Holmes BOE opts to keep Clark Twp. polling station

The fate of the voting precinct in Clark Township teetered in the balance on Monday, Aug. 21 when the Holmes County Board of Elections met with the Holmes County Board of Commissioners and others to discuss the idea of moving the Clark Township voting precinct to Walnut Creek.

BOE Director Lisa Welch, Deputy Director Lisa Elvey, and board members Michael Jaeb, Mark Baserman, Wes Schmucker and Gary Wagers met with commissioners Joe Miller and Dave Hall, commissioner clerk Susan Schie — who also serves as a poll worker — and Misty Burns, Holmes County director of human resources, to discuss the pros, cons and challenges of continuing to host a polling precinct in Clark Township, where a large majority of voters are Amish.

The reason for the discussion was twofold, one being the low turnout numbers in Clark Township and the other being the struggle to find poll workers.

After meeting, the decision to continue to locate the polling station in Keim in Clark Township was made. In another move the BOE did elect to dissolve the voting location in Hardy Township at Holmes Fire District #1 and transfer its constituents to the polling station located in Hardy Township at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Millersburg.

“The commissioners vowed to support us, so hopefully they can find us the necessary poll workers,” Welch said. “That was a pretty important part of our decision. If the commissioners truly don’t want that poll moved, we don’t want to do anything to upset them. Our goal is to work together.”

The discussion was necessitated because of the low voting turnout in Clark Township and because the BOE was struggling to find poll workers, and this isn’t a new issue, according to Welch.

“Maintaining a poll there because of the struggle to find workers makes it difficult on us, but we’ll figure it out,” Welch said.

BOE member Wes Schmucker said many of the current poll workers have been working for many years, and while experienced, they are getting older and the board is seeking some young people to step in and work.

Miller and Hall made their feelings known to the BOE members that continuing to host a polling site in Clark Township is vital because taking it away would force the voters — many of whom are Amish — to travel to Walnut Creek to vote, and that could serve as a deterrent to them voting.

Miller said he spent the Friday prior to the meeting speaking with many people in Charm, and they made it clear they wanted the poll station to remain there.

“Every vote matters,” Miller said. “If it’s one or 10, those voters all need to have the right to vote, and if we move that, it could deter some of the population there from voting, and we don’t want to see that happen.”

Both Miller and Hall agreed the commissioners would invest time and funds to help find and train poll workers if necessary.

One option was presented that perhaps the county could even give county employees that day off if they would choose to serve as poll workers.

“Maybe we can incentivize county workers to take that day off to serve as poll workers,” Hall said. “It may solve a lot of the problem. As two boards we can work together to solve this problem while giving our voters the best opportunity to vote.”

He said he would contact state officials and discuss these concerns and talk about some of the voting regulations revolving around poll workers, which he said were somewhat antiquated.

One of the issues in finding poll workers is they are often asked to work a 14-hour day, perhaps even longer, and that dissuades many people from joining the ranks.

Hall asked if there was a possibility of having two shifts, and the BOE members said it is against the law to do so for continuity purposes.

Poll workers are paid $133.72 for their effort, an amount based on federal minimum wage.

Welch said once the word spreads about the struggles taking place in Clark Township as far as finding poll workers, people will step up to fill the spots.

“We’re hoping that people understand the value and feel it’s important to keep it there, so they come in to work,” Welch said. “We also hope this reminds people that it’s important to go vote.”

Welch said there are other options available to voters other than going to the polling station. She said absentee voting via mail and early voting at the BOE office in Millersburg are both viable options that have served the county well.

While poll workers don’t have to hail from the specific polling station they work at, Welch said most desire to work in the precinct in which they live.

In addition, they are seeking a couple of polling location managers in the county.

If anyone would like to volunteer as a poll worker, especially anyone willing to serve as a Democratic poll worker in Clark Township, they can call Welch at 330-674-5921.