Coronavirus Concerns Forcing Polling Location Changes For Next Week's Ohio Primary

Updated: 5:40 p.m., Wednesday, March 11, 2020.

Thousands of Ohio voters are finding that to vote on Primary Day, they’ll have to go to a new place to cast their ballots.

The state is moving 128 polling places out of nursing homes and senior residential facilities because of concerns about spreading coronavirus.

With a week to go before the primary, Secretary of State Frank LaRose said local boards of elections will be able to move these polling places following the announcement of the first positive coronavirus cases in Ohio.

“We don’t want to overreact; we want to react smartly," LaRose said.

The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections announced Tuesday 36 polling locations are being relocated under the Ohio Secretary of State’s criteria, impacting 47,841 registered voters.

• Knickerbocker Apartments
• Menorah Park Center for Senior Living
• Light of Hearts Villa
• Quarry Town
• Greater Abyssinia Towers
• Euclid Beach Club Residence
• Euclid Beach Villa
• St. Andrews Tower
• Rose Center for Aging Well
• The Marc Apartments
• Lee-Miles Apartments
• Abington Arms Apartments
• Morning Star Towers
• Jaelot Apartments
• Alexia Manor
• Addison Square Apartments
• Kirby Manor Apartments
• Skyline Towers
• Mt. Auburn Manor Apartments
• Riverview Apartments
• St Clair Place
• Warrensville Community Apartments
• Judson Park
• Severance Towers
• Apthorp Towers Apartments
• Mildred L. Brewer Place
• Indian Hills Building G
• Hilltop Village
• O’Neill Healthcare
• St. Timothy Park Apartments
• Westerly Apartments at Baron Center
• Schnurman-Luther Social Center
• The Normandy Apartments
• Pinzone Tower Apartments
• University Suburban Health Center

Cuyahoga County voters can also check their polling location status on the board of elections website or by calling 216-443-VOTE (8683). 

More than 26,000 Cuyahoga County voters were already going to a different polling location this Primary Day, in part because voting coincides with St. Patrick’s Day for the first time ever this year. But those voters had about a month’s notice about those changes.

With Ohio’s primary now less than a week away, so Jen Miller with the League of Women Voters of Ohio said she’ll encourage early voting to those thousands of affected voters.

“Clearly it would be great to have more time, but how do we provide more time in this situation?” Miller said.

Mailings are going out to voters whose polling places are being moved. They can request a ballot by mail before Saturday – but it has to be postmarked Monday, March 16 or be dropped off at the appropriate board of elections on Tuesday.

People who live in those facilities are affected too.

“Those residents expected that they were going to vote on Election Day, that they were just going to walk down to the community space in their facility and they were going to cast their vote," said Franklin County Board of Elections Director Ed Leonard. The office is working with the facilities to make sure those residents will be able to vote, he said.

LaRose also said he directed boards of elections to start communicating a message to an estimated 35,000 poll workers: “It will be a safe environment on Election Day. It is safe to be a poll worker.”

But LaRose is also trying to recruit new poll workers to replace ones who no longer want to work.

Because so many of the 3,658 polling places are at schools, it’s impractical to move them, but schools could close if they’re concerned, he said.

LaRose also said voting machines at all polling places will be wiped down, and Miller said hand sanitizer will be available for voters.

A previous version of this story listed Morning Star Baptist Church as one of the closed polling locations. The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections said Wednesday the location was misidentified. The correct location is Morning Star Towers on St. Clair Avenue. The board said it is also removing Fairhill Partners on Fairhill Road from the list. This location will remain an active polling location.

Copyright 2020 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.