Innovation creates impact for voters

Editor's note: Alex Jones serves as the Erie County elections board director. He recently addressed attendees at a state conference about how a collaborative local approach, in the end, benefits area voters. PERKINS TWP. — "That's the way we've always done it" is the sworn enemy of innovation. Earlier this month, at the Ohio Secretary of State's annual conference, I sat on a panel dealing with innovation in elections. I was asked to tell the story of how our staff collaborated to redesign our office space to better serve voters. Changing for the better Over the last several years, the Erie County Board of Elections and its staff have looked for ways to improve our processes to provide better service and make our office more accessible to voters. One such innovation in the last year has centered on how we use the physical space in our office and how we changed it to create a faster, more efficient process for early, in-person voting. For a little history, our building at 2900 Columbus Ave., Sandusky, was built in 1886 and was renovated to make room for county office space in the late 1970s. I believe I still have wallpaper original to the remodel in my office. There have been a few changes to how we do business in the last 50 years, and the physical space we were using prior to our remodel was no longer adequate for our needs. Early in-person voting is a way for voters to cast their ballots in the weeks leading up to the election. Our office hosts four weeks of early voting for each election, beginning the day after the voter registration deadline and ending the Sunday before Election Day. During this time, the office is open extended hours for voting, and we employ a team of part-time election officials to help keep our office moving. For those readers who remember, before the new counter was installed, voters entered the conference room and checked in at the door leading to our office. During most elections, there were two check-in stations at that single door, leaving workers and voters cramped. This process was noticeably inefficient and inadequate for our needs. Our staff knew that something had to change after a busier-than-normal election in November 2023, so we came up with a plan. Making early voting more efficient After each election, our staff meets to discuss what we think went well and what areas need improvement. Feedback from poll workers and our part-time election officials are valuable to this process. We were hearing what we already knew: There needs to be a new way of doing things during early voting. All of us envisioned a counter at the front of our office that would stretch from one wall to the other, opening space for three workstations to check in early voters. A third workstation would be an addition, raising our capacity to handle voters coming into the office. Our hope was that this increased capacity and more open space would alleviate the cramped environment of the old, single-door system. Now that we had a plan, we needed to find a way to get the project over the finish line. Executing with the team We worked with Erie County's commissioners, administrator and the facilities department to secure the funding and work with the contractors who would build and install the counter. Thankfully, everyone understood the need for the remodel, and the opportunity it presented to drastically improve the efficiency of early in-person voting. The project got the green light, and the work was completed in time for the presidential election in November 2024. The board of elections could not be happier with the results: • In November 2023, our office had just about 5,500 people come to our office during the early voting period, an average of 275 voters a day. The highest single-day total for that election was 485 voters. • In November 2024, our office had about 12,400 people come to our office during the early voting period, an average of 540 voters a day. • The highest single-day total for that election was almost 900 voters, and all of this was done without lines that stretched outside the building. • The average wait time, even on our busiest days, was between 15 minutes and 20 minutes. The results speak for themselves: A simple reimagining of what our office space could look like along with the collaborative support of other county departments led to an increase in average daily voter throughout of nearly 100% and an overall increase in voters of 225%. Additionally, a significant cost savings was achieved by having our in-house facilities department coordinate the work. The lesson to be shared in this case is that innovation comes through thoughtful dialogue where all stakeholders have a seat at the table. Board members, staff members, part-time staff members and other county departments all contributed to improving our early voting process to better serve the citizens of Erie County.