ASHLAND — The Ashland County Board of Elections is moving forward with the May 3 primary election as scheduled, but its director said Thursday the office is ready to turn on a dime should the election get delayed.
The prospect of a delay became more possible Wednesday when the Ohio Supreme Court rejected Republicans’ proposed legislative redistricting maps for a third time, with the majority of justices finding the map unconstitutionally slanted in favor of Republicans.
Early voting for military and overseas personnel begins March 18, with broader early voting beginning April 5.
The Ashland County Board of Commissioners approved a $55,892 grant Thursday from the Ohio Secretary of State meant to help offset administrative costs to the board of elections in preparation for the May 3 primary election.
Shannon Johnson, the board of election’s director, said the money can be used to pay overtime, extra help and to pay vendors for the reprogramming of ballots should they change if the legislative maps are redrawn differently.
Another $500 in state money was granted to the BOE to be used for purchasing priority mailing and labels for overseas and military ballots.
The state money, she said, is a signal the election could be delayed. But word on that is still unclear.
Until she has clarity, Johnson said the board of elections is moving forward with the May 3 timeline under the commission’s second version of legislative maps.
That version includes an entirely new Ohio House district, the 67th district. It includes all of Ashland and the west end of Medina County.
Two Republican candidates from Ashland County, Matt Young of Loudonville and Melanie Miller of Ashland, have announced their bids for the house seat.
Those maps also include Ohio Senate district 22, for which Mark Romanchuk currently serves. He does not face reelection until 2024. District 22 includes Richland, Ashland and Medina counties, at least under that version of the map.
The Ohio Redistricting Commission, the Republican-dominated committee in charge of drawing the legislative maps, has until March 28 to redraw the maps.
Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman, a Republican on the commission, said Wednesday he believes another rejection from the supreme court would leave the state unable to conduct the May primary on time.
The legislature is reportedly considering a plan to only postpone elections for the state legislative and congressional races, the seats affected by redistricting. That would leave the May 3 election for governor, U.S. Senate and local elections unchanged.
Cleveland.com reports that plan would cost $20 million, citing state elections officials. It could also result in a drop-off in turnout for the second election.
Locally, Ashland County has two contested races and five tax levies.
Whatever happens, Johnson said the board of elections is ready. Should the election get delayed, that would mean the office would reach out to its 154 poll workers to let them know about the new plan, including a rescheduled date on mandatory training for the workers, reprogramming ballots and testing those ballots to make sure everything works swimmingly.
“Yeah. It’s a lot of work,” Johnson said. “But we’re elections workers. We’ll get it done.”
