Democrats challenge Ohio order preventing drop-box use for those helping voters with disabilities

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Democratic Party and two affected voters sued the state’s Republican elections chief on Friday over his recent directive preventing the use of drop boxes by people helping voters with disabilities.

The lawsuit, filed at the Ohio Supreme Court, says Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s order violates protections for voters with disabilities that exist in state law, the state constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act.

“Frank LaRose’s illegal attempt to deprive Ohioans of their right to return their ballot at a drop box with assistance is in violation of both Ohio and federal law,” party chair Liz Walters said in a statement. “The Ohio Democratic Party alongside Ohioans impacted by LaRose’s illegal directive are taking every action necessary to protect the constitutional right of every Ohioan to participate in our democracy.”

LaRose issued the directive after a federal judge struck down portions of Ohio’s sweeping 2023 election law in July that pertained to the issue. The affected provisions had prohibited anyone but a few qualifying family members from helping people with disabilities deliver their ballots, thus excluding potential helpers such as professional caregivers, roommates, in-laws and grandchildren.

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LaRose’s order allows those additional individuals to help voters with disabilities deliver their ballots, but it requires them to sign an attestation inside the board of elections office and during operating hours.

The lawsuit says those conditions subject absentee voters and their assistants to “new hurdles to voting,” and also mean that “all voters will be subjected to longer lines and wait times at their board of elections offices.”

A message was left with LaRose’s office seeking comment.

In his directive, LaRose said that he was imposing the attestation rule to prevent “ballot harvesting,” a practice in which a person attempts to collect and return someone else’s absentee ballot “without accountability.” That’s why he said that the only person who can use a drop box is the voter.

In the new lawsuit, the Democratic Party argued that federal law allows voters with disabilities to have a person of their choice aid them in returning their ballots, while Ohio law broadly allows voters to have certain, delineated family members do the same. “Neither imposes special attestation burdens to do so,” the lawsuit said.