MasonBuzz.com

Kim Antrican with her husband, Todd, and children Stephanie and Seth outside of their Lebanon home. / The Enquirer/Amanda Davidson

Paul McKibben reports:

Kim Antrican worked 23 hours on Election Day while battling breast cancer. The next day, she had another chemotherapy treatment.

Antrican, director of the Warren County Board of Elections, credits a lot of adrenaline for enabling her to work such a taxing day.

“Every day on the way to work, I would pray ‘God give me strength for today. Give me the strength to get through the day’ because I knew that I had to pull from my strength somewhere,” she said.

Antrican, 44, of Lebanon, underwent a double mastectomy in August after feeling a lump in her chest the previous month. She began chemotherapy on Sept. 25, one week before early voting started.

She worked 74 hours during election week and the week prior to that. She put in a 61-hour week two weeks before Election Day.

With the election behind her, she’s working less (40-hour weeks) and not spending her weekends at the office. She’s married with two teenagers.

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Posted in: Election, News, Warren County |

Tags: Tags: breast cancer, cancer, director, election, election day, kim antrican, lebanon, warren county board of elections

This is it, folks.

Today’s Election Day and if you haven’t heard by now, Ohioans will be deciding the election.

Polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. today.  MasonBuzz has everything you need to know to help you vote — and some fun stuff, too.

• Build your ballot
• Enquirer endorsements

State issues

• Primer: State Issue 1 (Constitution) 
• Primer: State Issue 2 (Redistricting) 
• Ohio Supreme Court 
• Ohio Board of Education

Mason Charter Amendments

• Issue 6 would amend the city’s charter to alter the deadline for nominations of city council members from 75 days before an election to 90 days before an election.  The change would bring the city’s deadline in conformance with the statutory deadline for Ohio.  Statewide election law changes in 2010 directed Ohio election boards to have ballots prepared 45 days prior to an election to accommodate citizens living overseas, including those in the military.
• Issue 7 would combine a property tax levy with an increase in the city’s income tax for nonresidents to support safety services.  The proposed amendmentwould add a 0.12 percent income tax on top of the city’s existing 1 percent income tax, though only for nonresidents.  The amendment includes a limit of 5 mills for the property tax.  Both rates will be adjusted annually, giving City Council the flexibility to set the rate of the proposed levy and the fire income tax.The fire income tax and the existing income tax would cost someone working 40 hours a week at $10 an hour $4.48 a week. That’s 48 cents a week more than what he or she pays now.  The 5-mill levy, which would take effect Jan. 1, 2014, would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about an extra $18 a year if council decided to take the full 5 mills.

Voter Information

• Ohio Voter FAQs
• Find your polling location
• Warren County Board of Elections
• Voter ID Info
• Voter Eligibility
• Look up your voting information
• How to use voting equipment
• Problem at the polls? Tell us
• Track election problems
• Follow the election on Twitter

More election news

• Track candidate visits
• Enquirer Reporters: What we saw on the campaign
• Quizzes: Elections | Election movies 
• Tell us: Who are you voting for?  
• Presidential visits to Cincinnati
• Romney’s West Chester rally | Photos
• Obama at UC | Photos

Posted in: Election, News |

Tags: Tags: ballot, charter amendment, city of mason, election, election day, income tax, issue 6, issue 7, mason, property tax, safety services amendment, voting, voting guide, warren county board of elections

Kim Antrican, director of the Warren County Board of Elections, sits inside of the voting area at the Lebanon office. The director was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer at the end of July and is now undergoing treatment during the busy election season.  The Enquirer/Amanda Davidson

Paul McKibben reports:

Kim Antrican already had enough pressure.

Mother of two teens. Wife. Director of the Warren County board of elections during a presidential election year in the battleground state of Ohio.

Then in July, Antrican felt a lump in her chest while in Florida for training. She learned she had aggressive breast cancer and in August underwent a double mastectomy. She started chemotherapy Sept. 25, a week before early voting began.

“This could not have happened at a more inconvenient time if you’re looking at it by the election time frame,” she said. “(But) it is what it is, and God will take care of the big things that are out of my control.”

Antrican returned to work full-time 13 days after her Aug. 14 surgery. She works 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. five days a week and has logged two 12-hour Saturdays since she returned to work.

Working has helped balance a life that was filled with medical appointments.

“One or two days out of my week, I’m off having a test done … or I’m off seeing a doctor,” she said.

“So here was my only normal.”

The election calender is getting busier as the big day draws near. Antrican’s cancer treatment continues, too.

She’ll undergo chemotherapy for the next year, going every three weeks. Radiation treatment – five days a week for five weeks – will start in January or February.

Antrican, 44, of Lebanon delayed starting chemotherapy for a week because of work. She was scheduled to have a chemotherapy session on Election Day.

But that is postponed until the following day. She plans to work every day that she can because elections are “in my blood.”

(more…)

Posted in: Community, News, Warren County |

Tags: Tags: breast cancer, brian sleeth, cancer, chemotherapy, director, election, election 2012, faith, kim antrican, lebanon, mastectomy, ohio, republican, todd antrican, warren county, warren county board of elections

Warren County’s Board of Elections mailed out 16,000 absentee ballots on Oct. 2, 2012. Photo provided

Early voting in the swing state of Ohio began today and hundreds of voters in Warren County turned out to support their chosen candidates and races.

Fourteen people were waiting in line to cast their ballots when early in-person voting opened at 8 a.m., said Brian Sleeth, Warren County deputy director of elections.

Two hundred votes had been cast as of 2 p.m.

“It’s been steady all day,” he said.  “I’m surprised the crowds aren’t bigger.”

Another 16,000 absentee ballots were mailed out Tuesday morning to voters who requested them, said Sleeth.

Early voting is uniform throughout Ohio and generally runs Monday through Friday until Nov. 2.

• Absentee voting in Warren County
• Tell us who you’re voting for

Here’s what some Warren County early voters had to say about early voting and their presidential candidate of choice.

Jerry & Dianne Bell, Mason

Candidate supported: Obama

“It’s more convenient and less crowded,” said Dianne Bell.  “I travel so I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss Election Day.”

“It makes the process easier,” said Jerry Bell.  “I wanted to now tell my friends and encourage them to get out and vote.”

Jim & Francie Russell, Deerfield Township

Candidate supported: Romney

“I personally think this is the most important election I’ll ever see in my lifetime,” said Jim Russell, 62.  “We’ll be out of town on Election Day and wanted to get it done.”

“Obama and his policies are very scary,” said Francie Russell, 60.

“Our country is headed in a bad direction,” added Jim.  “I hope Romney can pull it out.”

(more…)

Posted in: Election, News |

Tags: Tags: absentee, barack obama, brian sleeth, democrat, early voting, election, election 2012, exit poll, mason, mitt romney, republican, warren county, warren county board of elections

The Enquirer

Brandi Powers of Mason casts her ballot at the Mason Municipal Center on Tuesday, March 6, 2012. The Enquirer/Rachel Richardson

The pay isn’t great. The work is temporary and the hours long. And you’ll probably get noticed only if you mess up while performing this important civic duty.

The reward? Priceless – and the chance to be a tiny, tiny footnote in the election of a president.

Southwest Ohio county boards of elections need thousands of poll workers for the Nov. 6 election.

The job involves about a 15-hour day on Election Day, an organizational meeting the night before and, for some, a two- to three-hour training course in the weeks ahead.

For most people, the overall pay will add up to about $150, according to Amy Searcy, director of the Hamilton County Board of Elections.

Individuals interested in signing up may contact their respective elections board.  Here’s the contact info for residents of Warren County:

Warren County – Call 513-695-1764 (Democrats) or 513-695-1754 (Republicans), or contact at www.co.warren.oh.us/bdelec/index.asp.

Posted in: Election, News |

Tags: Tags: election, november, poll workers, presidential election, warren county, warren county board of elections

Paul McKibben reports:

Warren County could be constructing a new building for its board of elections that would help alleviate overcrowding in its common pleas courts building.

Years of population growth have impacted space for county government.

Commissioner Dave Young wants to construct a new probably one-story building somewhere on the county government campus in Lebanon for the board of elections and storage space for it and any other department. The board of elections is on the third floor of the administration building. He said the balance of the county prosecutor’s office would move from the common pleas court building to the current board of elections space.

Young said that would free up a significant amount of space in the common pleas court building that can be modified for another courtroom or whatever the judges need. The county needs a fourth common pleas court judge and that would require state legislation. The prosecutor’s office civil division is already in the administration building.

The new building would cost $2 million to $3 million and the county would not need to go into debt to pay for it, Young said.

“We need some more office space and we definitely need more storage space and why not get the storage space out of our class A office space,” Young said. “And the cheapest building we’ll ever build is a lower-end single story board of elections.”

The county is moving forward with moving its child support enforcement agency out of the common pleas court building basement into the old administration building on Silver Street in Lebanon.

Overcrowding is also a problem in the juvenile-probate building also on the county government campus. Young said the new board of elections building helps with that problem as juvenile-probate could move files into it.

An addition to the common pleas court building was estimated to cost $15 million to $17 million and work to juvenile-probate costs around $5 million.

“We are just trying our best to utilize the most … efficient use of our existing space for today’s space needs in hopes that we can delay the ultimate very expensive addition onto the courts building,” Commissioner Pat South said.

South said the county is looking at everything from obtaining costs to build a new facility of a minimum of 15,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet on its campus and continuing to look outside of the campus for existing facilities that can be customized for the board of elections.

No final decisions have been made about the new building.

Posted in: Election, News |

Tags: Tags: commissioner dave young, Commissioner Pat South, dave young, warren county board of elections

Early voting in Ohio starts today. Here’s how:

Vote by mail
Go to the Ohio Secretary of State’s website at www.sos.state.oh.us. Click on “Vote by Mail” to download an early voting application.

The deadline to request an absentee ballot is noon on Nov. 5. But that would not give voters enough time to get the ballot in the mail to the boards of elections by Monday. Elections officials advise that absentee ballot requests should be made at least a week before the election.

Absentee ballots can be returned in person up until 7:30 p.m. on election night. Most county boards of elections also have an application on their websites.  The last day to register to vote is Oct. 11.

Vote in person
Boards of election in Southwest Ohio begin early in-person and mail-in absentee ballots today.

Warren County Elections director Keir Holeman said early in-person voting would be from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the board office at 406 Justice Drive, Lebanon. The board may decide to have early voting from 8 a.m. until noon on the Saturday before the Nov. 8 election, but that decision has yet to be made.

Absentee ballot applications can be filled out and printed on the board’s website, www.co.warren.oh.us/bdelec/index.asp. Voters can also call the board at 513-695-1358 to obtain absentee ballots.

Click to see what’s on the ballot for Mason voters.

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Posted in: City Council, Community, Election, News |

Tags: Tags: absentee ballots, barbara berry spaeth, brad glass, chet mastalerz, democrat, early voting, independent, issue 1, issue 2, judge retirement age, mason, mason board of education, mason city council, mental health levy, mike gilb, ohio, republican, scott w. pierce, senate bill 5, senior services levy, tom grossmann, victor l. kidd, warren county, warren county board of elections