Among the ballots invalidated by the Mahoning and Trumbull boards of elections are 95 that were postmarked between Nov. 3, Election Day, and Nov. 23, 20 days after the election.

Overall, directors of the two boards said the elections ran smoothly with 99.6 percent of all ballots cast counted.

Some examples of reasons for invalidating ballots, however, are:

Of the 29 ballots in Trumbull County postmarked as being too late, nine were stamped Nov. 4, seven on Nov. 5, seven on Nov. 6, three on Nov. 9, and one each on Nov. 16, 19 and 23.

Most of the 66 invalidated ballots by the Mahoning board were postmarked Nov. 3. But there were 11 postmarked Nov. 4, the day after the election, as well as four on Nov. 5, two on Nov. 6 and one each on Nov. 7 and Nov. 9.

There was also one ballot postmarked Oct. 21, but didn’t arrive at the Mahoning board until Nov. 20. It came from a county resident who sent it from the Republic of Zimbabwe in southern Africa.

There was another postmarked Nov. 2, the last day to mail a ballot for this election, from a Mahoning County resident who sent it from Gulfport, Miss. But the ballot didn’t arrive at the board until Nov. 28. The deadline for ballots postmarked by Nov. 2 to arrive at county boards of elections to be counted was Nov. 13.

HOW MANY

Among ballots mailed to the boards or put in drop boxes, only 0.16 percent in Mahoning and 0.15 percent in Trumbull were rejected. The state had 0.42 percent of mail ballots rejected in this election, according to the Ohio secretary of state.

In 2016, 0.55 percent of mail ballots were rejected in Mahoning County and 0.26 percent in Trumbull County. The overall state percentage four years ago was 0.85.

In Mahoning, 502 ballots out of 120,444 were invalidated with 330 of them rejected because they came from people who weren’t registered to vote.

The majority of those unregistered came from Youngstown (86), Boardman (40) and Austintown (36), the three most-populous communities in the county.

There was a large drop-off to the next level of communities with unregistered people who voted including 13 in Struthers, and 11 each in Beaver, Canfield and Poland townships. Among the least-populous communities in the county, Goshen and Smith had nine each and Craig Beach had seven.

In Trumbull, 437 ballots out of 102,250 were invalidated with 237 not accepted because people who weren’t registered to vote cast them.

Like Mahoning, the most-populous communities had the most unregistered voters casting ballots. Leading the way was Warren with 48, followed by 22 in Niles and 18 in Liberty. There were also nine each in Mesopotamia and Bristol, two of the least-populous communities in the county.

“Very few ballots were not counted when you look at the volume,” said Stephanie Penrose, director of the Trumbull County Board of Elections. “There’s more of a risk of ballots being rejected by mail because people can fill out the form incorrectly, but we didn’t see a lot of that.”

Even with higher turnout in this election compared with the 2016 presidential election, fewer ballots were invalidated in Mahoning than four years ago. It was only a little higher in this election in Trumbull than in 2016.

“The drop boxes made a big difference,” said Joyce Kale-Pesta, director of the Mahoning County Board of Elections. “There was always someone dropping ballots off at the boxes. We didn’t have them until this year. I’d like to have them in other places in the county.”

In Mahoning County, 502 were ruled invalid in this election compared with 565 in 2016.

In Trumbull County, 437 were invalid compared to 408 with 2016.

STORAGE

All of the invalid ballots in Trumbull and Mahoning are in storage boxes in secured spaces at the boards of elections.

Nearly all of them remain unopened after election employees determined they were invalid for a variety of reasons, largely because they were cast by people not registered.

Other examples include ballots from people not living in those counties, the failure of people to properly fill out the outside envelope in which provisional and absentee ballots are placed and voting in the wrong polling location.

Those ballots will not be destroyed until 22 months after the election, along with valid ballots, under state law.

The elections boards don’t open the invalidated ballots.

“There’s no reason to,” Kale-Pesta said. “The votes don’t count, and we don’t want to mix them in with the valid ballots.”

Penrose added: “It’s none of my business to open them. It might compromise their secret vote. The ballot is still associated with that person.”

VOTING PATTERNS

While there were only a couple of opened ballots at the Mahoning board among the invalids, there were about 20 opened at the Trumbull board.

Those ballots were opened because some people didn’t want to lick the envelopes to seal them, Penrose said.

A review of those ballots showed a mixed bag of voting patterns.

Many people voted a straight Democratic or Republican ticket, but there were a couple of voters who filled in the oval for Republican Donald Trump and left the rest of the ballot blank while others voted for Trump and then for Democratic candidates.

A Newton Township voter cast a ballot for Jo Jorgensen, the Libertarian presidential candidate, and then Republicans in every other race while a Warren woman voted for Trump, Christina Hagan, the unsuccessful Republican in the 13th Congressional District race, and the rest of her invalidated votes went to Democrats.

Also, 12 people in Mahoning County and 41 in Trumbull County attempted to vote twice — putting a ballot in the mail and either going to their polling location or the early voting center.

The Trumbull elections board is still waiting on a legal opinion from the county prosecutor’s office about possible criminal charges, but Penrose said: “Generally, we find it’s not malicious.”

Kale-Pesta said there are no plans to seek prosecution against those who attempted to vote twice as it was likely confusion by those people who weren’t sure if their votes had arrived by mail at the board.

dskolnick<\@>tribtoday.com