CLEVELAND — After a federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked an order by Secretary of State Frank LaRose to limit the number of ballot drop boxes available to voters, the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections announced Friday that it’s adding a temporary ballot collection box at Campus International School.
The temporary collection box will be located at Campus International School, 3100 Chester Ave., and will be open during the same hours as early voting at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.
The temporary collection box will be up and running beginning Oct. 13. From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with hours changing from week-to-week closer to the election.
County Cuyahoga Board of Elections Director Anthony Perlatti said the permanent drop-off box at the board of Elections is still available but wants to encourage everyone to use the temporary site.
“We are trying to keep cars coming to drop off ballots away from individuals standing in line for early in-person voting. We are trying to divert everyone to this temporary collection site during business hours,” said Perlatti, who described the temporary site as faster and more easily accessible.
There will be a bi-partisan team at the temporary collection site. When voters go to drop off their ballots outside of business hours, they will only have the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections as a drop-off option.
Every night when the collection process is over, all materials will be cleaned up. Additional drop-off sites would be considered after future court cases.
In the coming days, the board of elections will install traffic signs to help direct traffic to the temporary collection site.
The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections confirmed it uses the same vendor as the Summit County Board of Elections uses, Midwest Direct, and so far hasn’t experienced any delays.
"Midwest Direct has been a good partner with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections and doing everything we have agreed to in advance. If you have not received your ballot yet, don't worry. Again, at least 40,000 a day are going in the mail and that will continue through Monday.
By the end of the day Monday, 300,000 mail-in ballots will have been sent out to voters.
The board said when you drop off your ballot, the board of elections workers need 24 hours to a day and a half to process the ballots and input the data into the system before you will be able to track your ballot.
The Board of Elections said an updated map of the temporary collection site will be available in the coming days here.
RELATED: Mailing of absentee ballots delayed in Summit County as private vendor deals with high demand
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