MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Board of Elections certified the votes from the Nov. 5 General Election on Tuesday.
Of the 43,806 registered voters in the county, 32,493 cast a ballot (slightly more than 74%). The BOE’s certification did not change any results.
There were 720 provisional ballots cast.
“The board approved and counted 517, so 203 were rejected,” Deputy Director Jack Goodman said.
Goodman said the vast majority of the 203 were not registered in Ohio.
“It’s people who moved into the state late, primarily folks trying to vote for the first time possibly,” he said.
Because the provisional ballot includes the same information required for voter registration, the provisional ballot counts as registration.
“That’s why we encourage them to fill out a provisional ballot,” Goodman explained.
Post-election audits
The Ohio Secretary of State’s Office requires election boards to conduct post-election audits.
“We do a number of post-election audits, but the big one is a hand-count check,” Goodman said.
Bipartisan teams of Republicans and Democrats check three races. The Secretary of State’s Office sets two: the presidential and U.S. Senate races.
“Local boards choose one countywide race,” Goodman said. “This time, only one fit the parameter: The commissioner race between Barry Lester and Chuck Rogers.”
The teams audit 5% of all cast ballots from randomly selected precincts. That’s roughly 1,600 ballots.
“We break into bipartisan teams and check those three races with tally marks,” Goodman said. “It’s a good check of the system to make sure everything is functioning well, but it is labor-intensive.
“We have to sort through all of the ballots we received to find those,” he said. “That’s what we’re working on this week and next week.”
The Board of Elections set the official audit for Dec. 3 at 8 a.m. Goodman expects a decent amount of public attendance.
