CLEVELAND — Four weeks before the start of early voting, Boards of Elections across Ohio find another thing on their plate they have to deal with: a directive by Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose that changes who can deliver a vote by mail ballot to a BOE drop box and the extra step that must be taken if the ballot that person is dropping off isn't their own.
"A recent court ruling really blew open a loophole that could be used for what's called ballot harvesting," LaRose told News 5 Monday. "That's illegal in Ohio, I have to make sure that we prevent ballot harvesting and so that the way that we're doing that is simply saying these drop boxes, if you're going to return your own ballot to the Board of Elections then that's fine, you can return your own ballot. If you're returning others ballots, if you're returning a family members or if you've been designated by a handicapped Ohioan to return their ballot you just got to bring it inside to the Board of Elections, sign this little affidavit so that we know that you're following the law."
That directive only adds, however, to the lines that surround the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections each presidential election cycle. Lines of people looking to vote early in person and lines of cars looking to drop off those vote-by-mail ballots.
In the past, to ease congestion, the Board of Elections used bipartisan teams of workers to collect ballots roadside during early voting hours. Something on Monday the Board voted again to do but this time also supplying those workers with the needed forms should someone be dropping off someone else's ballot. They just weren't sure that this was a step they'd even be allowed to take.
"We're going to need some guidance from the Secretary of State's office on what we can or cannot do," said Anthony Perlatti, Director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.
An issue News 5 was able to help clarify when we caught up with Secretary of State Frank LaRose in Cleveland. LaRose said drive-thru drop-offs, like the one Cuyahoga County is planning, would be allowed.
"When those are staffed by Republican and Democratic elections officials, they can do that as like a drive-thru operation where they're out in the parking lot they can have you sign the attestation right there in your car and not have to go inside," LaRose said.
Welcome news back at the Board of Elections.
"So it sounds like per your discussion, he is thinking about these things and hopefully we can get a resolution quickly, answer to these questions quickly," said Perlatti.
As for why the directive was even issued, LaRose blamed a court ruling that he said created a loophole that could lead to ballot harvesting or the collecting and delivering of other people's vote-by-mail ballots, which is illegal in Ohio.
When asked if ballot harvesting is something we have seen in Ohio, LaRose said, "Oh sure, the good news is its rare. We work to keep it rare by having the right rules in place. There's an investigation ongoing right now in Summit County about a case of ballot harvesting," he said. "It happens on both sides of the aisle but it is illegal and we need to work to prevent it and the way that we prevent it is by having our guard up."
LaRose has also asked the legislature to consider getting rid of drop boxes altogether, making vote by mail entirely by mail.
"What I was simply saying was to the General Assembly, it's worth maybe revisiting our laws, not going to happen in the next 55 days before the election but on into next year it's worth taking a look at this and seeing if the convenience justifies the vulnerability that exists," LaRose said. "Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. That will be a decision for the General Assembly to make."
"The most convenient drop box in the state is the one at the end of your driveway, the one attached to your house," LaRose said. "For decades the best way to return an absentee ballot is to put a postage stamp on it, mail to your Board of Elections and then go to our website voteohio.gov/track and you can have that confidence of tracking the ballot, knowing it's been received by your Board of Elections."
