Counties wait for Ohio attorney general to issue opinion on offering more ballot boxes

NORWOOD, Ohio (WKRC) - Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose says about 25% of Ohioans vote by mail. He says that percentage is likely to go higher during the upcoming election.

"2016 was the highest turnout we've ever seen. 2018 was the highest turnout gubernatorial election that we've ever seen, and I believe that 2020 is going to beat those records again," LaRose said during a virtual town hall on Facebook.

There is only one ballot drop box in Hamilton County. It’s at the Board of Elections office in Norwood. Caleb Faux, a Democrat on the Hamilton County Board of Elections, says the county is looking into creating more.

"In years past, we haven't really had a problem with the fact that there's only been one box, but in April, we had a real problem with that because so many people were trying to get to this one dropbox that it created lines extending out the driveway here in a mile in each direction out on Norwood Lateral," Faux said.

However, Hamilton County, along with all other boards of elections in the state, were told to stop. LaRose says there is a legal question about adding more drop-off spots.

Local 12 requested an interview with LaRose but were told he did not have time in his schedule and to refer any ballot box questions to the virtual town hall he did on Facebook.

"The problem with this is that the Ohio Revised Code is very gray on this. The legislature has spoken on this previously, but it was only as a temporary measure, and when the legislature spoke on it, they said one per county," LaRose said. “Now, what I don't want to do is jeopardize dozens of counties around the state, potentially adding extra boxes and then ending up in a protracted lawsuit as a result of it.”

LaRose asked Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to issue a legal opinion on adding more boxes. It’s been more than two weeks and still no response from the attorney general.

"The longer it goes, the harder it's going to be for counties to act in time to get this all done. We're about 60 days away from the start of early voting, so we don't have a lot of time,” Faux said.

Local 12 requested to talk with Yost about the issue.

Dave O’Neil, the Senior Public Information Officer for Yost said in an email, "We are in discussions with Secretary of State’s Office. As they are a client of the attorney general, the discussions are privileged and we can’t comment further. "

LaRose says he's fine with counties adding more dropboxes.

"If [Yost] says that we can and that it's legal to do that, then I'd be happy to have the county bipartisan board of elections make that decision about whether that's best for their county or not to add additional dropboxes,” LaRose said.

LaRose says he would prefer to have the state offer postage-paid envelopes for every absentee ballot instead of more dropboxes.

"I've already requested that of the legislature. In fact, going back as early as April, I've been asking them to give me the ability to access federal funds and, again, not state money. There would be no state money involved. I've been asking the legislature for permission to access federal funds to provide postage-paid envelopes for Ohioans to return their absentee ballots. Many states do this. In fact, a large number of states do it, and it's a very simple and straightforward proposition,” LaRose said. "If we had postage-paid envelopes, then every blue USPS box in the state becomes a secure dropbox and we don't need the boards of elections to spend thousands of dollars going around the state installing more dropboxes.”

"The post office is telling us to expect a 14-day process; seven days to get the ballot, seven days to mail it back. A box like this cuts that time in half because the voter can just drop it off to the box, and that's the end of it," Faux said.

Faux says mail-in ballots create another potential issue that other counties and hundreds of voters have experienced: not having their ballot counted even though it was mailed before the deadline.

"Under the law, if it doesn't get here within 10 days, we can't count it, and another thing that happens occasionally is if there's no postmark -- and sometimes the post office doesn't postmark things -- if there's no postmark, we can't count that either," Faux said.

If you do not want to mail in your ballot or drop it off, LaRose says you will be able to vote in-person on Election Day:

"Your neighborhood polling locations open, staffed by a dedicated group of Election Day workers. Now, they'll be smiling when you arrive, but you won't be able to see because they will have masks on their faces. That'll be a little different. There may be a shield between you and the poll worker...There will be more space between each voting machine. You'll see a staff member that comes and wipes down the voting machine between each person.

“One tip is to bring your own pen. You'll save them some time so they don't have to sterilize the pens between each person. Bring your own pen when you come to vote on Election Day. But let me be loud and clear: There will be in-person, Election Day voting in the state of Ohio as there always has been. To me, this is not an option, and it's something that's absolutely part of our democracy, part of how we run elections in Ohio. Four weeks of early voting, four weeks of absentee voting and in-person Election Day voting will absolutely be available for every registered voter in the state of Ohio this year."