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Voting-reform bill due in Ohio

With turnout so very low during nonpresidential years, the state should be doing everything it can to encourage people to vote.

Ohio officials need to continue to uphold the integrity of the vote and make sure every valid ballot is counted.

The Republican-controlled state Legislature is expected shortly to introduce an election bill.

The bill hopefully will increase voting and not do the opposite.

I suspect one thing that will change is voter drop boxes.

The boxes didn’t exist in most counties until the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year. The U.S. Postal Service was having a variety of issues that resulted in delays. In-person voting for the primary was canceled, and a lot of people didn’t want to go to polling locations during the November election because of the virus.

The boxes were placed outside boards of elections and allowed voters to drop off their ballots any time they wanted. At some counties, including Mahoning County, people could pick up forms to register to vote and request a ballot be sent in the mail.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose limited the boxes to only outside boards of elections even though some counties wanted to provide secure boxes at other locations.

For example, Joyce Kale-Pesta, Mahoning County Board of Elections director, wanted them outside police stations in Austintown, Boardman, Canfield and Sebring that would have been lighted and monitored by security cameras. Trumbull election officials were happy with the one box outside the board office.

Even though a court ruled LaRose had the discretion to allow boards of elections to put the boxes anywhere, he continues to refuse that. He says he wants the legislature to pass a law giving him the authority to expand the number of drop boxes. But it’s obvious that’s not going to happen.

Cleveland.com is reporting the House plans to eliminate drop boxes, except during declared emergencies, while the Senate is looking to limit the number of boxes to one per county.

Meanwhile, state Reps. Michele Lepore-Hagan, D-Youngstown, and Bride Rose Sweeney, D-Cleveland, are proposing legislation requiring multiple secure drop boxes, based on geography, population and population density.

This bill doesn’t have a prayer of getting passed. But it seems to go too far as it requires “at least one drop box in each municipal corporation or township that has territory in the county, in each census designated place that has territory in the county and on the campus of each institution of higher education located in the county.”

Several boards of elections simply won’t have the personnel to go to each location daily to pick up the ballots. Also, what happens when polling locations close at 7:30 p.m? How will boards possibly be able to close those boxes at the end of voting? I assume they can add poll workers — one Republican and one Democrat — to stand at all of those boxes on election nights, lock the boxes and bring all of the ballots back to the board.

There has to be some middle ground. But with Republicans having super majorities in the General Assembly, a compromise is highly doubtful.

Hopefully, the Legislature will permit online ballot requests in the proposal because the existing law is ridiculous. Voters have to mail requests for absentee ballots, have them processed by the board, which then send a ballot through the mail. Voters then have to mail back those completed ballots.

Voting would be significantly easier if people could make those requests online and then have ballots sent to them.

Another item that would help — having the state provide postage-paid envelopes with absentee ballot applications — is likely a nonstarter for Republicans. The new proposal will include language that prohibits that from being an option, according to the Cleveland.com report.

The government can waste money on unimportant expenses, but they can’t spring for stamps to encourage people to vote.

It’s terribly disappointing.

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