Hundreds of Sucky Ohio Poll Workers Retrained or Fired
Despite past insistence from the Ohio Secretary of State that voter fraud is rare in the swing state, one county is booting or retraining hundreds of poll workers after discovering that the 2012 election was fraught with problems.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that after a months-long assessment, "hundreds of Hamilton County poll workers will be retrained—and 163 'retired'—as a result of voting problems." The paper illuminates details about the situation:
That includes 94 workers at 16 precincts that will be completely restaffed because of a high number of errors….
• Six workers at the Madisonville Recreation Center aren't being asked back because they scored poorly on 11 of the 26 areas assessed….
• 29 won't be asked back because an assessment of their work showed they don't vote. The county's four board of elections members said voting should be a prerequisite to processing other people's votes.
• 34 won't be asked back after complaints and notes from Election Day that all poll workers keep showed they weren't performing up to standards. Some were using outdated procedures, ignoring recent directives.
In total, Hamilton county experienced 1,931 mishaps in which voters were allowed to cast ballots outside of their designated location or precinct. The board of elections determined this to be "unacceptable."
The Enquirer also finds that "all but one of the 16 polling locations that are being re-staffed have a Democratic precinct judge, the presiding authority at a polling site."
Nevertheless, the paper's review shows incompetence among the poll workers transcended political party and race:
But those 94 workers are an equal mix of Democrats and Republicans because polling locations are set up with a balance from each party.
An Enquirer analysis of 2010 U.S. Census data found that, of the 23 census tracts the troubled precincts include, 13 are predominantly black and 10 are predominantly white.
Reason previously highlighted Melowese Richardson, the precinct judge at the Madisonville rec center, who voted multiple times as herself in 2012 and several times for others over several elections, and is now serving five years in prison for voter fraud.