David Beatrice, chairman of the Mahoning County Board of Elections, told the Mahoning County Board of Commissioners on Oct. 2 that the elections office needs a new facility immediately to avoid a “catastrophic failure” that could damage voting equipment.

Beatrice said the current location has repeated water and air-conditioning problems and produced conditions he described as unsafe for staff and risky for machines. “You must, with all due haste, get us a new building before something else happens,” he said.

Beatrice told commissioners he had raised the issue at the same podium almost a year earlier and criticized the pace of the county response. He said the county’s contingency measures would not be sufficient “if all of our machines were wiped out,” adding that the office had to leave its building this summer because of air-conditioning and odor problems.

The matter was discussed during the public-comment portion of the commissioners’ regular meeting rather than as an agenda item. County staff and commissioners responded with status updates but offered no motion or vote to relocate the office.

Alan, a county staff member who provided an update to the board, said work to satisfy a punch list of repairs was “very close to completion,” but he acknowledged that some vendor-delivered items were still pending. He said vendors were delaying completion of a small number of items.

Commissioners and staff also described steps taken after a recent ceiling leak that prompted Beatrice’s comment. County officials said they had not yet completed a full damage assessment of election machines and that some machines had tags used for identification. County staff told the commissioners they could not yet confirm that any machines had sustained permanent damage and said the tags on the machines were not soaked.

No formal action was taken at the meeting. The commissioners repeatedly emphasized they supported secure elections and said they were working on facility and property issues affecting county services, and that additional updates would be provided as assessments and vendor work continue.

Why this matters: The Board of Elections stores and maintains ballots and voting machines used countywide. If equipment were rendered inoperable, the county could face operational and logistical challenges ahead of future elections.

What’s next: Commissioners and county staff said they are continuing repairs and assessments and will report back; no timetable for a relocation or formal decision was announced at the Oct. 2 meeting.