{"id":18738,"date":"2026-03-05T14:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T14:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=18738"},"modified":"2026-03-05T14:11:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T14:11:33","slug":"lavera-scott-explains-the-upcoming-voting-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/05\/lavera-scott-explains-the-upcoming-voting-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"LaVera Scott Explains the Upcoming Voting Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Truth Staff<\/em><\/p>\n

ASSETS Toledo hosted the Lucas County Board of Elections Director LaVera Scott on Monday, February 23, for a discussion about voting issues and regulations as the upcoming, very important May 5 primary approaches.<\/p>\n

Scott, who has also been elected president of the Ohio Elected Officials Association by her peers, began her talk with the ASSETS audience by explaining what her goal with the Board of Elections is. \u201cThe goal,\u201d said Scott, \u201cis to make elections boring again and without the toxic energy \u2026 you want a Board of Elections where people feel comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order to help people \u2013 voters and potential voters \u2013 feel comfortable, Scott and her staff regularly reach out to the community in an effort to inform them of \u201cwhat they need to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott and her staff are also looking toward to the future in these community engagement sessions. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about reaching adults, it\u2019s about reaching children,\u201d she said. And it\u2019s not just about the mechanics of pushing buttons that form the basis for that information, said Scott. She is also concerned with letting people know why they would want to vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s important to you today?\u201d she and her staff might ask. Is it global warming, the cost of food, affordable housing? Those are the issues that their votes can impact.<\/p>\n

At the moment, the staff\u2019s focus is on the May 5 primary, and the April 6 registration deadline that precedes it. Many candidates from the various political parties will be on the ballot, but voters can only vote for the candidates in the party they choose.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you do not choose a party, you will only get issues on your ballot,\u201d said Scott. Choosing a party, she noted, allows a voter to have a say in choosing elected officials \u201cwho make some decisions about what is happening in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

In these divisive times, Ohioans have opportunities and may face challenges that not all Americans might. Ohio has one of the longest early voting cycles in the country, said Scott. However, challenges\u00a0 are ever present.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou may get a message in the mail saying there is a mismatch on your information,\u201d said Scott. \u201cNow you have to confirm [your information] ahead of time or vote provisionally.\u201d<\/p>\n

These ongoing changes, such as voter ID requirements and when mail-in ballots must reach the Board of Elections, have prompted Scott to intensify the training her staff must undergo to keep up with the frequent changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe changes are more cumbersome an some [voters] will feel that they are being disenfranchised,\u201d she said. In addition – and Scott would certainly not say this – while the trend for a red state\u2019s decision makers might indeed be to make the voting process more cumbersome, the intent of training process for the poll workers is to not make the process that much more cumbersome.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want [voters] challenged for the wrong reason,\u201d said Scott.\u00a0 \u201cWe are not ICE, poll workers cannot challenge on that basis. Our job is to provide access to the ballot not take it away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Voters have until 30 days before the election to register or change address, she also noted.<\/p>\n

So, to be on the safe side, voters should check their status on the Lucas County Board of Elections\u2019 website ahead of time to make sure they are registered, that the address is correct and to be reminded of their polling place.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Truth Staff ASSETS Toledo hosted the Lucas County Board of Elections Director LaVera Scott on Monday, February 23, for a discussion about voting issues and regulations as the upcoming, very important May 5 primary approaches. Scott, who has also been elected president of the Ohio Elected Officials Association by her peers, began her talk […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18739,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[250,252,17],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[337],"class_list":["post-18738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-politics","category-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18738"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18740,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18738\/revisions\/18740"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18738"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=18738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}