CINCINNATI — There’s still about a month left until the presidential election and whether your vote will count is already a point of contention.
“There’s fraud. They found them in creeks. They found them, just happened to have the name Trump in a waste paper basket,” claimed President Donald Trump during Tuesday night’s first presidential debate.
“It’s honest. No one has established at all that there is fraud related to mail-in ballots,” replied presidential candidate Joe Biden.
The issue highlighted in the debate trickled down to local board of elections after a record number of mail-in ballots already came in to Hamilton County.
“As of this morning, we’ve had 154,000 requests to receive their ballot,” said Hamilton County Board of Elections Chair Gwen McFarlin.
Board of elections members say they’re taking action to make sure those ballots along with the ones that will be cast in person will be properly counted. They say no one can will be able to interfere with the results.
“Some people have said, ‘Well, something can happen at the polls.’ In your neighborhood polling areas as well, we do not have internet there, so nobody can come in and do cyber security and hack those folks who are voting in those outlying areas,” said McFarlin.
But the candidates called on supporters to take action, too, to make sure there’s no interference.
“We’re gonna make sure that those people that want to vote in person are able to vote because enough poll watchers are there,” said Biden.
“I’m urging my supporters will go into the polls and watch very carefully,” said Trump.
County board of elections members say there is something called poll watchers who will be allowed, if they’re approved first.
“You must register as a poll observer in advance. You have to fill out a state required form. You have to submit it to the board of elections and approved to be a poll observer,” said Board of Elections Member Alex Triantafilou.
And they’re different from poll workers, who board members say will be there as well helping people with their ballots. They say there will also be workers there hired to clean and disinfect, but if things take a different turn, there’s a plan for that, too.
“We will not tolerate any harassment or anyone coming into our facility to vote,” said McFarlin. “We will have sheriffs there to make sure that voters are safe.”
They say you can also file a complaint if there are issues on election day, but there’s still time to mail in your ballot, and two more presidential debates left.
If you have any questions about how to vote in Ohio, go to our voting guide by clicking here.
For full election coverage, visit Spectrum News 1 Ohio’s special section, Decision 2020.
