Ohio counties struggling to have enough poll workers for Tuesday special election

A few days from Tuesday's special election, 27 of Ohio’s 88 counties do not have the minimum number of poll workers needed to hold an election.

Early in-person voting continues today, Saturday and Sunday before polls open Tuesday morning in the single-issue election that will determine if Ohioans want to make it more difficult for citizens to change the state’s constitution.

In the meantime, Secretary of State Frank LaRose remains confident the election will run smoothly despite a continued need for poll workers in 50 of the state’s 88 counties.

“On Election Day our county boards will execute again on another successful election. This isn’t their first rodeo, and on Aug. 8 they will again deliver on a professionally run, secure, and accurate election,” LaRose said. “For some voters, polling locations may have changed and consolidated, and we encourage them to confirm their polling location at voteohio.gov.”

Of the 50 counties searching for workers, more than half – 27 – have met the minimum number needed to hold an election. Overall, 38 counties have met or exceeded their goal for the committed number of poll workers.

LaRose set a goal of 115% of the minimum needed to ensure a sufficient number of poll workers is available in every county in case of unforeseen circumstances. That goal is 31,811 poll workers, but the minimum required is 27,587.

LaRose said the state has met its goal, but 50 counties still need to meet their specific goals.

Those counties are Ashtabula, Athens, Auglaize, Butler, Clark, Clermont, Clinton, Columbiana, Coshocton, Darke, Defiance, Delaware, Erie, Fayette, Fulton, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Harrison, Highland, Huron, Jackson, Jefferson, Knox, Lake, Licking, Lorain, Madison, Mahoning, Marion, Meigs, Montgomery, Noble, Paulding, Pike, Ross, Sandusky, Scioto, Seneca, Shelby, Stark, Summit, Trumbull, Van Wert, Vinton, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Williams and Wood.