Election workers opening but not peeking at ballots

CINCINNATI - The sidewalk has been packed in front of the Hamilton County Board of Elections for the last month.

"I want to make sure that I get my vote and it counts," said Ken Jamison from Roselawn as he waited in line.

But for Jamison trust in the system is on shaky ground.

"It's been so many different things that's went wrong with the voting," he said. "Stuff get thrown away, and they talk about the hanging chads and all that."

Election officials say their workers are making sure that doesn't happen.

"It is complicated, but we're doing it," said Board of Elections Director Amy Searcy. "We've been doing it for years, and we know what we're doing."

Starting Thursday, according to state law, boards of elections can start opening early ballots. But they can't count them until after the polls close on Election Day.

"We're simply processing and preparing them to be counted," Searcy said.
    
Why go through part of the process now, instead of doing it all after the polls close Nov. 6?

"We have over 100,000... envelopes to open," Searcy said. "We certainly can't start doing that at 7:31 p.m."

So what are they doing?

Opening all those envelopes, identifying the voter and the voter's community, and making sure the ballot's not damaged. 

If it is, they contact the voter. Workers are putting in 12 to 14-hour days, 7 days a week, which may make them grateful that Jamison showed up when he did.

"If I vote now, maybe they'll get it all sorted out," Jamison said.

Amy Searcy will vouch for that.

"This is how it's done," she said, "and it works well."