After weeks of pressuring the state to add more ballot drop boxes, the Ohio Democratic Party has filed a lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to allow county boards of election to install more.
Ohio Public Radio's Karen Kasler reports.
Ohio Democratic Party chair David Pepper says the goal of the lawsuit is to clarify whether the law limits each county to a single drop box at the board of elections, and he thinks it’s not too late to add more.
“My hope would be that we wouldn’t get caught in endless litigation. This is something that almost everyone is looking at agrees is simply pro-voter.”
Pepper says counties could use federal pandemic relief funds to add more drop boxes, because they reduce crowds at polling places, allow people with health concerns to vote from home and help with stress on the postal system. Secretary of State Frank LaRose had dropped his request for a legal opinion on the one per county drop box issue earlier this month, saying there wasn’t time to add more before early voting starts in October.
