Ohio election officials work under added pressure ahead of Election Day

VAN WERT, Ohio (WANE) - In 23 years on the job, the director of a rural Ohio county’s board of elections has called the current season a first.

Linda Stutz oversees operations in Van Wert County with a population of more than 28,500.  Stutz compared her office to a madhouse during the weeks leading up to November 6.

“We’ve never seen anything like this,” Stutz said of the increased interest in Ohio voting.

Van Wert County joined many other communities across the country in seeing a significant increase in early voting.  Voters have kept the office busy but so have demands from state leaders, special interest groups and individual parties.

Stutz has noted added pressure for accuracy considering Ohio’s importance in what has been predicted to be a close race for president.

“In a way it’s kind of a worry.  You want to make sure that you’ve done everything right.  You feel like you’ve done everything right but yet you don’t really know what these people out there are going to demand of you or expect of you,” Stutz said.

The office has been checking and double checking its procedures, according to Stutz.

“No matter how hard you just go by the books, which is what we do, you still get a little knot in the pit of your stomach,” she said.

Representatives from the Republican and Democrat Parties have requested to place observers at each of Van Wert’s polling places which Stutz said they have had before but not to the extent of two or three people at each location.

According to Stutz, the top priority in organization ahead of Election Day has been voter registration lists.

“We could say we’re doing a check and a double check on everything we’re doing,” she said.

Polls in Ohio open at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday.