Submitting an absentee ballot for November election? Be aware of this change

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WJW) – There may be an extra step for those wishing to submit an absentee ballot in the November election.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose implemented a change to election rules, banning people from submitting a ballot at a ballot drop box for someone else.

Ballot drop boxes can now only be used if the individual is dropping off their own ballot.

Any person designated to drop off a ballot for a disabled Ohioan will have to go into their county election office and sign a declaration that they’re following the law.

LaRose told FOX 8 he made the change because of a lawsuit by the League of Women Voters that challenged the language of House Bill 458.

“My responsibility is to make it both easy to vote and hard to cheat. Because of this recent lawsuit, that balance has been upset a little bit,” LaRose said.

He added that he doesn’t like to make changes this close to an election.

LaRose expressed his belief in the convenience of absentee voting, but he said the relatively newer drop boxes aren’t necessary when people can mail their ballots.

He’s even suggested the idea of eliminating drop boxes to lawmakers, he noted.

With surveillance on drop boxes, there will be evidence if an individual submits a ballot that isn’t their own, which is a crime, he said.

LaRose wants to remind voters that his office just mailed out 8 million absentee ballot request forms. The absentee ballots will begin to be mailed out Oct. 8, four weeks prior to the election.

“If you want to take advantage of that convenient way to vote, fill that out, mail it back to your board of elections using that self-addressed envelope that we’ve provided,” LaRose said.

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