Ohioans face more restrictions at polling places this fall

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By Mariah Alanskas/Kent State NewsLab

Ohioans will face new restrictions at the ballot box this November, including new rules surrounding voter identification and drop box usage, and shortened deadlines for absentee ballots and early voting.

While these restrictions can affect all Ohio voters, voting rights advocates say they could disproportionately impact voters with disabilities, college students and voters who haven’t cast ballots in several years, including those listed within the recent Ohio voter purge, where around 160,000 “inactive” voters who hadn’t voted in 4 consecutive years were removed from voter registration without being notified.

House Bill 458, which introduced many of these rules, took effect in April 2023. But these laws may present a prominent issue for the first time in November’s election, said Greer Aeschbury, a senior campaign manager for “All Voting is Local,” a nonpartisan organization that works to educate and expand voter access across eight states, including Ohio.

While many of these changes have been in effect since 2023, they will affect some voters for the first time this fall, since November elections — especially presidential elections — generally see greater turnout than special and off-year elections.

“The people who voted [in August] are usually the most informed voters in Ohio. They’re the ones who follow the news and know what’s going on with the new voter ID laws,” Aeschbury said.

Voter limitations and their effect

The new requirements could disproportionately affect people like absentee voters who live out of state, Ohio college students, voters with disabilities and those without knowledge of the new voting laws and requirements.

According to Aeschbury, All Voting is Local expects to see an increase in voters being turned away from the polls this November due to expired or unacceptable IDs compared to 2023’s special and local elections.

The only forms of ID that are accepted now are an Ohio driver’s license, an Ohio state ID, interim identification form (which the BMV must provide for free upon request), a U.S. passport or a U.S. military ID.

IDs that are no longer accepted include expired IDs, a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, other government document, a concealed carry permit or a student ID —  all of which were accepted in the 2020 presidential election.

“The ID laws impact everyone, no matter who you are,” Aeschbury said. “But, they particularly impact people who are least likely to have current Ohio IDs, like college students, disabled and elderly Ohioans, along with people of color.”

This can especially affect college students who only have a student identification card as their real ID and may not be able to easily get an Ohio ID.

Kent State University junior Adriana Dentici, an out-of-state student from Pittsburgh, says she wanted to vote in Ohio this year and thought about getting an Ohio ID, but missed the registration deadline for Ohio voting. Instead, she is casting a mail-in ballot in her home state.

“Honestly, I’m surprised with how short [the deadline] was,” Dentici said. “I feel like a lot of people didn’t know you needed it in 10 to 15 days before and I think that that definitely plays a big factor in [why I’m voting in Pennsylvania.]”

HB 458 also limited ballot drop boxes to one site per county, and ballot drop boxes can only be used during the board of election’s open hours. 

And HB 458 required that people who need assistance with physically dropping their ballots in the provided boxes, or returning their absentee ballots — including elderly voters or those with disabilities — could only receive help from certain direct relatives: a parent, child, sibling, aunt, uncles, niece or nephew. They could not receive help from a caregiver, trusted friend, neighbor, grandchild or anyone else. 

After litigation, a federal judge ruled in July that this provision violated the rights of disabled people; people with disabilities can have anyone (except an employer or union representative) drop off their ballot. 

But now, following a directive from Secretary of State Frank LaRose, anyone returning a ballot on behalf of anyone else must fill out an attestation form inside the Board of Elections office.A lawsuit filed by the Ohio Democratic Party and two anonymous voters sought to reverse that directive, but it was shot down earlier this month. 

Anyone who returns another’s ballot not within the approved list or without filling out a form could be charged with a fourth-degree felony per HB 458.

For Trinity Meyers, founder of Kent State’s Diverse Disabilities club and a person with autism, these rules make voting feel “classist.”

“With all of these barriers, many disabled individuals are discouraged from voting altogether,” Meyers said. “If disabled individuals have to go through all these barriers just to vote, it feels as if America doesn’t want us voting.”

How to ensure your vote counts

Despite the laws and regulations that may limit a voter’s capability to vote—there are ways to ensure your ballot is counted this upcoming election.

“We are encouraging voters, especially those with disabilities, to plan their vote in advance of the general election, so that they can best be prepared to participate in the voting process and make sure that their vote is counted,” Muslat said.

While the early voting deadline has passed, you can request absentee ballot by the end of the business day today, Oct. 29. 

Absentee ballots can be turned in via mail with a postmark by Nov. 4, or returned in person either by the voter or one of the approved persons listed above by Nov. 5. 

According to Muslat and Aeschbury, when putting a voting plan together, consider the following:

• Check to see if your ID is an approved form, unexpired and contains your current address.
• If voting by mail, request your ballot immediately and turn it in as soon as possible, to avoid slow mail delivery.
• If voting in-person or via dropbox, confirm your polling location, if they have a dropbox and the accommodations they offer, if you require any.
• Call your local County Board of Elections with any voting questions or concerns.

If all else fails, provisional voting should be available on Election Day.

Although HB 458 changed the time to get your provisional ballot approved from seven to four days post-election day, provisional voting can be a good option if a voter forgets proper identification, changes their address of residency within 30 days before election day, or if a voter believes they are fully eligible to vote but are denied at the polls. 

According to Aeshbury, even if your provisional ballot is denied, it will count as your voter registration for the next election.

“A provisional ballot is really just a chance to double-check that you really are supposed to be voting, and that you’re qualified,” Aeschbury said. “You vote a ballot just like a regular, and then you fill out this provisional envelope that is put into a special box. Then after Election Day, the board of elections will go through and check each provisional ballot and determine whether that person was eligible to vote or not, and then count their vote accordingly.”

For more information regarding Ohio voting laws, visit the Ohio Secretary of State’s website.

This story was originally published by the Kent State NewsLab, a collaborative news outlet publishing journalism by Kent State students.

Editor’s note: This story was updated on Oct. 30 to correct an error in Adriana Dentici’s quote. The error does not change the meaning of the story.