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Two polling places in downtown Cleveland near the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections were not moved for the March 17 primary, but 11 in the suburbs were.
Two polling places in downtown Cleveland near the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections were not moved for the March 17 primary, but 11 in the suburbs were. [Karen Kasler | Statehouse News Bureau]

Preparing for First-Ever St. Pat’s Primary Revealed Some Problems

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With Super Tuesday voting over, the focus will shift to the six states that will vote March 10, followed by Ohio and the three states that hold primaries on March 17. It’s the first time Ohio has voted on St. Patrick’s Day, and it’s created a few problems.

Cuyahoga County Board of Elections director Tony Perlatti said voters at two downtown Cleveland polling places were notified that they could encounter traffic from the St. Patrick’s Day parade on election day. Cleveland is the only major city in Ohio that holds the parade on the holiday regardless of when it falls during the week.

Then he asked polling places throughout the county if they had holiday events scheduled.

“And I’m glad we did that because there’s conflicts out in the suburbs,” Perlatti said. “I have 11 polling locations that I do have to move. That’s 29 precincts. We’re talking about 26,000 voters.”

Those voters were then notified.

The Lucas County Board of Elections in Toledo also reports having to move two polling places because of St. Patrick’s Day conflicts.  But no holiday-related moves were reported in Franklin, Hamilton, Summit or Mahoning Counties.

Tom McCabe at the Mahoning County Board of Elections in Youngstown said their parade is on the weekend, as it is in many cities, so there were no potential parade conflicts. But St. Patrick’s Church agreed to move a lunch scheduled for that day to the weekend as well so there could be voting there. But he noted one other problem.

“We have a pretty big Irish celebration here. St. Patrick’s Day is a big day in Mahoning County, a big Irish population,” McCabe said. “And so we’ve had some poll workers that chose not to work because of St. Patrick’s Day.”

But McCabe said he’s confident they’ll return for this fall.

Last year Republican lawmakers set the primary for after March 15 to award all the state’s GOP presidential delegates to the party’s winner – the only candidate in that contest now is Donald Trump.