05/05/2026
Election Day
So we’re here, Election Day. Ok your Board of Elections has been working over 100 days for this chance to serve you.
See what you all see is Early Voting and Election Day, but that is the tip of a very large iceberg. And if you don’t notice that, we did our jobs well.
And it doesn’t end tonight for this election. If all goes right we will certify this election in Lucas County on May 22nd at around 2:00 PM. But even then we won’t really be done with this one.
See at that certification meeting we then randomly select races and polling places and two bipartisan teams will do manual hand recounts of what the machines told us. And those numbers have to match to > 99.999%.
And you’re thinking, but I voted on a touch screen, in Ohio that was a nope, and that is pretty close to nationwide. In Lucas County think of those as the world’s most expensive number two pencils.
Remember that white rectangle of paper? That was your ballot. The barcode at the top tells the machine what choices you get, not who you are. It tells the machine what options to give you to select from.
And then it marks that ballot for you. And sorry you all are not good with ovals. Trust me, we have a special meeting scheduled May 20th for the Board, to do what bipartisan teams couldn’t do, figure out what you meant on those paper ballots done by hand. Because you all are creative in marking those.
When you are done, the machine will give you back the paper, you will see those votes. Any one of those off? Go get a poll worker. They can soil that ballot and get you another one. Can do that a couple of times. But that third one is it.
You then take it to the scanner. You put it in. It tells you it has been scanned. And that paper is secured. At the end of the night we have two records, paper & electronic. And the electronic has backups. Wasn’t allowed to tell you all that when I first started.
By the way, those machines, they can never form a two way connection to the internet. They were stress tested by bipartisan teams who had to be satisfied they were good to go. They were then numbered, tamper evident, evidence sealed.
That team at the polling place then checks the numbers before they set up, and they have to match.
And then working in bipartisan teams check it out the night before voting, seals it with new seals, checks those in the morning, and only when they match and the machine pass another test, do you get to vote on them.
At the end of the night, after we are sure we have every one of those ballots and votes, a bipartisan team will take it to a substation.
They work in bipartisan teams making sure chain of custody is maintained, and a bipartisan team has done another check to make sure all is done secure. They then send another bipartisan team, with Sheriff’s es**rt to us at the count room.
And thank the Lucas County Sheriff’s office will you. They provide security and es**rts through this process for us.
Oh those vote by mail paper ballots that people think they can just copy and stuff a ballot box with it, come here. A bipartisan team checked safeguards before issuing them. They have specific ink and paper and can only be printed by printers that get certified by multiple agencies at the state and federal level.
And how good to they have to be at their jobs. Long story short, we are a certified printer, but we needed an assist on one race so we used one of the best. They made a mistake in the area about 1/32nd of an inch in placement. Those marks along the edges on the pages matter.
And all hell broke loose and believe me the board members had to help into the wee hours of the night on that one. So no you can’t take it to a copy shop and make lots for your favorite candidates.
You all don’t see all this. Those that do will tell you they laugh at election deniers. Have had skeptics convert to “well if they only did that everywhere” at worst.
By the way all 88 Ohio Counties did all but the substation step, only the big ones do that. And these are national best practices. So they may do it a little differently, but this is the care we use every time.
Why? Because as they train us, this has to work. It’s foundational to our country. It needs to be like turning on the water or flipping a light switch. That’s why foreign governments interfere.
Countries that don’t like us, and there are several, operate huge troll farms overseas to amplify things that divide us, even to the point of stoking non government rivalries (sports, fashion, etc). And that is from a declassified briefing that we got from our boss and the US Intelligence agencies.
So every election we do this. And then we look at what we did and refine it, because there is better to be had for the next one. Our team does an after action review some time weeks from now.
Think this is crazy? We signed up for this and I fought to keep doing this. And our people don’t get paid enough from poll workers on up, and they keep showing up.
So polls are open until 7:30 PM, go to our website and you can check where to go on the voter services page.
If you have one of those paper ballots still, it will only count if it is in our hands at 7:30 PM tonight, so head over the drop box at 3737 W. Sylvania in Toledo, and put it in there, not your polling place.
Those going to vote, bring proper ID. If a ride is getting in your way, call some friends of mine at Toledo Area Jobs with Justice, 419-VOTE NOW (419-868-3669) and they will get you there and back free.
Don’t think your vote matters? I have helped settle a tied election via a coin toss. It was a seat that involved three Ohio Counties. But that’s another story.
Democracy is use it or lose it. We have had people in and out of uniform risk death, to give you this right. If you don’t use it we can all lose it.
