatory. Anyone interested in being a poll worker should call the board of elections office at 330-424-1448.
During a previous meeting, Fusco and Wilkinson talked about how they learned other counties were paying a lower cost per ballot for printing. Their preference was to stay with ES & S, so a phone call was made to the company and they got the price reduced from 33 cents per ballot to 24 cents per ballot, a savings of 9 cents per ballot.
Fusco estimated the potential savings at $5,000.
"We're doing everything we can to cut costs," she said, adding she couldn't say enough about ES & S working with them to get the cost down.
The board approved $54,884 in bills for August, noting contract costs were up due to paying the annual Internet subscription for the year.
Next month, she said the spending will reflect a $10,000 grant from the Secretary of State for upgrading infrastructure. The money was used to buy two new laptops and two new printers and ink.
The next meeting will be held at 4:30 p.m. Nov. 2 and will continue at 7 p.m. Nov. 3 on Election Day.