SIDNEY — Ohio voters who have cast their votes early do not have the option to change their votes before or on Election Day.

“While other states may have different procedures, in Ohio, there are no ‘do overs’ once a ballot is cast,” said Chris Gibbs, chairperson of hte Shelby County Board of Elections.

Whether voters mailed in paper ballots or voted in advance of election day at the Board of Elections office, Ohio law considers those votes as “absentee ballots.”

“In Ohio law, there is no such term as ‘early voting,’ said Gibbs. “Ohio is not a state where the person can change their absentee ballot. Once it’s sent in, it can’t be changed.”

While Ohio doesn’t allow voters to change their early ballots, seven states — Wisconsin, Connecticut, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York and Pennsylvania — do allow voters to change their votes.

When the Board of Elections here receives an absentee ballot, a process begins so the ballot is counted with all the other votes on Election Day.

“We are allowed to begin the absentee ballot process 19 days before the election,” said Gibbs. “We record each returned ballot we receive. Once it’s recorded, it’s placed into the scanner, which is in a locked room. We are not allowed to count the ballots until 7:31 p.m. on Election Night.”

The polls close in Ohio at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 8.

So as the clock ticks to 7:31 p.m., said Gibbs, the scanner will be turned on and all absentee ballots will be counted.

“Since all the absentee ballots are placed in the scanner, we don’t know whose ballot is whose once they are processed,” said Gibbs. However, the board does know the names of the people who have voted before Election Day.

“If a person tries to vote again on Election Day, when they try to sign the poll book, it will show that they voted by an absentee ballot,” he noted. Because Ohio doesn’t turn people away on Election Day, someone who has already voted will be given a ballot on Nov. 8. However, that ballot will be considered a provisional ballot and will be placed in an envelope and sealed. During the vote certification, the envelope will be opened and a determination made whether it should be counted or not. The vote that counts is the earliest one made.

“This process prevents people from voting twice,” Gibbs said. He also cautioned that the board will not take lightly any attempts to subvert the fair election process on Nov. 8.

“If it was determined by the Board of Elections that a voter overtly tried to cast more than one ballot, that person could be subject to prosecution for election fraud,” he said.

Shelby County Sheriff John Lenhart, whose office is responsible for security of polling places, recounted that when he was with the state Bureau of Investigation, he and the county sheriff arrested a man in Jackson County who had voted 25 times in one election.

“He did absentee ballots through rental properties; he ‘helped’ people in nursing homes to vote but then didn’t do it the way they wanted,” he said in describing how it happened.

“If after the fact, there is someone who voted twice (here) or whatever, we would follow through on that,” Lenhart said. “But I hope the election is uneventful.”

At press time, the Board of Elections had received about 6,100 absentee ballots. In the 2008 presidential election, the board received more than 7,000 absentee ballots. Early voting is permitted through Nov. 7.

“We will run the cards (absentee ballots) at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Then we’ll shut the machines off when they are all processed. We’ll then pull the cards and (hand) count (the number of) data cards (that have been read by the machines),” Gibbs said.

The process takes about 10 minutes to complete.

“We should have that data available around 7:40 p.m.,” said Gibbs. “But we don’t release the data. Because the number of absentee ballots is normally pretty thin, there are some township precincts where only one or two people vote absentee. If we release the information, then other people can figure out how they voted.”

The absentee ballots provide a base layer for each precinct when the board begins counting Tuesday’s votes.

Gibbs said there will be registered observers in the board office and in each precinct watching the proceedings.

“The Republican Party and the Democratic Party will have observers at the board office and in all of the county’s 35 precincts,” said Gibbs. “The Sidney school levy committee will have an observer at the board office and in all the precincts that are appropriate to them. There will be no other authorized observers.”

The sheriff’s office, he said, has the responsibility for providing security at all the polling places during the election.

“If we have any difficulties at any place, our first call will be to the sheriff’s office,” said Gibbs. “We are not putting up with any shenanigans at any of the polling locations.”

Calls by members of presidential campaign teams have suggested that people take “poll watching” into their own hands, but Lenhart said he doesn’t anticipate that there will be intimidating demonstrations at local polling places.

“If that happens, we’ll make sure that people get to vote,” he said. “The secretary of state sends us an email and describes what our duty is. It’s to protect the voter and the voting process.”

Gibbs said no electioneering is permitted within 100 feet of the polling places.

“We have the American flags out at each polling location,” said Gibbs. “They serve two purposes. First, they are patriotic and second, the first flag is the measuring point where the 100-foot limitation begins.”

The polls will open Nov. 8 at 6:30 a.m. Voters must supply photo ID cards in order to vote.