Ohio voting rights groups urge DeWine to veto bill eliminating absentee ballot grace period

Ohio voting rights advocates urged Gov. Mike DeWine to veto a recent voting measure that eliminates the absentee ballot grace period.

Senate Bill 293 would eliminate a grace period for absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day to arrive by mail.

VoteRiders, the organization that opposed the bill, helps voters get the ID they need to cast a ballot in their state, according to the Ohio Capitol Journal.

The group’s legal director, Ceridwen Cherry, said that rooting out “suspected noncitizen voters is a solution in search of a problem,” adding that the bill “does not give incorrectly flagged eligible U.S. citizens a chance to prove their citizenship.”

“Instead, they would be purged from voter rolls without warning or recourse,” Cherry said.

The Ohio Voter Rights Coalition, which includes groups such as the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, and the ACLU of Ohio, urged DeWine to reject the bill.

According to the Journal, the group criticized the measure for “needlessly eliminating the post-election window” and imposing audits “that will drastically increase the number of provisional ballots.”

The coalition called DeWine to “veto this anti-democratic bill immediately, stand by his word, and reaffirm his commitment to Ohio voters.”

Senate Bill 293 was sponsored by state Sens. Andrew Brenner, R-Delaware, and Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green.

“Election day is election day for a reason,” Gavarone said. “Allowing ballots to be delivered days after the election does nothing but hurt the integrity and credibility of our elections.”

The bill would require all mail-in ballots to arrive by the time polls close, except for ballots from uniformed services personnel and overseas absentee voters. States like Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania have the same deadline.

“I am proud to team up with Senator Gavarone to sponsor this legislation,” Brenner said. “This legislation will ensure that Ohio is abiding by Federal election law and President Trump’s executive order.”

After both the Ohio Senate and the House approved the bill, DeWine has 10 days to decide whether to sign it.

The Journal claimed that the bill will also “give much greater weight to LaRose’s regular reviews of the voter rolls.”

“Not only does it require audits to occur monthly (despite federal law barring removals during a 90-day ‘quiet period’ before federal elections), but it also directs county boards to cancel a person’s registration without notice if the secretary determines the person isn’t a citizen,” the news source reported.