Ohio Secretary of State changes ballot drop box rules, calls for their elimination

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- There are just over two months until Election Day, and politicians have just made some last-minute changes to how Ohioans can cast their ballot.

“There has to be some end to changing rules,” Governor Mike DeWine said.

“Really, I don't want to make any changes to the way that we run elections in Ohio unless they're forced upon us,” Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said. “And in this case, it was as a result of a recent lawsuit that we had to make this change.”

A federal judge recently ruled that Ohioans with disabilities can choose anyone to help deliver their ballot, not just those on the select state-approved list for who can submit a ballot on another's behalf. LaRose said that prompted action on his part, as he distributed new orders for boards of elections and a request to eliminate all drop boxes in Ohio.

Under current state law, one ballot drop box is allowed at each county board of elections, and are the law has a list of relatives who may deliver an absentee ballot on behalf of someone else. That list includes the person’s: spouse, parent (including adopting or stepparent), parent-in-law, grandparent, sibling (including half sibling), child (including adopted or stepchild), aunt/uncle and niece/nephew. With the new ruling, Ohioans with disabilities could ask anyone, and LaRose worries this could cause problems.

“When people decide to try to make election laws at a courthouse instead of a state house, they can create unforeseen problems,” he said. “That (decision) really undid the balance that we try to strike between convenience and security.”

Now, in this directive to county boards of elections, LaRose made it so voters can only put their own ballot in a drop box.

“Which to be clear, is not the preferred method," LaRose said. "The best way to return your absentee ballot is to simply mail it in."

Under the directive, if someone is dropping a ballot off for a family member or disabled person, they now have to do it in person.

“If you decide to play mailman and you want to drive it down to the Board of Elections yourself, you currently have the convenience of using that 24/7 drop box to deliver your ballot,” LaRose said. “But what we're saying is if you're delivering somebody else's ballot, then the only way that we really have to make sure that we protect against ballot harvesting in Ohio is that if you're going to take somebody else's ballot in, you've got to go inside the Board of Elections.”

According to the directive, boards are required to provide the person assisting a voter with an attestation form which declares under penalty of election falsification that they are returning the ballot on behalf of a family member and are lawfully designated to do so or -- if assisting a voter with disabilities -- that they are complying with the Voting Rights Act.

“It makes it clear that you're returning a family member's ballot, which is legal, or you're returning the ballot of a disabled person, and that that person has, in fact, designated you to be their assistant for purposes of returning their ballot,” LaRose said.

LaRose said allowing people who have disabilities to choose anyone to deliver their ballot and not requiring a face-to-face drop off could cause problems.

“What vulnerability this creates is somebody could pull up at a board of elections with an armload of ballots. You could show up there with 20 ballots. And when the elections officials say, ‘Well, hold on, what are you doing?’ They could say, ‘Oh, yeah, these are for disabled people. You can't question me. You got to take my word for it and shove those in the in the drop box,’” he said. “Rare that that kind of thing would happen, but we have to protect against those kinds of circumstances.”

He said ballot harvesting does happen, but said “we keep it rare.” He said the tightening of rules surrounding ballot drop-off boxes should not alarm Ohioans or signal to them that the state’s elections are unsafe.

“They've got a person who serves as their chief elections officer who takes this seriously,” he said.

LaRose said this is a direct response to “activist groups” trying to change the law in courts. He responded to accusations saying his directive is voter suppression, saying those are groups “looking for relevancy.”

“They're not serious people,” he said. “Honestly, this kind of election season histrionics by these folks is what I've guess you just come to expect.”

LaRose pointed to all the ways Ohioans can cast their ballot in the state, like early voting, weekend hours and by mail.

“Ohioans know that it's easy to vote in this state,” he said. “Really demonstrably easier than almost any other state in the country.”

But LaRose does not want to stop at this directive — he wants lawmakers to ban all drop boxes. DeWine does not see why that is necessary.

“Look I have said constantly that I think we do a very good job in Ohio running elections,” DeWine said. “I think anyone who wants to change what we do has a burden of proof of showing that there's a there's a problem with what we do now.”

Under current state law, ballot drop boxes must be under 24-hour surveillance, and that video is public record. Still LaRose said drop boxes are “more trouble than they’re worth.”

“It's something I think the legislature should look at. These are only a recent phenomenon. Prior to four or five years ago, nobody ever heard of these things,” he said. “They do create a vector for possible ballot harvesting. And again, I think that, you know, five years ago, before everybody ever heard of one of these things, we had plenty of ways to return our absentee ballots, which is doing it by mail or driving it down to the board of elections.”

There is currently a senate bill in the Ohio Statehouse to eliminate ballot drop boxes, but it has not had a single hearing since being introduced last year.

“Democrats and Republicans run these elections. They run at the county level. They run at the precinct level. They do a good job. We count our votes pretty quickly. We do it in an accurate way and I’m satisfied with our system,” DeWine said. “I think people who go vote this year can feel confident in the system that we (have) in Ohio.”