Example of Ohio's Dedicated County Election Officials

As you read through the many stories that are circling around the media these days about the alleged corruption and incompetence of Ohio's election officials, I thought it would be good to take a look back at what was spent and done to prepare for the elections in various counties across the state. Keep in mind this article was written before the recount.

In Allen county...

Many employees put in several 90-hour weeks before the election, [election board Executive Director Keith] Cunningham said. Some of that overtime will become comp time and some will be paid out.

In Cuyahoga county...

In Cuyahoga County, commissioners approved additional spending of $1.5 million to pay for election board overtime and other expenses.

In Coshocton county...

In Coshocton County, the board’s two full-time employees might have to go without pay in December because some bills have to be paid first.

In Putnam county...

“This year we hired four extra part-time helpers. We stayed after and came in early. Whatever the job needed, we just did it,” [election board Executive Direction Ginger] Price said. “Our part-time person works two days a week. This year they went to five days a week six weeks before the election. Between us and all the paperwork, we ran out of room and worked in the hall.”

It's always easy to scream of fraud and other problems against a faceless government entity. It's important to keep in mind that these people are our neighbors, our friends, and our family. And they many of them made a significant sacrifice to make things go a smoothly as possible last month.