Republican secretary of state candidates suggest eliminating ballot drop boxes

Republican candidates looking to succeed Secretary of State Frank LaRose expressed support for eliminating ballot drop boxes, while Democratic candidates and “voting rights” groups opposed the move.

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine “reluctantly” signed an absentee ballot-related bill last year, which eliminated the four-day grace period for absentee ballots to arrive at boards of elections.

On his office’s website, LaRose wrote that absentee voting is a “secure” option, but in a 2024 letter to Ohio lawmakers, he called on lawmakers to revisit a ban on ballot harvesting and possibly eliminate drop boxes, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague, who is currently running as a Republican to succeed LaRose, recently published an ad in which he pledged to eliminate the ballot drop boxes that are “just aren’t secure.” The ad also features a Sesame Street-like character called “Lefty the Cheat.”

“As Ohio Secretary of State, I’ll support President Donald Trump, I’ll ditch the drop boxes, and I’ll verify American citizenship for new voter registration,” he said in the ad.

Another Republican candidate in the race, Air Force veteran Marcell Strbich, also supported banning election drop boxes, suggesting ending no-excuse absentee voting and requiring people to vote only on paper ballots in one of his posts on X.

“How would you feel if this is your vote being burned in a drop box? OH legislature needs to prohibit drop boxes. No chain of custody, USPS doesn’t even date postmark,” he wrote.

How would you feel if this is your vote being burned in a drop box? OH legislature needs to prohibit drop boxes. No chain of custody, USPS doesn’t even date postmark. https://t.co/fWxhDE98FS

— Marcell Strbich (@marcellstrbich) October 28, 2024

However, voting rights groups opposed the proposition, saying that the drop boxes are a safe way to vote for the elderly, disabled, caregivers, college students, and people who are just too busy to go to the polls, The Dispatch reported.

Aaron Ockerman, executive director of the Ohio Association of Election Officials, told the news outlet that each Ohio county has one drop box located at its county board of elections, which is “monitored with video, fire- and bomb-proofed and emptied by members of two different political parties.”

“Ohio’s local election officials strongly support the use of drop boxes for Ohio voters. Despite unsubstantiated claims to the contrary, drop boxes are safe, secure and reliable,” he said.

Ockerman said that there is no evidence of ballots being damaged or stolen from Ohio drop boxes, adding that “Ohio already has strong ballot-harvesting laws and directives, which discourage and punish any potentially nefarious behavior.”

Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, also told The Dispatch that Sprague’s indirect claim that only Democrats will be negatively affected after removing the absentee ballot boxes is false.

“More Republicans than Democrats, generally, vote absentee in Ohio,” she told the Columbus newspaper. “And so, anyone who thinks that eliminating drop boxes only harms one set of voters is wrong. It harms senior citizens, people with disabilities, rural Ohioans and so many others who prefer to vote absentee.”

Democratic Secretary of State candidate Allison Russo went beyond opposing the abolition of drop boxes by introducing House Bill 761 to expand drop boxes to every polling location, with Sprague criticizing the bill.

According to The Dispatch, another Democratic Secretary of State candidate, Cincinnati cancer doctor Bryan Hambley, also supported Russo’s initiative.