COLUMBUS — Most Ohioans are under a statewide order to wear face masks when out in public, but voters who show up at the polls Nov. 3 without one will not be turned away, the state's top elections official promised Wednesday.
“We're training our boards of election to handle that situation appropriately,” Secretary of State Frank LaRose said. “We're telling voters that they should wear masks.... If a voter chooses not to wear a mask, we'll offer them an alternative to maybe vote outside, curbside, which has been part of Ohio's voting process for a long time.
“If they choose not to do that, of course, nobody's going to be turned away,” he said.
Mr. LaRose expects a record turnout and, in particular, a record vote by absentee ballot. But he emphasized that voters, unlike Ohio's March 17 primary election, will have the chance to cast ballots in person on Nov. 3.
He felt the need to hold a news conference to address rampant misinformation about the reliability of voting by mail as well to help voters circumvent what he considers to still be shortcomings in Ohio's election process.
In particular, Mr. LaRose warned Ohioans not to wait until the statutory deadline of Oct. 31, the Saturday immediately preceding the presidential election, to request an absentee ballot. Voters requesting ballots that late will almost surely not receive them in the mail until after Election Day, he said, and then it’s too late to send them back.
He said he would like the opportunity to use federal coronavirus funds to pay the postage on a returned absentee ballot and to provide more than one secure drop box in each county for ballots to be dropped off.
Mr. LaRose has requested that state lawmakers address both issues, but that has not happened. As a result, he said he’s decided now that there will only be a single drop box in each county.
Once absentee ballots begin going out in early October, Mr. LaRose said it would be too late to shift gears on postage without inviting litigation.
The Ohio Unity Coalition, state affiliate of the national Unity Voter Empowerment Campaign convened by the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, sent a letter to Mr. LaRose on Tuesday urging him to ask the quasi-legislative Ohio Controlling Board to release those federal funds for prepaid postage.
“Although your office will be mailing the absentee application to every registered voter, many will either be surprised to learn or fail to realize they must also purchase stamps to return them,” the letter reads. “The same will be true of their completed ballot when it arrives.... Forcing people to pay to vote by mail without paying for postage is likened to a modern-day poll tax.”
President Trump has been highly critical of vote-by-mail in general, suggesting it is ripe for fraud, and he has threatened litigation in some states.
“Although the President raises concerns ... we focus on Ohio,” said Mr. LaRose, a fellow Republican. “The concerns that he raises are not valid here. He has concerns about things like ballot harvesting or inaccurate voter rolls causing dead people to be mailed ballots.
“Ohio has really over 20 years gotten very good at vote by mail,” he said. ”...It's something Ohioans of both parties should trust.”
Ohio switched its March 17 primary election at the last moment to mostly vote-by-mail, all but eliminating in-person voting for that Election Day. The state's health director, with Gov. Mike DeWine and Mr. LaRose's blessing, shut down polling locations hours before they were to open out of concern over spread of the coronavirus infection.
But the general election’s date is etched in federal law and cannot be changed.
The infection rate in Ohio is now higher than it was March 17. Voters are again being encouraged to take advantage of absentee ballots or in-person early voting on designated days to avoid interaction with crowds on Election Day.
The secretary of state's office will mail applications for absentee ballots to all registered voters. They may return those applications with identifying information for security, but Mr. LaRose warned against waiting too long to mail the applications of completed ballots given delays seen in recent postal delivery.
Polling places may process absentee ballots beforehand. but they cannot be tabulated until after polls close on Election Day. Ballots postmarked the day before the election will still be counted as long as they arrive within 10 days after the election.
That means reliable election results could be slower in coming.
While speed matters, accuracy is even more important, Mr. LaRose said.
“We have to realize the fact that on election night we will tabulate everything we have ... but that doesn't mean that that's the final result,” he said. “...It doesn't mean that something nefarious is happening.”
First Published August 12, 2020, 4:46 p.m.
