(The Center Square) – Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose ordered boards of election that use tablets to check-in voters at the polls to stop and use paper pollbooks for the May primary election.
The directive comes after LaRose announced an investigation has started of a voter check-in tablet bought by the Perry County Board of Elections.
“I’ve directed our Election Integrity Unit and cybersecurity team to work with the Perry County Board of Elections to analyze the equipment purchased by the board,” LaRose said. “While this investigation is limited right now to a single device in one county, I’m taking the precautionary step of ordering my team to review all voter check-in systems for compliance with our security directives ahead of the May election.”
LaRose did not expand on any potential issues with the particular tablet but said local election officials notified his office they bought the device, often called an electronic pollbook.
Electronic pollbooks are not connected to voting or counting equipment, so those devices are not impacted by the order, LaRose said.
Also, all voting equipment is tested before each election. That process has begun throughout the state before early in-person voting begins for the May 6 primary election.
“As an added precaution, I’m directing the boards of elections who use this specific style of pollbook to use paper pollbooks for the May election,” LaRose said. “This action will have little to no impact on voters, as we anticipate turnout to be relatively low, and I’ve always required boards of elections to have paper pollbook backups ready to go as a contingency.”
