The Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed a measure to take effect mandating that voters place their own ballots in drop boxes, rejecting an effort from the Democratic Party to block the directive.
The court ruled 4-3 to dismiss a challenge to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s directive restricting drop box access to people dropping off their own ballots. The court said that the Ohio Democratic Party waited an unreasonable amount of time to file its suit and denied the effort to block the directive.
“I’m grateful the court has allowed us to proceed with our efforts to protect the integrity of Ohio’s elections,” LaRose said in response to the ruling. “Political activists tried once again to dismantle the safeguards we’ve put in place, specifically in this case against ballot harvesting, and they’ve been rejected.”
“This is the same policy that’s been used successfully in other states, and it’s designed to protect both individuals and election officials from accusations of illegal voting,” he added. “The court’s decision should reinforce the confidence Ohio voters have in the security, honesty, and accountability of our elections.”
Ohio Democratic Party chair Elizabeth Walters lamented the decision.
“Today’s decision is disappointing not just for us as a party, but for Ohioans who will be forced to jump through unnecessary hoops to exercise their right to vote in this historic election,” she said.
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Pierre Bergeron called the majority decision “a sleight of hand that should make our citizens shudder” and said the directive was “an affront to personal dignity.”
LaRose’s directive was issued on August 31, and the Democratic Party challenged the suit on September 27.
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The directive said that individuals could return a ballot for a disabled voter or family member, but only to a county board of elections. This includes a requirement for the person dropping off the ballot to attest that they were authorized to return it inside the election board office. Election officials were also required to post signs over the drop box explaining the guidelines.
“I am acting under my statutory authority to compel the observance of election laws, in this case Ohio’s prohibition on ‘ballot harvesting,’ a process by which an individual attempts to collect and return absent voters’ ballots of other persons without accountability,” La Rose said.
In the same directive, LaRose urged officials to remain vigilant about ballot harvesting.
“Ongoing routine monitoring of drop boxes should continue, specifically monitoring for individuals who are dropping off more than one ballot,” he said. “My office will vigorously investigate and refer for prosecution any individual engaged in ballot harvesting in violation of Ohio law.”
Early voting began last week in Ohio as voters cast their ballots in the presidential race and a key Senate race between incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican challenger Bernie Moreno.
