Cuyahoga County Board of Elections director shares what measures are in place to prevent voter fraud

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - We know voter fraud is always a concern when it comes to elections.

Tiarra Braddock spoke with the director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections to see how they are making sure peoples' votes are safe and secured this time around.

“Voter fraud is very minute. We really don’t see it,” said Tony Perlatti, director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

Perlatti said even with a record-setting number of mail-in ballots expected to come in this year, his team is confident there won’t be any issues.

“We’ve been doing vote-by-mail for many, many years, haven’t had any problems, there are safe guards in place,” Perlatti added.

Perlatti says if someone requested a mail-in ballot, there’s a record of it that can be tracked by the board.

You can not vote by mail and in person.

“If they do go to the polls on election day after having a ballot application submitted to us, they will have to vote provisionally and that will not be lifted off."

When it comes to voter intimidation, Perlatti says multiple police agencies, including the FBI, will be around to keep polling locations safe.

“If anything was unfortunately were to happen, we can react quickly, letting people know they can come into the polling location, they will be safe in the polling location,” said Perlatti.

Some voters have expressed concerns that their mail in ballots being thrown away.

19 News asked the board of elections about that concern.

Board of elections officials say there is a record of every ballot issued and received so they don’t lose track of any of them.

There are security cameras in the interior of the board of elections building as well to monitor how the ballots are being handled.

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