LUCAS COUNTY, Ohio — A Lucas County commissioner and the city of Toledo are filing a lawsuit against Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose to get more ballot drop boxes in Lucas County ahead of the November election.
Democrat Pete Gerken is suing Secretary of State Frank LaRose about his one ballot box per county rule. Currently, the only ballot drop box is outside One Government Center.
Gerken says the rule is unfair because Lucas County has a lot more people in it than others.
"How many people are going to drive to the government center? Summit Street is not great right now, public transportation doesn't work consistently; let's put boxes where the people are. It's a great Democratic value. It will be monitored, they'll be picked up. You'll be safe” said Gerken.
Gerken would like to see ballot boxes in easy to reach spots, like outside schools and fire stations.
"The law reads your Secretaries of State have the ability to allow for these things. Just use the power that you have to allow us to impact a local election" said Gerken.
WTOL also reached out to Lucas County Republican party spokesman Josh Cullin about the issue.
Cullin says, “Lucas County Democrats can't resist playing politics with our elections. We haven't heard a peep from them about election drop boxes until they decided to join the Ohio Democratic Party in a taxpayer-funded lawsuit regarding an issue they never seemed to care about before. Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose required a drop box to be implemented in every county, a proactive move to ensure voter access. This should be applauded, not shamelessly attacked by career politicians.”
A court date in Franklin County is set up Friday to see if more drop boxes will be added.