NORWOOD, Ohio — As of Tuesday morning, voting is underway for Ohio’s May primary election, even though several races won’t be on the ballot. Until the state can come to an agreement on redistricting, state legislative candidates have to stay off the ballot, likely setting the stage for a second primary later in the summer.
With so much uncertainty surrounding who will run where and the date of the primary, election leaders said this primary has been difficult to plan.
In Hamilton County, Alex Linser, the deputy director of the Board of Elections, said his team needs about 2,000 poll workers to ensure it fully staffs all the precincts and the process runs smoothly.
This year, though, with a less than a month until primary election day, Linser said Hamilton County is well behind its usual recruiting numbers.
“It’s been a little more challenging this year. I think a lot of poll workers have been sitting back and waiting to see what’s gonna happen with this litigation before committing.”
Until last week, Linser said the board couldn’t be sure the May 3 primary would even happen because of the confusion surrounding the redistricting efforts.
“We need to know which voters get which ballots for which offices,” he said.
For the state legislative offices, that’s still up in the air because there aren’t any approved maps, but as of March 31, a panel of federal judges confirmed the May 3 primary will go on without those seats on the ballot.
“We’ve been told to hold the election on May 3 for everything else and we’re ready to do that,” Linser said.
The Hamilton County Board of Elections continued its preparations behind the scenes in case the May primary would happen. Workers have been checking every machine verifying their security and preparing to send out mail-in ballots, but Linser said recruiting poll workers is one of the last hurdles the board needs to cross.
As of this week, the county still needs hundreds more poll workers for May’s election, then Linser said they have to consider the likelihood of a second primary.
“We’re going to have to recruit again during the summer,” he said.
Linser is hopeful the board can recruit the workers they need during this early voting period, but he said it often gets harder to find the help they need in the summer, especially when the board doesn’t have a date to pin down.
“It usually takes us about two and a half months to prepare up a ballot. There’s certainly things we can do to shorten that time frame, but generally speaking, we need to know about 75 days out from an election who’s going to be on the ballot,” he said.
He said he’s certain though that even if the redistricting committee can compromise on maps, there’s no way to include every candidate in May’s election.
“Ballots are printed. Ballots have already been mailed to voters who are overseas, serving in the military. Vote by mail ballots go out tomorrow and voting begins in the early voting center (Tuesday) so we have already locked down the ballot. It’s too late for that to be changed.”
The state pays Hamilton County poll workers $181.50. Anyone interested in signing up to be a poll worker can sign up here.
