CLEVELAND — Nearly 2,000 mail-in ballots out of approximately 14,000 requested were not part of the election night totals released by the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in the Cleveland mayoral primary. 


What You Need To Know

  • Ballots that were postmarked by Monday have 10 days after the election to reach the Board of Elections

  • More than 3,000 ballots out of 21,000 requested across the county did not reach the Board of Elections by election night

  • More than 800 voters submitted a provisional ballot across the county on Tuesday

  • The Board of Elections will review those ballots in the coming days

Additionally, the Board of Elections could see up to 1,153 additional ballots from surrounding municipalities that held primaries on Tuesday.

According to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, ballots that were postmarked by Monday have 10 days to arrive at the Board of Elections. Those ballots postmarked on or before Monday and received within 10 days will be included in the final certification. 

Voters can track the progress of mail-in ballots via the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections website. 

Meanwhile, the Board of Elections will examine an estimated 627 provisional ballots from Cleveland. There were also 194 provisional ballots cast in surrounding communities on Tuesday. Those ballots were not included in the totals released by the Board of Elections on Tuesday. 

The Board of Elections said they check for the following items before accepting a vote: 

  • The voter is registered and eligible to vote
  • The required information on the envelope has been completed 
  • The voter did not cast an Absentee Ballot 
  • The voter did not cast a ballot on Election Day in the precinct of their previous address

Voters can track their voter history on the Board of Elections website.

According to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, Justin Bibb and Kevin Kelley were the two leading vote-getters in Tuesday’s Cleveland mayoral primary and will face each other in the November general election.