Forrider Gets Sworn In As Director Of Union County Board of Elections



Michelle Forrider (R) was sworn in as the Director of the Union County Board of Elections by Board member Rebecca Pokorski.

MARYSVILLE – Michelle Forrider was sworn in as the director of the Union County Board of Elections this morning.

Ms. Forrider takes over for Tina LaRoche on her retirement from the position. Ms. Forrider has been with the Union County Board of Elections for over three years and has been a resident of Union County since 1980.

“I’ve been training with (Assistant Director) Brandon (Clay) and Tina,” Ms. Forrider this morning after the swearing-in ceremony. “It was not something that I was aspiring for and wanting to achieve, so I’m very happy with the outcome.

Assistant Director Clay said that the Director of the Board of Elections has myriad responsibilities, from running the day-to-day operations of the BOE, keeping track of all the records generated by the BOE, to keeping minutes of Board meetings, absentee and provisional voting, handling voter registration, programming the ballot machines, checking finance campaign reports, plus a whole list of other responsibilities.

Ms. Forrider had to jump into the Director’s chair at an unusual time as the State of Ohio – and the Union County Board of Elections – still has two more elections this calendar year, this after the first election on May 3. The second – a belated primary election – is slated for August 2 and the general election for November 8.

“This third election caused a little bit of stress because this is usually vacation time where everybody can kind of regroup, but it’s difficult to have time off when you’re preparing for a summer election,” Ms. Forrider said.

The first big obstacle Ms. Forrider has to face is getting enough poll workers to work the precincts come August 2.

“Poll workers are on vacation, too,” Ms. Forrider said, “and financially it costs a lot to run an election and this summer’s election (August 2) is something that we are not normally budgeted for.”

Mr. Clay said that monies for elections in the county are generally allocated by the Union County Board of Commissioners, but the Ohio General Assembly has kicked up additional funds to help county boards of elections across the state to help with the unseen expenditures of a third election in a calendar year.

But Ms. Forrider said that she, and the Board of Elections, have hit the ground running. All the “big” stuff (the “heavy lifting”, as Mr. Clay put it) is in place, Ms. Forrider said, with early voting starting this morning, the voting machines being correctly programmed and absentee ballots hitting the postal system today.

“We’re ready for the August 2 election,” she said.

On taking the place at the head of the table at the Union County Board of Elections, Ms. Forrider said that she was up for the job.

“It was never my goal to be the director of this office,” Ms. Forrider said. “But I’ve been here for three years, worked hand-in-hand with Tina and Brandon both through COVID and the huge presidential election, so I feel like I am prepared and ready to take the next step.”

Ms. Forrider said that she will be working on voter registration outreach programs and educating voters to what exactly goes on at the Union County Board of Elections.

“This idea that we’re stealing elections or rigging elections is a total falsehood,” Ms. Forrider said.

Voter registration for the August 2 election was closed as of midnight Monday and about 10 voters were already in the BOE offices this morning casting their early votes, as allowed by Ohio state law.

Directors are generally appointed for a two-year term, but there will be a reorganization meeting again in March 2023, when Mr. Clay is expected to be named Director and Ms. Forrider will be appointed Deputy Director.

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