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Some Ohio Voters Report Receiving Damaged Ballots

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — Ohioans who have been waiting for their mail-in ballots are starting to open up their postal boxes to find them. But some might be in less than perfect condition.

Damaged ballots
[Credit: Sarah Mill]
Columbus resident Sarah Mill says she was tracking her and her husband’s mail-in ballots online so she knew they were in her mailbox.

“I was a little bit surprised at the condition of the exterior envelopes.  It was clear that the open windows looked like it made them maybe getting caught on sorting equipment or maybe getting caught on other mail so they were a bit mangled in our mailbox,” Mill says.

Mill says the ballot and return envelope were not damaged so they will return the completed ballots to the Franklin County Board of Elections drop box.

Maggie Sheehan, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Frank LaRose, says the problem is limited. And she adds voters who get damaged ballots can easily get them replaced by contacting their board of elections.

Voters who change their minds and decide they do not want to vote by mail can vote in person, on a regular ballot, during early in-person voting days and hours. But if those voters wait until Election Day, they will have to cast a provisional ballot instead.