DeWine ‘reluctantly’ signs the absentee ballot-related bill, ends grace period

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine “reluctantly” signed the bill on Friday that would eliminate the four-day grace period for absentee ballots to arrive at boards of elections.

Senate Bill 293 would require that ballots be at the boards of elections by election day.

DeWine said during a press conference that he didn’t want to sign the bill, adding that Ohio’s previous policy of allowing four extra days for the arrival of the mailed-in ballots is reasonable, according to the Statehouse News Bureau.

“I normally would veto a repeal of this four-day grace period. And frankly, that’s what I wish I could do,” he said, adding that the reason why he eventually decided to sign the bill was because of a federal court’s recent ruling that a similar grace period in Mississippi violates federal law.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear the Mississippi case.

“If the court in late June upholds the Fifth Circuit case and Ohio’s grace period for counting ballots is still in effect, the election situation in Ohio would be chaotic,” DeWine said.

According to the news source, the Department of Justice also sent a threatening letter to Attorney General Dave Yost in September, writing that Ohio could face a federal lawsuit following President Donald Trump’s March executive order that said that there is “a uniform and nondiscriminatory ballot receipt deadline of Election Day for all methods of voting”, with ballots from military and overseas voters exempted.

Ohio Democrats also opposed the bill’s passage, sending DeWine a letter to persuade him not to sign the bill that would “impose unnecessary hurdles on voters, shorten the time Ohioans have to make their voices heard, and weaken essential accountability measures.”

“SB 293 is a hurried, ill-considered change to Ohio voting law that needlessly adds new administrative barriers and will make it harder for thousands of Ohioans to have their ballots counted,” the Democratic lawmakers wrote in the letter.

Voting rights groups, such as VoteRiders, also asked DeWine to veto the bill, saying it could result in thousands of votes not being counted.

DeWine said that after the bill is signed, Ohio would need to count ballots differently depending on whether candidates are running for federal or state offices.

“It certainly would confuse voters in state elections. Their absentee ballot could come in within the four days after the election and be counted,” he said. “There simply would not be enough time for the legislature to pass a law to conform to the Supreme Court decision and federal law. Therefore, I reluctantly signed this bill.”