Space Challenges Continue for Board of Elections
Several months after their move into the basement of the Geauga County Office Building on Ravenwood Drive, the Geauga County Board of Elections continues to have space concerns.
Several months after their move into the basement of the Geauga County Office Building on Ravenwood Drive, the Geauga County Board of Elections continues to have space concerns.
The board encountered issues earlier in the week while doing logic and accuracy testing for their voting machines.
“The idea was to be able to wheel them out, test them and push them back. That’s not working. We need to actually wheel them into a different area and test them in that area, then wheel them back to their homes,” elections board Office Administrator Scott Daisher said during the Sept. 18 board meeting.
There have been a lot of growing pains with the move, he said, noting multiple machines pushed out to test had blocked up enough room to constitute a safety hazard.
“If we weren’t doing our L&A testing now and we were trying to do it during the voting process and we had curbside voting, it would be a mess,” Daisher said. “We’d be going over top of each other.”
Board member Joan Windnagel asked if any more thought had been given to how to best handle the flow of people from the stairs and elevator during an election.
The board would need to bring in extra, part-time people to handle the traffic, Director Michelle Lane replied.
While she does not believe the traffic will be a huge issue for the upcoming November election, Lane noted her concerns for next year’s primary.
She is not convinced an initial plan to funnel voters from the elevators and stairs back to the board’s loading dock area and start a line there would work.
“In order to get the people off the elevator into that single area line and off the stairs into that single area line would mean three lines in the hallway to the back of the (single-file) lobby line,” she said. “The other thing that concerns me — and I don’t know if we should have another meeting with the (Geauga County Commissioners) — the stairs, when they get wet, are slippery.
Lane noted Daisher had already slipped and almost fallen.
“When it starts to snow and rain, I am very concerned about the public on those steps,” she said.
The steps may need anti-slip strips, board member Richard Piraino said.
Board chair Dennis Pavella agreed, adding a runner rug on the landing would also be good to soak up water from voters’ feet.
“It’s not so much running water, but dampness that you’re concerned with because, no matter what you do, if you come in out of rain or snow, you’re probably going to have some moisture on your feet, even if you walk over a carpet,” Pavella said.
