Changes coming after messy election

A new report on Hamilton County's November election discovered what most voters already know: It did not go well.

The Board of Elections' monthlong examination of the snafu-filled Nov. 5 general election found 84 percent of polling locations experienced some kind of problem that day, from trouble with the new electronic sign-in system to poll workers who didn't know how to use all the equipment.

"The problems encountered by far too many voters are simply unacceptable," the report states.

The report, completed Thursday, was handed over to Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted on Friday. He'd asked for the review shortly after the election.

Husted said Friday he was satisfied with the board's findings and was pleased they'd come up with solutions designed to prevent a repeat of the problems experienced Nov. 5.

About half of Ohio's 88 counties have adopted the new electronic poll books and the others are expected to do so soon. Husted said Hamilton County's experiences would help others avoid the same mistakes.

"We'll make sure it's made available so everyone can learn from it," Husted said of the report.

To fix the problems identified in the report, board officials suggest improving training, tweaking some Election Day procedures and fixing the technical glitches that created confusion at polling places. They also said it might be a good idea to expand a program that brought 125 high school seniors in to help at the polls. Turns out, those teenagers understood the technology better than their older co-workers in many cases and were more easily able to troubleshoot some of the problems that arose.

Most of the problems were related to the use of the new electronic poll books that were used to sign in voters. The books, which operate on iPads, worked well in some locations and shortened the time it took to get voters through the polls.

But most polling locations experienced issues of some kind. About 65 percent could not connect to printers that produced labels designed to ensure voters received the correct ballots. More than one-third struggled to set up the system before polls opened. And 43 percent had trouble locating voters in the new electronic system.

Part of the problem was a software error caused by Tenex, the company that made the poll books. Company officials admitted last month they used the wrong cut-off date for voter registration, excluding about 2,000 voters and forcing them to cast provisional ballots that were counted days later.

Aside from the obvious need to correct software problems, the report recommends opening polls earlier to give workers more time to set up equipment, expanding training for poll workers, recruiting a broader range of workers and ensuring that paper poll books are available as backups to the electronic books.

"Every election, large or small, carries with it unique challenges," the report concludes. "Those challenges can be magnified when introducing new technology and processes. That was certainly the case in the November 2015 general election."

Husted has been advocate of the new technology, which is designed to improve efficiency and the voters' experience. He said the technology works and will help elections run more smoothly, once the kinks are worked out.

"We have to do it," Husted said. "It's not the technology that's the problem. It's the people who implement it."