Montgomery County election: 2,142 machines at 173 polling places

Montgomery County elections officials say the polling locations are primed for today’s primary election that will set the table for a number of federal, state and local races coming this fall.

On Monday, poll workers fanned out across the county to place 2,142 machines at 173 polling locations.

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“It’s busy day, sometimes busier than election day,” said Steve Harsman, deputy director of the Montgomery County Board of Elections.

Polls will be open Tuesday from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.

The set-up process went smoothly for the most part, said Jan Kelly, the board’s director. But a handful of poll workers were no-shows, she said.

“Fortunately, we have such a veteran staff that we were able to deploy our staff out to the polling locations to set up where needed,” Kelly said.

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Sports activities and public meetings prevented set up of some machines until later Monday evening, she said.

Also on Monday, the four members of the Board of Elections examined about 250 of the 5,753 absentee ballots already cast to determine whether ambiguous marks, coffee stains, torn ballots and those marked with smiley faces instead of a filled-in oval would prevent a ballot from being counted, Kelly said.

Early voting for this primary ticked up some, she said.

“I think it’s higher than it was in 2014 — that’s trending higher,” she said. “We will tabulate those first thing on election night at 7:35. They will be the first ones in our report to the Secretary of State.”

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As of Monday, 7,162 voters had requested an absentee ballot.

The county will have about 1,600 precinct election officials in the field Tuesday .

According Kelly, polling locations serving multiple precincts are likely to see the most Election Day traffic and include: Airport Aviation Sales, 10600 Springboro Pike; Cox Arboretum, 6733 Springboro Pike; and Precious Blood School, 4961 Salem Ave. The busiest times are early in the morning, lunchtime and right after work, about 5:30 p.m.

The voting locations for more than 5,500 registered Montgomery County voters have moved for the primary, according to elections officials. Notifications have been sent out to those whose precincts have been moved or where the location's name has changed. Polling locations can also be found at the Board of Elections website at www.mcboe.org and click on the "Where do I vote?" tab.

Voters in six of the county’s precincts will cast ballots at new locations, while voters in two other precincts will vote at the same spot, but the buildings have been renamed since the last election.

Here are the precincts and locations affected:

Precinct: Clay Twp. A

Precinct: Phillipsburg

Former voting location: Phillipsburg United Methodist Church

New voting location: Phillipsburg Municipal Offices

10868 Brookville Phillipsburg Road, Phillipsburg

Precinct: Perry Twp. B

Former voting location: Providence Lutheran Church

New voting location: Brookville Branch Library

120 Blue Pride Dr, Brookville

Precinct: Kettering 2-A

Former voting location: Wilmington-Stroop Branch Library