COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio Democratic Party has sued Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, seeking to force him to allow multiple drop boxes per county for completed absentee ballots for the upcoming election.
The lawsuit asks a judge to order LaRose to rescind guidance he issued last week requiring county boards of election to set up one ballot drop box per county for the November election, but no more. Democrats contend nothing in Ohio law prohibits LaRose from allowing multiple drop boxes.
The suit was filed Tuesday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, the site of another elections-related lawsuit ODP filed last month.
“Expanding the availability of secure voter drop boxes within Ohio counties would make an enormous difference for safe, secure and easy voting in Ohio, as well as eliminate delays in boards receiving ballots through the mail system,” Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper said in a written statement Tuesday.
LaRose would support a law change allowing for multiple drop boxes, Maggie Sheehan, a LaRose spokeswoman, said in response to the lawsuit.
“As an executive office holder, he must follow the law as the legislature writes it,” she said. “His focus at this time remains on getting the Ohio Controlling Board to permit him to pay postage on absentee ballots, effectively making every blue mail box an absentee drop box.”
A handful of large counties in Ohio have offered ballot drop boxes outside their county boards of elections offices in the past. But a temporary law passed earlier this year setting up a largely vote-by-mail primary election amid the early days of the coronavirus pandemic required each of Ohio’s 88 counties to offer one.
For the November election, LaRose explored allowing multiple drop boxes per county, including asking for a legal opinion from Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. After waiting for more than three weeks with no formal response, LaRose changed course on Aug. 12, ordering counties to continue offering a single drop box — despite the expiration of the law that required them in the first place — but forbidding more than that.
“I don’t want to subject our county boards of election to a bunch of wasteful litigation, but I do hope our legislature weighs in on it,” he said at the time.
Voter-rights advocates and elections officials in larger counties have called for extra drop boxes, saying it will help reduce lines and relieve pressure on the mail system. Elections officials are preparing for a larger than normal interest in mail voting, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Republicans, meanwhile, have resisted expanding ballot drop boxes. President Donald Trump’s campaign sued in Pennsylvania in late June over that state’s plan to offer similar drop boxes, arguing they pose security issues. The lawsuit is still pending.
There are two other pending elections-related lawsuits in Ohio. Both were filed on July 31.
One, filed by the Ohio Democratic Party in Franklin County, seeks to force Ohio to allow voters to request absentee ballots online. Currently, voters must fill out a paper form and deliver it to their county board of elections. LaRose has pushed for online absentee-ballot applications for years, including while he was a state legislator, without success.
The other, filed by a coalition of voter-rights groups including the ACLU, challenges the practice of election officials matching voter signatures on the ballots and the ballot applications.
The election is on Nov. 3, while early voting begins on Oct. 6.
Read related coverage from cleveland.com:
State lawmakers request more time to consider whether to pay postage for Ohio mail ballots
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose: no extra ballot drop boxes for November election
Ohio elections chief faces two new lawsuits 95 days out from the November general election
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