The inclusion of the missing provisional ballots did not flip the result of any candidate races or tax issues, Board of Elections Director Alisha Lampert said.
“The ballots were all scanned, however the secondary path on our scanner was not set up correctly, so it did not scan into results, just the project,” Lampert said. “We were able to get them where they needed to go and (now) the provisional voters have been assigned correctly to the results files.”
The board also delayed its previously scheduled audit certification earlier this month, citing the number of voters. Greene County had 2% more voters than in 2020, records show. Again, the board did meet its audit deadline.
“Overall, Ohio conducted a successful election with historic numbers of voters making their voices heard in secure and transparent contests. Our office is grateful for the hard work of the thousands of local officials who made that possible — including in Greene County,” said Ohio Secretary of State spokesman Dan Lusheck.
“When mistakes happen, we take them seriously,” Lusheck said. “Due to past problems, the Greene County Board of Elections was placed under oversight, and we continue to work with them to improve processes and training. We recently completed an after-action review of their 2024 performance, and this issue will be addressed and remedied.”
Greene County was placed on administrative oversight in 2023. Last year, election results for both the Yellow Springs Village Council race and an uncontested Cedar Cliff School Board race were delayed due to a series of errors by the Greene County Board of Elections going back to the start of early voting.
In 2022, some absentee voters received a ballot for a party other than the party they requested, and in 2021 and 2022, some elections materials were printed with the wrong dates.
In a recent public work session by the Greene County Commissioners, who provide the funds for the Greene County Board of Elections, commissioners were told that the Board of Elections is more than $100,000 over their budget for 2024. This resulted in the election vendor being “asked not to come” for the official counting, Lampert said.
“We usually have our EMS Vendor out for the official (count), but I was keeping an eye on the budget and asked them not to come,” Lampert said.
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