Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

A Wisconsin do-over? Mail delaying ballots beyond Ohio's primary day

USPS worker

Due to Postal Service delays, some Ohio voters may not receive their absentee ballots in time for the primary election.

Scott Olson/Getty Images

Some Ohio voters will not receive ballots in time for Tuesday's delayed primary, which is supposed to be happening almost entirely by mail.

The Postal Service is mainly to blame, Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose said Thursday, although the problem has been compounded by the overwhelming flood of absentee ballot requests that county election boards have struggled to fulfill in time.

The primary will be the first in the country since Wisconsin's election April 7, and what happens in the next few days will determine if Ohio follows in those disastrous footsteps. Although more than 70 percent of the Wisconsin vote came in by mail, thousands risked coronavirus exposure to vote in person — many because, they said, their requested absentee ballots didn't get to them in time.


Ohio's original March 17 primary was scrapped the night before when the state declared a public health emergency. When the GOP-controlled Legislature rescheduled the election it said only the homeless and people with disabilities could vote in person.

By this week, 1.7 million Ohioans had requested a ballot. Four years ago, only 185,000 voted by mail in the primary and 1.2 million did so in the general election, or about one in five voters. (In normal circumstances, Ohioans applying to vote absentee do not need to provide an excuse.)

Saturday is the last day for Ohioans to request an absentee ballot for the primary, creating a nearly impossibly tight turnaround for election officials and postal workers.

First-class mail, which usually arrives in one to three days, is now taking a week or longer in Ohio, LaRose said in a letter to the state's members of Congress.

"As we approach the April 28 deadline to complete the election, we are faced with an

obstacle that is outside of our control," he wrote. "As you can imagine, these delays mean it is very possible that many Ohioans who have requested a ballot may not receive it in time."

Voters without an absentee ballot in hand by Monday may cast a provisional vote the next day at their county board of elections office. A week ago, LaRose instructed county officials to provide this option. But it's not clear how that will work with social distancing requirements in place and elections staff expecting relatively small numbers of voters.

Completed mail ballots must be postmarked by Monday night and arrive within 10 days in order to be counted, or they may be delivered Tuesday to the county offices.

For a glimpse of what could lie ahead, skeptics of Ohio's process are looking to Wisconsin.

At least 183,000 ballots, or 14 percent of all those mailed to voters, had not been returned or counted a week after the election. In addition, more than 11,000 requested mail ballots were never put in the mail, the state's elections board says.

In his letter, LaRose asked for congressional intervention to direct additional staff to Ohio USPS offices, pushed for the postal service processing facilities to stay open Sunday and asked for a thorough search of mail facilities to find unprocessed mail.

Voting rights advocates warned the Legislature that its plan would not provide enough time for the absentee voting process to be carried out completely, but their subsequent lawsuits were rejected. LaRose and GOP Gov. Mike Dewine advocated for extending the time for voting to June 2.

Read More

Stolen Land, Stolen Votes: Native Americans Defending the VRA Protects Us All – and We Should Support Them

Wilson Deschine sits at the "be my voice" voter registration stand at the Navajo Nation annual rodeo, in Window Rock.

Getty Images, David Howells

Stolen Land, Stolen Votes: Native Americans Defending the VRA Protects Us All – and We Should Support Them

On July 24, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked a Circuit Court order in a far-reaching case that could affect the voting rights of all Americans. Native American tribes and individuals filed the case as part of their centuries-old fight for rights in their own land.

The underlying subject of the case confronts racial gerrymandering against America’s first inhabitants, where North Dakota’s 2021 redistricting reduced Native Americans’ chances of electing up to three state representatives to just one. The specific issue that the Supreme Court may consider, if it accepts hearing the case, is whether individuals and associations can seek justice under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). That is because the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, contradicting other courts, said that individuals do not have standing to bring Section 2 cases.

Keep ReadingShow less
Trojan Horse: How CA Democrats Might Use Voter ID To Turn Back the Clock

Voter IDs are a requirement in almost every democracy in the world. But legitimate concerns over voter suppression efforts in the American south led to a different ethic inside Democratic Party circles.

Image generated by IVN staff.

Trojan Horse: How CA Democrats Might Use Voter ID To Turn Back the Clock

Voter IDs are a requirement in almost every democracy in the world from Europe to Mexico.

But legitimate concerns over voter suppression efforts in the American south led to a different ethic inside Democratic Party circles. Over time, Voter ID plans have been presumptively conflated with claims of “voter suppression” without much analysis of the actual impact of proposals.

Keep ReadingShow less
Person voting

New York City’s election has gotten a lot of attention over the last few weeks, and ranked choice voting is a big part of the reason why.

Hill Street Studios/Getty Images

New York City’s Ranked Choice Voting: Democracy That’s Accountable to Voters

New York City’s election has gotten a lot of attention over the last few weeks, and ranked choice voting is a big part of the reason why.

Heads turned when 33-year-old state legislator Zohran Mamdani knocked off Andrew Cuomo, a former governor from one of the Democratic Party’s most prominent families. The earliest polls for the mayoral primary this winter found Mamdani struggling to reach even 1 percent.

Keep ReadingShow less
Defend Democracy Against Bombardments on the Elections Front –A Three-Part Series
polling station poster on clear glass door

Defend Democracy Against Bombardments on the Elections Front –A Three-Part Series

In Part One, Pat Merloe explored the impact of the political environment, the need for constitutional defense against power-grabbing, and the malign effects of proof of citizenship on voting.

In the second part of the three-part series, Merloe explores the harmful effects of Executive Orders, the reversal of the Justice Department on voting rights, and the effects of political retribution.

Keep ReadingShow less