In Warren County, ballots cast this morning at the Mary L. Cook Library in Waynesville remained uncounted this evening.
The ballots were among those stored in the emergency bin in a vote-counting machine at the polling place to scan the ballots.
The machine was damaged in transit and ballots cast during the first two hours were stored in the bin until a new machine could be delivered to the poll, according to Board of Elections Director Brian Sleeth.
The poll has been so busy, poll workers have been unable to feed in the uncounted ballots, Sleeth said about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“They’ve been so busy,” Sleeth said. “They were going to cause their own bottleneck.”
Voters were concerned about their ballots being used for voter fraud.
“I’ve been voting there for 13 years. Never had that happen before,” said Melinda Daino, a Wayne Twp. resident.
“There were a few of us that were kind of concerned.”
The ballots are fed into the machine, while two poll workers, one Republican, the other Democrat, watch. These poll workers have the only two keys to the emergency bin, Sleeth added.
The ballots will be counted by 7:45 p.m., Sleeth predicted.
“The ballots are safe and secure and the ballots workers cannot leave the location until every ballot has been scanned,” he said.