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Mercer County Board of Elections members, from left, Craig Klopfleisch, Phil Long, Del Kramer and Toni Slusser listen as Mendon area residents try to make the case for the reinstatement of their polling location.
CELINA - A group of about 17 residents led by Mendon Mayor Terry Seibert confronted the Mercer County Board of Elections on Thursday morning about its recent decision to remove the town's polling location and reroute voters to Rockford.
In a back-and-forth exchange with board members that stretched more than an hour, they voiced a mix of frustration, dismay and indignation, saying not only does the single-precinct polling location allow Mendon and Union Township voters to conveniently cast their ballots close to home, but it also constitutes a part of their collective identity.
"It takes away the community feel and Mendon doesn't need something else to take away from the community feel," said Doug Johnson. "We have to work hard to survive as a community, and these are days of change. But we would like to keep a polling place in our community. We lost our schools to Rockford already. For whatever reason, it happened."
Mendon Mayor Terry Seibert said he feels slighted that the board didn't reach out to Mendon officials.
Residents have a God-given right to vote where they live, Seibert asserted.
"The bottom line is that is our right. If you're going to collect my taxes, I ought to be able to vote in my own township," he said.
Others said they resent that elections officials didn't seek out their input before deciding to reassign roughly 900 Mendon-Union precinct voters to the Rockford Community Building located about 10 miles from the Mendon Fire House.
Jackie Fox said there are plenty of people who would have come forward to work as poll workers had they known they were needed. The board cited difficulty in rounding up enough poll workers as one of the reasons for rerouting the voters to Rockford.
"I don't want to hear that as an excuse because I have never in the 40 years that I have lived in Mendon heard anybody say that before until this year," Fox said. "It is ridiculous. My rights are being taken away by not voting where I live. I want to go where I live."
Residents also addressed fears that older folks will forgo voting, and some said they prefer to vote on Election Day, not by mail-in absentee ballot or early in-person voting at the courthouse.
Elections officials explained the array of factors that went into their decision, among them pressure from the Secretary of State's Office for boards of elections across Ohio to consolidate polling locations. At one point there were 30 polling locations in the county. After the recent move, that figure is down to 7, according to board member Del Kramer,
The decision didn't come out the blue. It's the result of discussions that took place at public meetings over the last couple years, they said.
"In past years it's been discussed to close Mendon. That's always been a topic and one of the reasons was … because they were the smallest location that we have through the county," Kramer said, touching on efforts to streamline the voting process and make best use of taxpayer-funded resources.
He said they had tried to keep the location open but ran into a number of problems.
Security of the physical location, ballots, equipment and procedures is a top concern, said board member Craig Klopfleisch. In fact, the board's workload has increased by a third over the last four to five years just based on security, he said.
The board has rented two-way radios during elections to simultaneously communicate with all polling locations should the need arise. For instance, if a court issued a ruling that all polls remain open longer, board members would want to immediately convey that to all polling locations.
Elections officials have reportedly had difficulty reaching poll workers inside the metal Mendon Fire House because of a lack of cellphone and radio reception.
On occasion, elections officials have either had to drive from Celina to Mendon or ask a deputy to swing by the site to speak with poll workers, according to board director Deb Sneddon.
Elections officials were recently contacted by voter who was waiting for a bipartisan team of polls workers to come outside to assist with curbside voting.
Sneddon said attempts to communicate via cellphone and two-way radios failed, raising a security concern.
About 17 residents from Mendon and Union Township came to the board of elections' meeting on Thursday.
Election officials also noted that not only do they have to secure a certain number of poll workers, but they also have to sign up sufficient amounts of residents affiliated with both parties and/or no party to put together bipartisan teams as required by the state.
There are other ways to vote than going to a polling location on Election Day, Kramer stressed.
"There are a lot of people who have to drive pretty far to vote. Plus, you've got a month of early voting here. It's not like anybody is taking away your right to vote," he said.
Still, board members said they would take into consideration the concerns addressed on Thursday, noting that they evaluate the voting process after every election.
Board member Toni Slusser said she was sorry the decision to reassign the voters has caused pain.
"We do care about the voters in Mercer County," she said. "You have given us an opportunity to make people aware of another process, a government process that people just didn't understand."
Board member Phil Long said he appreciated the comments and that "this has been a learning experience."
In response to attendees' worries that some may refrain from voting due to the move, Long encouraged them to group together as a community to make sure those people do vote.
"That's what we're here for is to make sure that every voter in Mercer County can vote," he said.
The board meets next at 10 a.m. Jan. 23 in the courthouse.
