“Any directive, any changes that are made this close to the presidential election would be difficult. Anything that would change at this point would cause more work on the board of elections for sure,” said Nicole Unzicker, director of the Butler County Board of Elections.
LaRose’s proposed changes came in an Aug. 29 letter to Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, and Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill, asking them to consider legislation he proposes:
- Requiring proof of citizenship for Ohioans to register to vote.
- Banning ballot boxes.
- Expanding provisional voting voting requirements to times when there are additional unspecified “mismatches” in information on the voter’s registration form and information on file at the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Social Security Administration.
LaRose said the changes were needed to “ensure the ongoing integrity of Ohio’s elections.”
Stephens and John Fortney, spokesman for the Senate Majority Caucus led by Huffman, both indicated the Republican-dominated legislature would consider the proposals by LaRose, who also is a Republican. The legislature isn’t scheduled to meet until after the Nov. 5 election, Fortney said.
Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie J. Antonio, D-Lakewood, and Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, say LaRose’s proposals are unnecessary new restrictions on Ohioans who want to vote.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s office is reviewing the proposals but has “not offered formal comments at this time,” said spokesman Dan Tierney.
But at a Sept. 4 event in Columbus, DeWine was asked if he supported eliminating ballot drop boxes.
“Look, I have said consistently that I think we do a very good job in Ohio running elections. I think anyone who wants to change what we do has the burden of proof of showing that there’s a problem with what we do now,” DeWine said. “There has to be some end to changing the rules.”
He went on to say he’s “satisfied” with the way the state conducts elections and said voters can be confident that the Ohio’s elections are run with integrity.
Ballot drop boxes
LaRose’s proposal to ban ballot drop boxes comes after a federal court in July ruled in a case brought by the League of Women Voters of Ohio that Ohio’s law saying only certain family members and the U.S. Postal Service can deliver absentee ballots violates federal law allowing disabled people to choose who they want to deliver their ballot. The ruling allows disabled people to choose who delivers their ballot but keeps in place limits on other voters.
LaRose contends the boxes could be used by people not authorized to drop off absentee ballots for someone else.
Each county board of elections is allowed to have one secure drop box at the board office. They are monitored via video and a bipartisan team of election workers removes absentee ballots people have put in the box.
Local elections officials say the secure drop boxes are very popular with voters and give people who don’t want to use the U.S. Postal Service a way to deliver absentee ballots without having to come inside the office when it is open.
“We love drop boxes. We think they are very safe and secure and do not want to see their use curtailed. In fact many counties would like to see them expanded,” said Aaron Ockerman, executive director of the Ohio Association of Election Officials. “We have not seen any evidence that they are problematic.”
Montgomery County’s drop box, located outside the county administration building where the board is located, is monitored by video 24-7. Board director Jeff Rezabek said he’s never seen any evidence of people inappropriately dropping off multiple ballots. When staff report the box is very full he has reviewed the video and seen huge numbers of cars lined up with people dropping off individual ballots.
Alisha Beeler, director of the Greene County Board of Elections, says she’s not sure how staff are supposed to monitor each individual dropping off a ballot in the box. But she said LaRose’s directive will probably create longer lines inside the board as people wait to legally drop off someone else’s ballot and then have to sign the form attesting they are following the law.
“The directive is very broad and doesn’t give us much guidance on how to handle any of the situations,” said Warren County Board of Elections Director Brian Sleeth. “I have no clue how to monitor the drop box on who drops off ballots and how many they dropped off. It would be impossible to post two employees at the drop box 24 hours a day. I have forwarded the directive to our prosecutor’s office for review.”
Provisional voting
Local board officials said they would need more information to figure out what additional “mismatches” in voter information would require provisional voting under LaRose’s proposal.
“A provisional ballot is used to record a vote if a voter’s eligibility is in question and the voter would otherwise not be permitted to vote at his or her polling place. The content of a provisional ballot is no different from a regular ballot, but it is cast ‘provisionally’ until election officials can verify the voter’s eligibility to vote in the particular precinct at that election,” according to the secretary of state’s website.
Among the reasons a person casts a provisional ballot, which is only counted after the person’s information and eligibility to vote is verified, may be because the voter moved and didn’t update their address at the board, or their photo ID is expired or they applied for an absentee ballot and the board needs to make sure they didn’t vote twice. Board staff can confirm some information within the four-day window after Election Day allowed by Ohio law, but some things must be resolved by the voter, such as producing a valid photo ID.
Ockerman and local board officials all said very few voters ever come in to provide the information, or “cure” the ballot, and so it is not counted. Adding more rules could mean even more ballots are not counted.
“I think it would take us longer to research each provisional voter. I really have no idea how this would affect us,” Sleeth said. “The only thing a voter can cure is a missing driver’s license or state ID on the envelope, nothing else can be cured (by the voter). Aaron is correct, it is very rare for a voter to come in and cure their ballot.”
Rezabek recalls a case where the voter’s photo ID was expired so the voter came on the last day to cure the ballot, a Saturday, thinking they would get their driver’s license renewed at the BMV in the county building and then go to the board of elections. But since the BMV wasn’t open the voter could not cure the ballot and so it was not counted.
Proof of citizenship
It is illegal in the U.S. for noncitizens to vote in federal elections and when people register to vote on federal and Ohio’s voter registration forms they have to attest to being a citizen and face legal penalties for providing false information on the form.
While states and localities in the U.S. can let noncitizens vote in local elections, the Ohio Constitution prohibits noncitizens from voting in any elections.
Ohioans registering to vote already must provide a driver’s license or state identification number, or the last four digits of their Social Security number.
LaRose’s proposal doesn’t specify what documents people would have to provide to prove citizenship. Nor does it say if people would be expected to give copies of documents, such as passports and birth certificates, to the person registering them or where documents would be stored.
“I’m assuming the cybersecurity around that is pretty intense,” said Rezabek, adding that it likely would require additional staff and equipment to handle and secure those documents.
Staff writer Avery Kreemer contributed to this report.
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Ohio BMV’s mistakes led to noncitizens getting registered to vote, officials say
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