Another Successful Election Day for Geauga BOE
Geauga County Board of Elections (BOE) - Special Meeting 05/06/2025
Meeting Info - Special Meeting on May 6, 2025, at 6:15 am in BOE Conference Room at 470 Center St, Bldg 6A, Chardon, OH, 44024. Attendance options were both in-person and virtual, via Microsoft (MS) Teams. An agenda was provided in advance.
Public Comment Policy - The Board of Elections typically responds to questions about agenda items throughout the course of their meetings. Those exchanges are documented below as they occur.
Attendance: Present were:
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Board Chair - Dennis Pavella
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Board Member - Janet Carson
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Board Member - Richard Piraino
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Board Member - Joan Windnagel
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Director - Michelle Lane
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Deputy Director -Nora McGinnis
Mr. Piraino arrived at 6:29 am.
County Representatives - In person, Jeff Vaji from Automatic Data Processing (ADP), arrived around 7:00 am.
Others - This LWVG Observer attended the morning session virtually and the evening session in-person.
Observer Comment: On Election Day, the Geauga Board of Elections is in session from the time it convenes to declare the polls open until the uncertified election results are tabulated, signed by the board members and submitted to the Secretary of State. The Board convened at 6:15 am to open the polls, conducted regular business until 7:40 am and then left the board offices to visit polling locations across the county. They reconvened at the board offices at 7:10 pm so that they could declare the polls closed at 7:30 pm and then monitored collection and tabulation of ballots.
Opening of Polls - At 6:25 am, Mr. Pavella, Mrs. Carson and Mrs. Windnagel voted 3-0 to open the polls at 6:30 am.
Minutes - The April 17, 2025 Board Minutes were approved 4-0 without comment or edit. Minutes when published can be found here.
Payment of Bills - Invoices totaling $2,772.50 were reviewed and approved for payment and included:
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$829.00 to the Geauga County Maple Leaf for special election notices
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$801.50 for quarterly postage meter contract and supplies
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$514.81 for office supplies
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$472.12 to Election Source for table top dividers
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$100.75 to Intab for precinct election official name tags
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$ 54.32 for staff mileage
Review Insufficient Absentee Ballot Envelopes - The board reviewed an absentee ballot envelope where the voter’s social security number was incorrect. Staff to call the voter and advise they need to remedy during the 4 day cure period, which ends on Saturday, May 10, 2025.
Review Over Votes, Blank Ballots and Determine Voter Intent if Necessary - The board reviewed 3 absentee ballots received during early voting where the ballot scanner was unable to read the ballot due to voters using check marks instead of coloring in the oval or marking through a response and writing their intent on the ballot. The board agreed unanimously on voter intent and instructed staff to remake the ballots for inclusion in the absentee voting totals.
Processing of Provisional Ballot Envelopes - The board voted 4-0 to have staff process.
Key Post Election Dates
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Public Test of Voting Equipment - May 9, 2025 at 9:30 am
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Canvass - May 22, 2025 at 9:00 am
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Audit - TBD
2025 Ohio Secretary of State Summer Conference - The board reviewed hotel arrangements and selected courses they will each take.
Public Records Policy - The State Auditor has requested feedback on Ohio’s Public Records Policy. Board members agreed to review.
Geauga County Office Building - The board discussed the status of their pending move, which is dependent on the election schedule as well as completion of a mandated project to run cable and install security cameras inside of the elevator that serves the BOE offices.
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Mrs. Lane said she spoke with Maintenance Director Glen Vernick and was told the elevator contract still is not approved.
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Mrs. Lane also reported that Interim County Administrator Linda Burhenne wants to know their move date. The board was in agreement that they cannot commit to a date without knowing when the elevator camera project will be completed. They anticipate moving will be a 3-week process.
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Mr. Pavella will follow up with Frank Antenucci at ADP regarding the contract.
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Mr. Piraino noted that the County Commissioners recently approved construction of a new parking lot on the west side of the GCOB (Geauga County Office Building) near the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Board members were pleased to hear that additional parking capacity was being added to help manage early voting needs for voters.
2026 Budget - Mrs. Lane reported that as directed by the Board, they restored the 10% budget reduction requested by the County Commissioners and added a lift system, with an estimated cost of $50,000. The Budget Hearing is May 13 at 12:30 pm. Director Lane and Deputy Director McGinnis will attend, as will board members Janet Carson and Joan Windnagel.
ADP Update - Mr. Vaji arrived around 7:00 am. In response to queries from the Board about the project to install security cameras in the BOE elevator, he said the County Prosecutor had made an additional edit that was being reviewed by the vendor, Schindler Elevator.
Director’s Report - Mrs. Lane reported:
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She has been organizing and packing election bags.
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She has been working to set up paper poll books for each polling location.
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She commented that low turnout elections require the same preparation from BOE.
Deputy Director’s Report - Mrs. McGinnis reported:
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She has been updating the Marshall Manual.
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She continues to track election spending against grant funds.
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She completed the April meeting minutes.
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On Monday, they received petitions from the Secretary of State for the Amendment to Repeal SB1. They must verify Geauga signatures by Wednesday, May 7th. Reviewer Note: The petition signatures relate to an effort to repeal SB1 led by members of the Youngstown State Education Association. See information about the certification of their petition by the Ohio Attorney General here.
Visits to Polling Locations - At 7:40 am the board members departed to begin visits to polling locations throughout the county. They agreed to reconvene at the Board offices at 7:00 pm.
Evening Session - The board reconvened at 7:10 pm. After experiencing internet issues, this Observer drove to the Board offices, arriving at 7:50 pm. Mr. Pavella indicated they had voted to close the polls at 7:30 pm and were now awaiting results.
Return of Ballots and DS200 Flash Drive - Staff informed the Deputy Director that one polling location had returned only one DS200 scanner “blue box” and it should have returned three. It was explained that each DS200 scanner has a blue box that collects the ballots as scanned along with a flash drive for each scanner that records ballot activity. After polls close, the boxes and flash drives for each DS200 scanner are collected, sealed and returned to the board offices by a bipartisan team.
The Director immediately contacted the Voting Location Manager and determined that poll workers had combined the ballots into one blue box and returned the one box plus the three DS200 flash drives to the board offices, leaving the other two boxes (now empty) inside the DS200 scanners.
Staff examined the flash drives and determined that 198 ballots had been recorded by the three DS200 scanners. A bipartisan team of board staff completed a hand count of the combined ballots and determined there were 198 ballots. A bipartisan team was sent to the polling location to retrieve the two missing ballot boxes.
Tracking and Reporting Results - It was explained that the Secretary of State requires continuous reporting of results, with county BOE’s submitting results every 30 minutes. Geauga submitted results at the half-hour and hour marks. Other counties submitted results at the quarter hour and three-quarter hour marks. The first report contains results for those who voted via absentee ballot during the early voting period.
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7:30 pm Update (0 of 78 precincts complete) - The Summary Results Report revealed 1,601 absentee votes and 69,181 registered voters. Mrs. Lane provided a breakdown that showed 50% of absentee voters voted early in-person at the BOE office.
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8:00 pm Update (4 of 78 precincts complete)
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8:30 pm Update (27 of 78 precincts complete)
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9:00 pm Update (67 of 78 precincts complete) - voter turnout 10.05%
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9:20 pm Update (78 of 78 precincts complete) - 7,780 votes cast, voter turnout 11.25%
At 9:20 pm the Board signed the Unofficial Certification of Results and the meeting adjourned shortly thereafter. Unofficial results, including Cumulative Results, Precinct Details and Results by Groups, are available on the BOE Website.
Next Meeting:
Official Canvass/Certification of Results on May 22, 2025 at 9:00 am.
Observer: Shelly Lewis
Editor: Rooney Moy
Reviewer: Carol Benton
Date Submitted: May 8, 2025
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