With Ohio’s primary election just weeks away, last night a group of registered voters along with the League of Women Voters of Ohio and the Ohio A. Philip Randolph Institute filed suit against the Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, complaining that the “cumbersome” vote-by-mail process adopted due to the coronavirus pandemic risks shutting out voters. The primary election will be conducted entirely by mail, with an exception for voters with disabilities who need special assistance and those who do not have a home mailing address.
Represented by the ACLU of Ohio, Dēmos, and the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights, the groups are requesting several changes be adopted, most notably that the court order a new, later election date to allow the state more time to prepare for an all mail ballot election. Signed into law last Friday, COVID-19 relief bill House Bill 197 set the Ohio Primary election for April 28, leaving just a month for the secretary of state to implement an all mail-in voting system.