Ohio Voter Guide: The do's and don'ts of absentee voting

Those of you who are already registered to vote, should have received an absentee request form in our mailbox from Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

Now, the good news is, filling things out isn’t difficult. However, there are a number of things people happen to miss every election, which in turn could cause their ballot request to be denied.

Lucas County Board of Elections, Deputy Director Tim Monaco said these are the most common mistakes he sees each year:

• Forgetting to mark date of birth
• Forgetting to sign 
• Incorrect or outdated voter address or voter name (if these don't match what's on file, your request could get denied)

Monaco said the best thing voters can do is simply read the instructions. Review your ballot request to make sure you’ve filled it out properly, including writing the right date, providing your required identifying information, and signing the form. 

Here are some other ideas from Secretary of State LaRose.

• Include your e-mail and/or phone number. For the first time in a general election, county boards of elections will be calling or e-mailing voters who may need to fix information. So, including your contact information will make sure you can be reached if your ballot request doesn’t have everything filled out correctly.
• Don’t wait. Because of processing at the county board of elections and the time necessary for the postal service deliver elections mail
• And Track your ballot at VoteOhio.gov/Track

LaRose suggests getting those requests in no later than Oct. 27. You can send them back to your county board of elections by mail or by dropping it off in the designated ballot drop box.

If you did everything correctly, you should eventually receive your real ballot and, again, make sure everything is filled out, where it is supposed to be and it is signed. 

Then, you ship it back the same way: by mail or drop box.

If you are mailing your ballot, it needs to be postmarked for Nov. 2 and received by the B.O.E. by no later than 10 days after the election. If you are dropping it in the drop box it needs to be there 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3.

Absentee voting is nothing new to Ohio, and state leaders have put a number of safeguards in place to ensure a fair election.

Here are a few of the safety measures taken by the state, according to LaRose's office:

• Voter identification and signature are checked twice during the process
• Voter list maintenance allows for accurate voter rolls
• Voters able to track their ballot on VoteOhio.gov/Track
• Ballot harvesting is against the law in Ohio

Monaco said his team checks everything; voters sign on both their application and their ballot and the board of elections compares those signatures.

They also compare forms of identification. If they find inconsistencies, they flag it. 

But, what if a person tries to vote both by mail and in person?

Monaco explained that when a person requests an absentee ballot, whether or not it has been returned, they are put in the system as an absentee voter.

If that person shows up on Election Day and tries o vote, the poll worker will see that they have already requested an absentee ballot. 

That person will still be able to vote, however, they will not be permitted to use the machines. Instead, they will vote using a provisional ballot, which are only counted after all the absentee ballots are tabulated. 

If at that point, the board of elections finds you have tried to vote twice, one will be rejected. The board can then choose to refer to the prosecuting attorney as double-voting is a violation of election law.

What about drop boxes?

And although questions have repeatedly popped up over the safety of the election drop boxes, LaRose says they are safe to use.

According to his directive, every day, at least one Republican and one Democratic member of the local board or staff retrieve, together, the boxes' contents. Those boxes also have to be monitored 24/7.

For the first time in a general election, every Ohio county has one.

Generally, ballot harvesting is when a third party tries to collect your vote and turn it in, in your place.

In states where the practice is legal, volunteers or campaign workers can go directly to a voter's home, collect the completed ballots and drop them off in one big haul at polling places or election offices.

Supporters of ballot harvesting say it’s meant to expand access to voting, particularly for seniors and those who are disabled.

Some states have loosened their restrictions in recent years, like California. In 2016, the state expanded its ballot collection program to allow any person — not just a relative —  to collect and return an absentee ballot.

But, critics of the practice say that in states like California, without restrictions on who exactly can turn in someone else’s ballot, a third party could take advantage of the situation by tampering with the ballots or throwing them away.

Take North Carolina for example, two years ago during its 9th Congressional District race, Republicans there were criminally charged for illegal ballot collecting and the state had to have a second election after witnesses testified to tampering with ballots.

Ballot harvesting is not legal in the state of Ohio, but there are a few close relatives who are legally able to send in a ballot for you.

Ohio Revised Code 3509.05 defines those specific people as the following:

• Spouse
• Father
• Mother
• father-in-law
• mother-in-law
• grandfather
• grandmother
• brother or sister of the whole or half blood
• son
• daughter
• adopting parent
• adopted child
• stepparent
• stepchild
• uncle
• aunt
• nephew
• niece

For more information on Ohio elections, click here.

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