Karla Herron, director of the Delaware County Election Commission, wants voters to know that the commission has strictly followed a series of preventive measures over the years to prevent voter fraud.

She said that prior to the allegations of election security during the 2020 election, the emphasis on voting security stemmed from the narrow and highly competitive 2000 presidential campaign between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

She said that the campaign—including a statewide recount in Florida and a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court—raised voter safety awareness in the subsequent 2004 presidential campaign.

Herron said she has always emphasized this awareness, first in her seven years with the Union County Election Commission, and now her 13 years in Delaware County.

Herron said that the Ohio Secretary of State's office issues policy directives during the election, but the local election committee decides how to implement them.

She said that in Delaware County, this involved strict compliance with what she said was a "chain of custody" that was passed every vote.

She said that in the process, electronic voting is isolated from any online hacker threats. She said that voting is not handled or handled by individuals, but by a pair of election staff-a Republican and a Democrat-at all stages of the election night process.

She said that the Election Commission uses a similar tiered approach to absentee ballots—each ballot is handled by a Republican and a Democrat—and when confirming the identity of voters.

Herron said: "I believe that as far as safety is concerned, we have gone over and continue to work hard to ensure everything is safe."

Many preventive measures during the election period require additional resources, "We will continue to increase resources. No matter how busy we are, we must do our job and do it well. We cannot take shortcuts," she said.

Herron said that because its procedures have been implemented for a long time, "we really didn't do anything different" during the 2020 presidential election.

"But what we did was focus on (voting security)," she said. "We emphasized it. We talked about it because our voters heard a lot about the election."

Herron said that in Delaware County, the election commission has nothing to hide.

If other states keep their election practices confidential and defensive, “that will only add fuel to the fire. We want openness and transparency,” she said.

She described how the ballot passed through the chain of custody on election day:

• No electronic device that handles voting is connected to the Internet. Herron said, "We eliminated any possible" hacker attacks.

• The Election Committee provides a blank USB thumb drive for downloading the total number of votes for polling stations. Republicans and Democrats in the same car from the polling station took these thumb drives to the Election Commission office on U.S. Route 23.

• In the office of the Election Committee, the drive is downloaded to a computer stored in the designated "tabulation room". The room has a locking system that only allows Republicans and Democrats to enter at the same time. The two parties worked together to input all votes from the polling station.

Herron said that due to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the use of absentee ballots has increased in recent years and hit a record high in Delaware County.

Herron said that, like the thumb drive and the computer in the tabulation room, every absent ballot is handled by a bipartisan voting worker.

• Each absentee ballot application must be checked for voter registration, signature and date of birth. If the applicant fails to provide the required information, they will receive an email notification and have the opportunity to correct the error.

• When submitting an absentee ballot, the bipartisan pair checks all identity information again. The ballot number matches the application.

• Any absentee ballot that fails to meet all requirements will be defaced and not counted.

Herron said that compared with the 2016 presidential election, Delaware has far fewer provisional votes in the 2020 presidential election.

Herron said, for example, if a voter fails to register a change of name or address with the Election Commission, lacks identification or faces challenges to his or her residency, the ballot will be classified as a provisional ballot.

She said that if voters notify the board of directors of a change of address, it can prevent many or most temporary votes, adding that such notices can also be issued when visiting the Ohio Motor Vehicle Administration office.

Herron said that the Election Commission even has a system to prevent the names of the deceased from being used for fraudulent voting.

She said the Ohio Department of Health would provide a list to the election commission every month, listing the names of residents who died in Ohio. If the family member presents a death certificate to the board of directors, the name can also be deleted from the electoral roll.

Herron said that if voters missed four federal elections-the president or the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate held in even-numbered years-and did not respond to mailed notices, the Election Commission has a procedure to remove voters from the voter list. .

She said that registration can be maintained by voting at polling stations, voting for absentees, renewing registration, or signing election-related petitions.

At the Delaware County Committee meeting on November 4, Commissioner Gary Merrell stated that he was a poll worker during the November 2 election.

"Where I am, the poll workers, whether they are Democrats or Republicans, they can cooperate very well," Merrell said.