Ohio Sec. of State LaRose proposes eliminating ballot drop boxes, changes rules ahead of election [View all]

Source: Ohio Capital Journal

September 4, 2024 4:50 am


Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has asked Statehouse leaders to create a law eliminating ballot drop boxes after a court ruled that people with disabilities should have more opportunities to vote. Using his own powers, he put more steps in place for voters to use drop boxes ahead of the November election.

Nearly four million Ohioans voted last November, with 1 in 4 people voting absentee, according to state data. State Sen. Bill DeMora, D-Columbus, worries that LaRose’s new proposals will make that much more difficult to do. “Working people work — they go home and they vote and they drive it to the board of elections knowing that the law already says it has to be a secure location, it has to be monitored,” DeMora said.

LaRose issued a directive Friday that requires someone delivering an absentee ballot for another person to sign an attestation that they are complying with state law — which means they must go into the board of elections to sign the form. “As a practical matter, this means that only a voter’s personal ballot may be returned via drop box,” LaRose ordered. The secretary also sent a letter to legislative leaders asking them to either drastically cut down who can submit an absentee ballot to a drop box or eliminate the use of drop boxes entirely.

DeMora called it ridiculous. “It hurts working people and working families and college students — the people, of course, who don’t vote for Republicans,” DeMora said. “They make it tougher for people to vote, make it tougher for people to take their own spouse’s ballot to the one box in the county that they’re allowed to have to drop off their ballots, anything they can do to make it tougher to vote.”

Read more: https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2024/09/04/ohio-sec-of-state-larose-proposes-eliminating-ballot-drop-boxes-changing-rules-ahead-of-election/