General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAbsentee ballot mailings delayed in Summit and other Ohio counties
The mailing of hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots across Ohio including 95,000 in Summit County has been delayed as a private vendor deals with triple the expected volume and equipment issues.
Midwest Direct CEO Richard Gebbie said his company will produce 1.1 million absentee ballots for the current election. The first round of printing, though, won't be ready for the United States Postal Service to pick up and begin delivering until Monday evening. The Cleveland company, which has been around since 1982 and in the business of printing ballots for a decade, is currently contracted to print ballots and stuff them in envelopes for boards of elections in 20 Ohio counties.
Most clients are in the northeast. Some are as far away as Butler County near Cincinnati.
Locally, the company was hired by Summit and Cuyahoga counties, and is the subcontracted ballot printer in Stark County. Gebbie would not share a complete list of clients. But he said Midwest Direct is not working for Medina or Portage counties this election.
Since signing the printing contracts, Gebbie said, his 20 clients have collectively tripled the number of absentee ballots they need printed as Ohio and the country experience an unprecedented spike in mail-in voting during the pandemic.
The delivery delay will impact each county differently. In some less populous counties, the orders were more easily filled on time, he said. In others, like Summit County, vote-by-mail ballots may begin to trickle out Saturday but won't begin to arrive in most mailboxes until the middle of next week.
https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2020/10/08/absentee-ballot-mailings-delayed-summit-cuyahoga-and-18-other-counties/5925499002/
Chili
(1,725 posts)SH*T.
My ballot - Cuyahoga - was supposedly mailed Monday. Waiting.
Come on, don't do this...
LisaL
(44,973 posts)But opsie, some of the ballots are wrong. And they don't know how many.
https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/10/08/franklin-county-still-cant-determine-number-bad-absentee-ballots/5917819002/
LisaL
(44,973 posts)there is an option to vote early in a single early voting place per county.
They won't let people to vote in person on election day by a regular ballot, if those people requested an absentee ballot. But as far as I can tell, there is an option to vote in person early.
I might have to do that...
Waiting for today's mail...
Maeve
(42,282 posts)It will count if there is no other record of you voting (but may not be counted until 10 days later, so official, but not immediate tally)
Rice4VP
(1,235 posts)Last edited Fri Oct 9, 2020, 07:56 AM - Edit history (1)
day in Ohio and it was encouraging. Why dont you join the line instead of relying on USPS?
LisaL
(44,973 posts)There is one early voting place per county.
On a best day a single voting place can accommodate about 3,000 people. There have been several hundreds of thousands absentee ballots requested per large county. Do you think all these people can manage to vote in a singe voting place per county, when that voting place can accommodate about 3,000 people per day, and that with lines forming outside? If 200,000 people requested absentees, and 3,000 people can vote per day in a single voting place, it would mean 66 days would be needed to accomodate those people (and that would prevent anybody who didn't request an absentee ballot from voting early).
Do we have 66 early voting days until the election?
Rice4VP
(1,235 posts)Especially when all of the people are wearing masks. More than likely they are there to vote for Biden. The lines were in Democratic counties.
My state has in person early voting for first time and we had long lines on that first weekend. Almost 1M people have already voted since September 18 Virginia
LisaL
(44,973 posts)Let's just say, the long lines are not just on the first day.
Chili
(1,725 posts)If I were in a small county, it would be easier... but no.
Thanks neighbor...!
LisaL
(44,973 posts)So far, they can't tell how many people got wrong ballots, and how big the problem is. But hey, we got the ballots really fast.
Might be the wrong ones, but we got them fast.
Chili
(1,725 posts)Standing in line for even an hour would be difficult.
Also, I'm very high-risk for COVID. Dropping it off at a ballot box would work. However, I might have to risk it if I don't get the ballot.
LisaL
(44,973 posts)Apparently Cuyahoga is mailing the ballots in stages, and not everyone's ballot was mailed on Monday.
Chili
(1,725 posts)...it says "Your ballot will be placed in the mail by: 10/12/2020"
So at least I know what's going on - part of that delay, that Monday date is in the article.
As long as I get it next week, I can drive downtown and put it in the ballot box.
*still sweating*
LisaL
(44,973 posts)nearly 50,000 people got wrong ballots.
So now Franklin has to re-send 50,000 ballots.
Chili
(1,725 posts)I have a good friend in Columbus, she already dropped hers into a ballot box.
What is the issue with the ballot?
LisaL
(44,973 posts)that was supposed to make sure ballots were correct got turned off. Did you friend check to make sure her ballot was correct? Basically, a person is supposed to get a ballot matching his or her precinct.
People got ballots for precincts that was not theirs.
Chili
(1,725 posts)not sure if she made a photocopy, otherwise she may not be sure...
LisaL
(44,973 posts)NT
Chili
(1,725 posts)Didn't know that...
Whenever we've had scary elections like this, I make a photo copy just in case my vote didn't count when I track it. That's never happened, thank goodness, but I've never shown it to anyone, it's just for me.
LisaL
(44,973 posts)Got a ballot very quickly, but don't know for sure if I got the correct ballot. I filled mine and sealed it into an envelope, before word got out about the problems with people getting wrong ballots.
Chili
(1,725 posts)I just stopped working, so I have a lot to catch up on... !
LisaL
(44,973 posts)envelopes. Somebody turned it off at some point of time.
okay, ignore my question above.
Crap!
LisaL
(44,973 posts)NT
Chili
(1,725 posts)... so anyone who wasn't aware will get a new one anyway.
Sheesh! This year...