Columbiana electronic polling devices being audited for upcoming November General Election

Electronic polling devices may be returning to Columbiana County for the upcoming General Election in November. 

You may remember during the May 2025 primary that Columbiana was prevented from using electronic polling devices and had to swap to paper ballots.

If all goes to plan under the guidance of the Columbiana Board of Elections (BOE) and the Ohio Secretary of State (OSOS) that won't be a concern anymore.

According to the OSOS the reason for the electronic polling devices ban was an incident in Perry County where a concern over the integrity over their electronic check-in device was raised and an investigation was launched. 

To prevent public concern select counties across the state including Columbiana that could be perceived as at-risk were told to use paper ballots without an explanation why.

Afterwards the OSOS created Security Directive 6.0, a series of guidelines that all ohio county BOE's must follow to use electronic polling devices to ensure security and faith in the voting system.

The guidlines stipulate the following:

• Configure networks, firewalls, vulnerability assessment tools and equipment with the most recent approved security updates.
  
  
• Complete monthly cybersecurity checklists to ensure protection from malicious threats.
  
  
• Conduct a county-specific security audit led by the Secretary of State’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and cybersecurity team, the first full-time unit of its kind in the nation.
  
  
• Comply with enhanced physical security requirements, including proper equipment storage, video surveillance, and bipartisan access protocols.

Columbiana is currently undergoing a security compliance review by the OSOS making sure that their potential use of electronic polling devices in the upcoming November General Election meets all of the above criteria.

If they pass the security review it is expected that the Columbiana BOE will vote to use their newly approved electronic system.