LISBON — The Columbiana County Board of Elections will meet at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to certify the official results of the May 5 primary election after adding in 28 eligible provisional ballots approved for inclusion.

The board met Thursday to handle three action items related to provisional ballots and absentee ballots, accepting the 28 eligible provisionals, rejecting 11 ineligible provisional ballots and rejecting 14 absentee ballots.

A ballot is considered provisional if a voter doesn’t have an ID with them on Election Day or they’ve moved and their registration needs checked. The voter is given four days to bring their ID to the election office in Lisbon and board personnel have 10 days to verify registrations for voters who moved or had their name changed.

Board of Elections Director Kim Fusco said the 11 rejected provisional ballots were for voters who failed to provide ID and didn’t come to the office with their ID in the time allotted after Election Day. She said some had expired licenses.

“These ballots will not count nor will they (the voters) get credit for this election,” she said.

The 14 rejected absentee ballots included eight that were too late, two that were returned unvoted and four with no ID or signature or both. Those ballots also will not count.

This was the first election when a new deadline for absentee ballots came into play, requiring that all absentee ballots arrive in the office by 7:30 p.m. Election Day. A ballot coming in after the deadline, even if it was postmarked prior to Election Day, did not count.

Prior to this election, if it was postmarked prior to Election Day and arrived within four days after the election, it counted. That’s no longer the case.

In other business, Fusco said she and Deputy Director Niki Wilkinson will be in the office Sunday with the voting equipment vendor to do the official tally of votes, so the board can take action Tuesday to certify the results.

She also asked board members to consider some dates for when they can meet to approve the required audit of the results. Each county is required to handcount a certain percentage of ballots in three countywide races as part of the audit. The state has already dictated that the Republican governor’s race and the Democratic attorney generals’ race be used. The board will choose the third race to handcount and already has permission to select a state race since no county races were contested. That decision will be made at the next meeting.

mgreier@mojonews.com