Amish prefer paper ballots

WARREN — Ohio’s secretary of state required most counties to add a second area to their polling locations where voters could vote on paper ballots this election, but most voters in Trumbull County preferred to stick with the touch-screen choice.

Ron Knight, a member of the Trumbull County Board of Elections, said his visits to polling places today suggested that most voters preferred using the touch-screen machines.

About the only time voters chose the paper option was when lines were long, like just after the polls opened, Knight said. That would suggest voters mainly chose the pencil-and-paper option as a way to reduce their wait in line, he said.

There was one exception.

Knight said he visited a polling location in Farmington Township, where a large percentage of Amish residents vote.

Amish voters appeared to be using the paper ballots in fairly large quantities regardless of the size of the line, a poll worker told Knight.