ASHLAND — The Ashland County Board of Elections received 62 absentee ballots, 26 absentee ballot applications and two supplemental letters in the mail on Wednesday.
The delivery from the U.S. Postal Service came 16 business days after the general election, and 12 days after the four-day grace period for receiving late absentee ballots — meaning 90 Ashland County voters were disenfranchised.
“It’s uncalled for,” said Amanda Jones, director of the board of elections.
Under Ohio law, mailed absentee ballots must by postmarked by the day before the election and received by the elections board no later than four days after the election in order to be counted.
According to Jones, the election mail was postmarked between Oct. 25 and Nov. 6.
Jones said the ballots received Nov. 29 cannot count. Those voters will receive credit for voting in the form of voter history, Jones said.
“But we can’t count their ballot,” she said.
The board received 25 late absentee ballots on Nov. 13, just in time to be counted, according to state law. At the time, Jones said the office still had 115 absentee ballots outstanding.
The board then certified the election results on Nov. 20.
Jones said the ballots came from all over the county, including from precincts in the city of Ashland, Loudonville, Perrysville, Jeromesville, Sullivan, West Salem, Nova, Milton Township and Mifflin Township.
She said one of the absentee ballot applications came from the Village of Mifflin, where a tie for mayor prompted a coin toss victory for Vickie Shultz. A recount, however, resulted in a final victory for Freddie Craig, a write-in candidate.
The late delivery led Jones to file another complaint against the U.S. Postal Service and notify the Ohio Secretary of State.
So far, the Ashland County Board of Elections has not received an explanation into what happened to all the absentee ballots.
“They just stated (the absentee ballots and absentee ballot applications) were misfiled or misplaced,” Jones said.
Issues with U.S. Postal Service
The late delivery marks the latest example of issues experienced with USPS in Ashland County.
Earlier in the election cycle, Jones described mail delivery as the slowest she’s ever seen. The board of elections filed a complaint with electionmail.org, a project of Democracy Works, which aims to be a resource to election administrators.
The nonprofit allows election officials from across the nation to file complaints using an online form. The complaints then get filed with the USPS.
Ashland Source has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for copies of the complaints filed against the USPS and has yet to receive a response.
This publication also reached out to USPS seeking clarity into how and why the election mail was not delivered in time, specifically asking what went wrong and how the service will solve the issue in the future.
The USPS did not provide specifics, and instead provided the following statement through Naddia Dhalai, a spokeswoman:
“The U.S. Postal Service is committed to the secure, timely delivery of Election Mail. We are aware of some Election Mail, including ballots, received at the Ashland Board of Election after Election Day. The Postal Service takes these issues very seriously.
“We are reviewing the processes involved and seeking ways to improve our service. We are in close communication with Ashland County election officials and regret any concern caused.”