Residents and election officials urge Mahoning County not to relocate Board of Elections from Youngstown, request public hearings

At the Mahoning County Board of Commissioners meeting on June 5, multiple residents and voting-rights advocates pressed commissioners to delay or reconsider plans to move the county Board of Elections out of Youngstown and to hold public hearings.

David Beatrice, former chairman of the Democratic Party and identified at the meeting as chairman of the Mahoning County Board of Elections, told the commissioners: "I would never, under any set of circumstances, ever allow a suppression of African American votes as my tenure on that board of elections." Beatrice said data he plans to present next week do not support the claim that keeping elections operations at Oak Hill increases turnout and argued the county needs a new, code-compliant elections facility.

The issue matters, residents said, because of transportation barriers and building conditions. "This move is…