BOE Discusses Next Steps after County Commissioners
Reject Parking Lot Expansion Plan
Geauga County Board of Elections (BOE) Special Meeting - August 17, 2026
Meeting Info - Special Meeting on August 17, 2026 at 9:00 am in the BOE Conference Room at 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite 004 (Basement), Chardon, OH, 44024. Attendance was in-person and virtual via MS Teams. No video option is available.
Public Comment Policy - The Board of Elections typically responds to questions about agenda items throughout the course of their meetings. Those exchanges are documented below as they occur.
Attendance: Present were:
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Board Chair - Dennis Pavella
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Board Member - Richard Piraino
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Board Member - Joan Windnagel
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Board Member - Janet Carson
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Director - Tyler Plants
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Deputy Director - Nora McGinnis
County Representatives: Ron Weigle, Maintenance Director. Frank Antenucci, Deputy Chief Administrator & Chief Information Security Officer, Automated Data Processing (ADP) was absent.
Others: Online, two members of the public; in person, Christine Stenzel, 12 members of the public and this LWV Observer.
Call to Order – The meeting was called to order at 9:05 am.
Minutes – Minutes for the Special Meeting on August 4, 2026, were approved without edits.
Payment of Bills – Invoices totaling $2,832.09 were approved unanimously and included:
Observer Note: The protest meeting was the July 9, 2026 Special Meeting at which Robert Farinacci, a judicial candidate hopeful, attempted to present evidence to support certification of his candidacy after the BOE had rejected it. See LWVG Observer Reports for the July 9 and June 18 BOE meetings for details. The Court of Common Pleas upheld the BOE’s decision on August 19. See Maple Leaf article here for details (full discussion may be behind a pay wall).
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$1,075.00 to MNJ Technologies for a desktop scanner
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$132.24 to Joan Windnagel for reimbursement for OAEO-NE Regional Meeting
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$147.44 to Richard Piraino for reimbursement for OAEO-NE Regional Meeting
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$130.72 to Janet Carson for reimbursement for OAEO-NE Regional Meeting
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$152.00 to Tyler Plants for reimbursement for OAEO-NE Regional Meeting
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$22.75 to Nora McGinnis for reimbursement for Gatekeeper batteries
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$204.79 to Verizon Wireless for Emergency cell phones – August
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$58.11 to Quill for 9x12 clasp envelopes
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$169.95 to Quill for clear expansion legal envelopes for poll worker support
Report from Automatic Data Processing (ADP) – No report as Mr. Antenucci was absent.
Report from BOCC Maintenance – Mr. Weigle said he assumed the Board had heard about the Commissioners denying the proposed expansion of the county office building parking lot to accommodate election voting. See the LWVG Observer Report for the Commissioners' August 11, 2026 meeting for more information. He said, “we’re just going to have to think outside the box and come up with an even bigger, better plan for the fall. We’ll have to rearrange things, make as much parking as possible.”
Mr. Pavella agreed that “we’ll have to get the departments to be willing to park further away from the building because the voters need to have easier access.” Mr. Weigle said he would start working immediately with Mr. Plants and Mrs. McGinnis to develop a good, flexible plan.
Mrs. Carson expressed strong disappointment with the Maintenance Department’s presentation to the County Commissioners about the parking lot plan. Observer Note: Charles Tkach, Maintenance Program Manager, presented the expansion plan to the BOCC. She said she was surprised that the department “didn’t present the Board’s position more….” She continued, “This is something that was promised to the Board when we moved in the building. It was something that we have always said is going to be a problem—part of our consent decree-- and from the very beginning, when we moved in the building, they said they were going to create this additional parking lot, so we didn’t have a problem. And to have it minimized, because it’s twice a year, that we have big voter turnout here. To me, that was not the right answer.” She noted that Mrs. Brakey, who expressed skepticism about the need for the lot expansion, was not part of the initial discussions and agreements about the BOE moving to the facility.
Mr. Pavella and Mr. Piraino agreed that the commitment dated back to prior Commissioners and was part of the agreement associated with moving the Board of Elections to the facility.
Mrs. Carson acknowledged the Commissioners’ responsibility to be fiscally responsible but argued that rejecting a $300,000–$400,000 parking expansion was unacceptable given the prior commitment and the need to accommodate voters. The Board expressed concern about meeting voters’ needs, noting that they had had 900–1,000 early voters daily in the three or four days before the last November election.
Mr. Weigle did not respond to the Board’s comments.
Mr. Weigle reported that the security glass for the BOE front office was expected for delivery that day and work on the security improvements should start to move ahead.
Mr. Weigle departed the meeting at this point.
Appoint Poll Workers – September 16, 2026, through September 15, 2027
Mr. Pavella confirmed that the Board had received a proposed list of poll workers. The Board unanimously approved the list of poll workers as recommended with the understanding that the Director and Deputy Director could amend the list as needed.
After the vote, an individual requested a copy of the poll worker list and was told that he could have a copy’. The individual then asked if anyone was deleted. He was told it was a working list that it changes all the time.
Attendee Christine Stenzel then spoke about how she had learned she was not re-appointed as a poll worker due to multiple complaints about her making political comments while working the polls at Veterans Legacy Woods at the last election. She said she had asked Mr. Plants for an explanation and was told there were two complaint calls. She commented that she had worked for 4 elections with the same team and that there is “good fun, food and banter and if we (poll workers) have disagreements politically, we keep that aside.…”
Mr. Piraino said he had researched her complaint after they had spoken and acknowledged that the Board appreciates all of the volunteers’ work. He then pointed out that the Election Official manual directive states a poll worker’s term is only for one year and that not everyone gets called back to work the elections continually.
Ms. Stenzel said she understood but felt the dismissal was abrupt and that Mr. Plants had spoken to her in an unprofessional manner.
After Ms. Stenzel, a number of other individuals voiced support for her hard work and dedication and expressed concern over the lack of transparency and perceived lack of evidence behind the complaints. Mrs. Carson pushed back, saying the complaints were not unsubstantiated, as Board members had heard more than two of them when they had visited Ms. Stenzel’s polling location. She said, “We are reacting to information that we receive from multiple sources throughout the election days. And we must respond to that.” She and Mr. Pavella restated that the Board should not be discussing employment of a poll worker outside of an executive session.
Additional individuals expressed concern that Ms. Stenzel had not been given the opportunity to refute the accusations.
Mr. Pavella made clear that those who work for the Board of Elections work at the will of the Board, saying, “as far as the employment of someone, that’s not an open discussion to be had, that’s between the Board and the employee.” Board members emphasized that poll worker changes are made frequently to “mix things up” and that changes are not done lightly.
Ms. Stenzel said her Voting Location Manager (VLM) had contacted the BOE to complain about Mr. Plants’ treatment of Ms. Stenzel and express dismay that she was not reappointed. Mrs. Windnagel stated that she had called the VLM three times to discuss the matter without success.
A final individual asked how to go about addressing Board actions that he didn’t like. Mrs. Carson explained the review process which starts with contacting the Board member’s political party and then the Secretary of State (SoS) if necessary.
Recognize Questions and Issues – 2026 General Election Ballot – All approved
The Board announced there are 25 issues on the ballot. Mr. Plants said the SoS has given verbiage approval for nine issues; the remaining issues are still being edited by the SoS. Assistant Prosecutor Kristen Rine has reviewed ballot items and found no problems. Observer Note: Election Ballot issues are published on the BOE website when they are final.
There was discussion about Middlefield’s levy having been found acceptable after the township submitted an amended auditor’s form. Ms. Rine will be asked for a written opinion regarding acceptance of the Middlefield issue. Observer Note: An email from the BOE explained that the Prosecutor’s Office reviewed the levy because the amended auditor’s certificate was dated after the resolution to proceed, rather than before it as normally required. The original certificate, however, was dated before the resolution. Because the amended certificate corrected an error but did not change the millage or dollar amount, the Prosecutor’s Office determined that the levy could remain on the ballot.
Mr. Plants reviewed how the school board issues were numbered either 4 and 5, instead of all number 4, in an effort to prevent voter confusion, especially for adjoining municipalities like Cardinal and Berkshire. Mr. Plants said State Issue 3 was assigned that number to avoid voters confusing it with State Issue 1 which had been on the ballot in 2024.
Mr. Plants said the ballot most likely will be 17 inches long, double-sided. Later in the meeting, Mrs. Carson asked if the weight of the larger ballot is known, noting that if extra postage is needed for mail-in ballots, it should be highlighted in the ballot cover letter. Mr. Pavella asked Mr. Plants to inform the Board about the ballot mailing cost as voters will be asking members about it.
Mrs. Windnagel asked if the State ever rejected a ballot issue. Mr. Plants said the State had rejected Berkshire’s ballot issue a few years ago and commented that they seemed to be dragging their feet on issue approvals. He said he had thought the State would have completed their approvals by that day, since the 17th was the deadline for BOEs to approve ballot issues.
The Board speculated that the high number of ballot issues reflects the urgency entities feel about the possible loss of property tax revenue if the current initiative to abolish property taxes winds up on the ballot next year.
Election Day Ballot Order
Mrs. McGinnis stated she calculated the order using the current number of registered voters plus 1% which equaled 69,775 ballots. The Board discussed the potential increase in voter turnout in Bainbridge due to two road levies on the ballot and a significantly larger number of registered voters due to aggressive registration campaigns. Ultimately, the Board agreed that the proposed number of ballots was acceptable. Mr. Pavella reminded the BOE that they can always use the Equipment Marshall to take additional ballots to polling locations if necessary.
SOS-Mandated Cybersecurity Training – Mrs. McGinnis reminded the Board that the SOS directives require training to be completed by the end of the month. All the employees, except new hire Greg Morgan, have completed the training; the four Board members have not done so. Mr. Plants is working to get Mr. Morgan access to the training via email.
OAEO Northeast Regional Meeting – Mr. Plants said he thought the meeting was useful. Mrs. Carson and Mrs. Windnagel said they were pleasantly surprised by the meeting’s setting and the overall information provided.
Mr. Plants said he reached out to Ms. Rine about signage prohibiting weapons at polling places, which had been a topic of discussion among conference attendees. She advised that they could post such signage, but it could not be enforced since Ohio is a permitless carry state. The Board agreed that even though the law can’t be enforced, posting the signs could help poll workers feel safer.
Mrs. Windnagel expressed dissatisfaction that the meeting did not provide continuing education credits and said she recommended to a meeting organizer that offering credits might boost attendance. The Board agreed.
Poll Worker Pay Raises - The Board discussed potential pay raises for poll workers. Mr. Plants said he liked the idea of raising pay for poll work but not for training as it might disincentivize workers who would go to training but skip election day work.
Potential Voting Location Change - The Board explored the possibility of moving the Centerville Mills voting location to Bainbridge Township Hall. Mrs. Carson said she is waiting for a response about Bainbridge Township hall’s availability for rent and use as a polling location. If the location is available, they would switch from the Centerville Mills location because its parking lot is inconvenient to the polling building.
After further discussion, the Board ultimately decided to retain both locations as possibilities in the short term. If a location change is made for the November election, voters would be informed by postcard at least 30 days in advance of election day.
Polling Location at Chardon Schools - The Board asked about the status of the letter the Prosecutor’s Office was to prepare to Chardon Schools regarding its use as a polling place. Mr. Plants said he has not received anything from Ms. Rine and would send a follow up email. The Board emphasized the importance of moving forward in order to ensure the election gets on the school’s academic 2027-28 calendar, assuming there is a positive decision.
Road Construction Concerns - The Board discussed the large amount of road construction in the county and agreed that newspaper articles and/or opinion pieces about construction obstacles to polling locations would be helpful to voters. Mr. Pavella suggested a fall meeting with County Engineer Andy Haupt and other principals for a construction status update.
Director’s Report – Tyler Plants reported:
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Ms. Rine requested potential meeting dates for the Board to respond to an anticipated court decision about the Farinacci certification this week. The Board settled on Friday, August 21 as the best possible day. Observer Note: A Special Meeting is unnecessary as Common Pleas Judge Matt Rambo denied Mr. Farinacci’s appeal in an August 19 ruling. See Maple Leaf article here for more details (full discussion may be behind a pay wall).
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They are receiving 20 to 30 voter registrations daily. Many are duplicates as people are making sure they are registered.
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They are working to find a way for vendors to complete security training which has been requested by the county. Triad employees, for example, are currently unable to take the security training since they do not have a government email address.
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The background check for newly hired Voter Registration Supervisor Greg Morgan is being processed. Mr. Plants said there has been confusion among the responsible agencies about requisite “codes” and he has contacted SoS liaison Dustin Russell for help.
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He has taken responsibility for training Mr. Morgan, who he said is doing very well at learning his position.
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He will confirm ADP’s support team will be at the office on Election Day.
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They have hired a “good group” of part-timers, including 2 former candidates for the Voter Registration Supervisor job. He plans to have a meeting with the office team to review election rules and regulations.
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They have approximately 300 requests for absentee ballots.
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The SoS office will send out absentee ballot request envelopes around Labor Day. It was noted that the form has been changed since June and includes the addition of a statement at the bottom regarding citizenship. Observer Note: The statement on the request envelope reads: “To vote in Ohio, you must be a citizen of the United States.” There is ongoing litigation regarding mail-in ballot rules which President Trump seeks to change through an executive order. See here for more information.
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The truck and company car are booked. Arrangements have been made with the post office for twice daily ballot pickup and delivery.
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The drop box will go up on September 18, UOCAVA day (voting for uniformed and overseas citizens), when it’s traditionally been done.
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They are still collecting costs and other information for a banner to guide voters to the ballot drop box. They are also waiting for a response from Maintenance about installing the banner which will hang outside the county office building to guide voters.
Deputy Director – Nora McGinnis reported she has been working on:
County Office Building Parking Lot Expansion - The Board and Mr. Plants returned to the BOCC’s rejection of the county office building parking lot expansion request. All expressed disappointment in the decision and the plan discussed at the meeting to install a driving test course requested by DMV (Division of Motor Vehicles) on the side of the building. Mr. Plants said he was especially concerned that a delay will not allow enough time to install a new lot should the decision be reversed.
Pointing to the potential parking problem and the expected overcrowding in their storage room due to the addition of more precincts, the Board decided they should review with the county their contract which states “that we’re allowed to request what we determine we need. They’re obligated to supply it.”
Delinquent Campaign Finance Report - This Observer asked if the BOE has received the delinquent finance report from judicial candidate Stephanie Anderson’s campaign. Mr. Plants said the report has been filed, with apologies from the candidate, and Office Administrator Scott Daisher is reviewing it. Observer Note: See the LWV Observer Report for the July 17, 2026 BOE Meeting for more information. Mr. Plants said their goal is to get the campaign finance reports on the website at the beginning of September.
Adjournment – 10:32 am
Next meeting: Regular Meeting, September 17 at 9:00 am in the BOE Conference Room at 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite 004 (Basement), Chardon, OH, 44024.
Observer: Rooney Moy
Editor: Gail Roussey
Reviewer: Sarah McGlone
Date Submitted: August 31, 2026
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