Secretary of State Frank LaRose issues absentee ballot directive

RICHLAND CO. - Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose sent out nearly eight million absentee ballot request forms to Ohio voters before the November 5th General Election. Richland County voters received them last week. 

LaRose sent a directive over the Labor Day holiday weekend to county board of elections officials that absentee ballots dropped off in outdoor, official ballot boxes must be delivered by the registered voter.

LaRose wrote in the directive issued on August 31, 2024, "It is important to ensure the integrity of each vote delivered on behalf of an absent voter. The security of the delivery of absentee ballots remains paramount, especially as it applies to the use of unattended drop box receptacles. To ensure compliance with applicable state and federal laws, this directive provides that an assistant delivering a ballot for another must sign an attestation that they comply with applicable state and federal law. As a practical matter, this means that only a voter’s personal ballot may be returned via drop box."

"Drop boxes are monitored by video surveillance and typically unstaffed. Therefore, this directive also requires boards to post a notification on each drop box indicating that voter-assisted ballots must be returned inside the board office, where the voter assistant will be asked to complete the attestation form," LaRose wrote.

Richland County Board of Elections officials held a meeting Tuesday and discussed concerns with elderly and disabled voters being able to file their votes.

"We got a lot of those applications last Friday, several hundred. I'm sure we'll get a lot more" said Matt Finfgeld, Richland County Board of Elections Director. 

"We don't have the time to monitor 24/7, and not only that, how many people are in the car (how do we know who that person was, which ballot was theirs)," said Finfgeld.

Finfgeld said there are a lot of unanswered questions. "If you are helping a disabled voter, a disabled voter has that right to have someone help them and bring that ballot in for them."

Finfgeld said this would be challenged in court and the conversation would not be over yet.

He was right, by Tuesday afternoon a federal judge had already ruled the directive a violation of the Voting Rights Act. 

Absentee ballots must be requested by the end of business on October 29, 2024, and ballots returned by U.S. mail must be postmarked no later than November 4, 2024. For more information visit the Richland County Board of Elections website.