Absentee Ballots

A direct mail company hired to print and distribute absentee ballots to Ohioans who requested them has not been able to get them to voters as fast as was promised.

The Franklin County Board of Elections Director Ed Leonard says a nearly 10-year old scanner is to blame for ballots mailed out Monday to the wrong addresses.  The Board and the contractor who supplied the scanner are still working to determine the scope of the problem, but voter rights groups have a message to people who are new to filling out mail-in absentee ballots: Read The Instructions. Advocates say there are several ways a voter can get tripped up which is why it's important to send the ballot in early. Statehouse correspondent Andy Chow reports.    

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has issued a directive for the Franklin County Board of Elections in order to fix the mistake of sending wrong ballots to voters. The scope of the problem is yet to be determined. But election officials say this creates an important lesson for voters around the state. Statehouse correspondent Andy Chow reports.

A state appeals court has ruled Republican Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose does not have to allow people to request absentee ballots online. 

More than 1.8 million Ohioans have requested absentee ballots.

Ohio Democrats continue to outpace Republicans in absentee ballot applications. Ohio Public Radio's Karen Kasler has the latest figures.

The U.S. Senate has passed a resolution committing to a peaceful transition of power if President Trump loses the November election, after Trump suggested he might claim voter fraud based on absentee ballots and refuse to leave office. 

President Trump has falsely claimed for months that mail-in ballots are unreliable and easily to rig, but Ohio Republicans say that's not the case.

1.8 millon Ohio voters have requested absentee ballots, more than twice the number at this point four years ago. Democratics are seizing the opportunity to vote early by mail, while Republicans are pulling back from that option. Ohio Public Radio's Karen Kasler reports.

Absentee ballot applications in Ohio are approaching all-time records. And in most counties, applications from Democrats are leading those from Republicans. 

The Franklin County judge who ruled Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has the authority to order more ballot drop box locations granted a preliminary injunction to allow county boards of election to install them 

The Ohio Democratic Party is asking the Franklin County judge who issued a ruling allowing for additonal ballot drop boxes to take action against the Ohio Republican Party.

The leader of Democrats in the Ohio House is blasting a Republican controlled panel of lawmakers for its decision to deny a request by the Republican Secretary of State to pay for postage on mail-in ballots.

Columbus and Franklin County officials have a simple message for the central Ohio electorate - vote early.

For more than a decade, Ohio voters have had several options for casting ballots.

Ohio voters who want to mail in their ballots might be concerned when they hear about recent changes made by the U.S. Postal Service or when they read President Trump’s Twitter feed.

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.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio has filed a lawsuit against Ohio’s Secretary of State over the way county elections boards handle signatures on ballots and ballot applications.