SIDNEY — Republican Chris Gibbs was re-elected chairman of the Shelby County Board of Elections during an organizational meeting Friday morning. And the board also learned that one noncitizen had voted in Shelby County during the November General Election.
Democrat Dawn Billing was reappointed director by Gibbs and his fellow board members, Merril Asher and Jon Baker. Board member Chuck Craynon was not present for the meeting.
The board tabled the appointment of a deputy director until a new person is hired. Interviews were planned during an executive session Friday. The person will replace Phil Warnecke, who attended his final meeting Friday morning. He has retired from the Board of Elections.
The board also approved a motion setting the third Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m. as its official meeting time.
Gibbs shared an email from the Ohio Secretary of State’s Jon Husted’s office stating one non-citizen was registered in the county and had cast a ballot. Eighty-two people were identified statewide by Husted as voting in November.
“None of the cases,” said Gibbs, “shown to have cast a ballot were in a district where the vote was tied or decided by one vote.”
Gibbs said when someone comes to the Board of Elections to register to vote they must show an identification certifying they are a citizen of the U.S., that they will be 18 years of age before the next general election, that they’ve been a resident of Ohio 30 days before the election and that they are not in jail.
The ways to show they are a citizen, he said, are by supplying a Social Security number or a driver’s license.
The information is then entered into the registered voter data base, which interacts with Husted’s office. The person is then given a precinct number where they can vote. That information, excluding the Social Security number, then becomes public information.
Gibbs said part of the problem with noncitizens being allowed to register to vote is the fact the Secretary of State doesn’t have real time access to information about people who are trying to become U.S. citizens. Those records are held by federal agencies. Husted had requested real time access when President Barack Obama was in office.
