Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced a new statewide initiative his office will facilitate to ensure election officials are “trained and prepared” for the November general election.
The Ready for November initiative will “offer a series of collaborative training opportunities between Ohio’s 88 county boards of elections and the Secretary of State’s elections, public integrity and communications staff,” according to LaRose’s office.
The statewide initiative will include the following seven specific events and resources for election officials:
- Regional Readiness Training focused on roundtable discussions among election officials of logistical best practices;
- Law Enforcement & Homeland Security Briefings focused security training and preparedness efforts;
- Webinars and training resources provided to election officials virtually;
- After Action Reviews conducted at each county board of elections going over what went well and what could be improved from prior elections;
- Annual Election Conference held in late June featuring sessions on key election topics;
- Poll worker training held at all county boards of elections leading up to Election Day; and
- Table-top exercises designed for election officials to run through likely (and even unlikely) scenarios they may face during the election.
The secretary of state’s office said the initiative will also provide election officials with information regarding “poll worker recruitment and training, provisional voting, election night reporting, early vote and election day logistics, election integrity protocols and communication best practices, among other topics.”
Phase One of the initiative will begin on Monday with a series of regional readiness training that will take place through May 3.
“Similar to a military mission, running elections is a complex operation with little room for error,” LaRose (pictured above) said in a statement. “In the coming months, our focus will be on preparing our election officials and supplying the resources to them to deliver for the people of Ohio. Our state is the national gold standard for a reason, and by placing a focus on our readiness, voters will ultimately experience a secure and accessible election this November.”
Ohio ranks 12th in the nation in maintaining the most secure elections, according to the Heritage Foundation’s Election Integrity Scorecard.
The presidential general election will take place on November 5.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Frank LaRose” by Frank LaRose. Background Photo “Voting Booths” by Tim Evanson. CC BY-SA 2.0.
