Kelly Gillis of Tipp City was re-elected chairman and Ryan King of Piqua welcomed as a new member during the Miami County Board of Elections’ reorganization meeting March 2.

County Democrats reappointed Gillis to the board recently. King was recommended by county Republicans and approved by the Ohio Secretary of State for the four-member board. King takes the seat vacated with the departure of Robert Huffman Jr.

Gary Nasal, Municipal Court judge, swore in Gillis to his new term at the start of the meeting.

The board also reappointed Bev Kendall, a Republican, as elections director and Eric Morgan, a Democrat, as deputy director.

They provided the board an update on preparations for the March 15 primary election and on absentee and early voting.

As of March 2, 1,666 absentee ballot requests had been received and processed and around 500 people had voted in the elections office.

Kendall and Morgan told the board they have been working with the county IT Department on computer systems and to have a department representative available to staff if problems arise during election seasons.

To help the employee better understand election operations, they asked for permission to have the employee attend the state election officials conference with staff this summer. The board OK’d the proposal.

The elections staff last week also conducted the pre-election media test of voting equipment. During the test two people cast test ballots from two parts of the county and observed as the results were tabulated and checked. No issues were found.

Gillis attended the media test along with King.

Gillis said he is confident the equipment is ready for next week’s election.

In other business, the election office continues to seek people to help work the polls on election days.

The hours for those working are from 6 a.m. until around 8 p.m. Workers will be paid $112 for the day. Poll workers must be 18 years of age or older. For information, contact Janelle at 937-440-3900.