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Board of Elections Making Last Minute Changes after Court Ruling

People Taking Advantage of early voting (Darrielle Snipes/ideastream)

Cuyahoga County Board of Election officials are scrambling to re-train poll workers in time for tomorrow's primary.

The hustle comes After a ruling late last week that says 17-year-olds who will turn 18 by the general election in November can vote for president in Ohio.

Cuyahoga County Elections Director Pat McDonald says with the new legal interpretation of the law they've had to make some last minute changes.

Elections officials are printing new materials and will put out an alert to all polls stating 17 year old voters can vote for a presidential candidate. 

Before last week's ruling they could vote for other candidates but not president.

McDonald says they've already had close to 100 young voters request ballots.  Those who went ahead and voted for a presidential candidate before Friday’s ruling, will have their vote  counted. But those who didn't vote for President won’t get another opportunity in the primary they’ll have to wait till the general election November.

McDonald  also says a court ruling so close to the election can upset the process.

“I commend the secretary of state for honoring the integrity of this election and not appealing the court decision." he said. "But it is a sore point for all election officials as once again we go down to the 11th hour with litigation and court decisions  effecting the way we execute elections. This stuff has to stop."

This ruling applies to 17-year-old already registered to vote.