Local election results that were certified Monday and Tuesday appear to show that pre-election warnings of widespread voter fraud or significant voter disenfranchisement did not come to pass.

Some political groups — usually conservative-leaning — warned of double-voting and challenged hundreds of voters’ eligibility. But a review of six local counties — Montgomery, Greene, Warren, Clark, Butler and Miami — where 751,795 people cast ballots shows only two cases where election officials referred a voter to the prosecutor’s office for investigation.

“I don’t know where people hear these horror stories (of fraud), but we haven’t seen it around here” said Sally Pickarski, deputy director of the Clark County Board of Elections.

Other political groups — usually liberal-leaning — fought for more lenient rulings on counting provisional ballots, saying voters could be wronged if their provisional ballots were thrown out.

But in those six counties, provisional ballots (which are used by voters whose eligibility is in question) were actually ruled valid at a higher rate than in the 2008 election.

According to boards of election in those six counties, 85.1 percent of provisional ballots were approved for the Nov. 6 election. Ohio Secretary of State data shows that in 2008, only 83.6 percent of those counties’ provisional ballots were validated.

“Those numbers do reflect well on how well the election was run,” said attorney Ellis Jacobs of the Miami Valley Voter Protection Coalition. “When you look at all the pieces of how an election is run, it’s very easy to get freaked out about it. There’s so many things that could go wrong, and some people … have a hard time seeing the big picture. When you look at the big picture, it works amazingly well.”

Possible fraud cases

The Montgomery County Board of Elections is turning two voting-related cases over to the prosecutor’s office for investigation, according to BOE Deputy Director Steve Harsman. No charges have been filed.

In one case, the BOE found that a man who voted provisionally in Montgomery County had already voted by regular ballot in Clark County, Harsman said. His Montgomery County ballot was thrown out.

In the other case, a Montgomery County man sent in a request for an absentee ballot on behalf of his father, but BOE officials found that the father had died months earlier.

Harsman said those two cases are proof of the safeguards in place to root out fraud.

“One thing we’ve proven over the years is that our results will hold up to any scrutiny,” he said.

The only two election-related convictions in Montgomery County this year involved people falsifying signatures on petitions, not casting improper votes in an election.

Tough calls

Boards of election, working in balanced teams of Democrats and Republicans, review problematic paper ballots where a voter’s intent may be difficult to determine because of unclear marks. Some voters wrote “count this one” or similar notes next to a cross-out on their ballot, making the board’s job easier. In other cases, Secretary of State directives may mandate whether a certain type of mark is counted.

One odd case this year involved 50 Montgomery County voters who cast provisional ballots, but BOE officials found they also had been checked off in the electronic pollbook (indicating that they had been given a card to vote on a machine).

Harsman, a Democrat, told the board that his experience and BOE research into the issue made him think these were cases where poll workers simply mis-categorized a voter who requested a paper ballot. But he admitted there was no way to be 100 percent sure that no one in that pile had voted twice.

The board discussed the issue for 10 minutes, with Republican BOE member Greg Gantt saying he was torn on whether to approve the ballots, weighing Harsman’s opinion against the possibility that his approval could OK a double-vote. The board eventually approved those 50-plus ballots unanimously.

Gantt emphasized that multiple Republican-Democrat teams review tough cases like this. He said his philosophical starting point has more to do with preventing improper votes, while Democrat BOE members he’s worked with are more focused on making people’s votes count if at all possible. But eventually, they reach agreement.

“It’s that balancing act between confidence in the results versus ensuring that everybody who wants to vote, can. And it’s tough,” Gantt said.

Added Democrat BOE member John Doll, “When it comes down to it, we had one guy who apparently tried to vote twice out of (267,000). Nothing’s perfect in the world and you may have one go through, but most of the time (fraud) is just not there.”