The Ohio Secretary of State has made changes to the office’s website designed to make it easier for Ohio voters to update and check on their voting status. In an interview with Ohio Public Radio’s Jo Ingles, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted talks about the upgrades to the office’s internet site.
Jon Husted: Every election cycle we find out what works and what we can improve upon, and I always challenge my team to get better so we’ve improved the ease of access for voters to make it easier for them to find out where their polling location is, to make it easy for them to make sure that their registration is up to date at the proper address and if they don’t have it up to date, make it easier for them to change their address online so that they can vote with ease on election day.
Jo Ingles: And they couldn’t do that before – they couldn’t change their address online?
JH: We’ve been able to do that in the past. We introduced that last year. And we’ve improved it to make it easier for people to look up their voting location. I’ve described it as making it so easy that even I can do it. I always joke with them that they have to make the technology simple so that people who don’t like technology and are intimidated by it can easily use it and that’s what we’ve done as we continue to make the process of voting and participating in election a little simpler and a little easier in Ohio.
JI: Are you finding that people are using the online options more often?
JH: Sure, they don’t like to have to drive down to the board of elections or find forms to print off or go to their library to find them. They just like to sit down at the computer and make all of those adjustments right there at their fingertips. It’s great because it saves the boards of elections money and makes it easier on the voter. And that’s what we strive for. We have four elections a year in Ohio, not just the November election. And every election cycle we learn something new. We try to make the system better. And today’s announcement is just one more step in that process.
JI: And speaking of elections, we have one and a deadline coming up soon, right?
JH: We do. The deadline for the election registration is right around the corner. So if you aren’t registered or haven’t updated your voting address, please make sure to get that done. (…..April 8th is the deadline for the May primary. 2:33)
The upcoming primary is on May 7th. And while there are no statewide issues on the ballot, some communities will have local candidates and issues on the ballot.