Current:Home > MyDemocrats challenge Ohio order preventing drop-box use for those helping voters with disabilities -AlphaFinance Experts
Democrats challenge Ohio order preventing drop-box use for those helping voters with disabilities
View
Date:2025-04-16 00:46:17
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Democratic Party and two affected voters sued the state’s Republican elections chief on Friday over his recent directive preventing the use of drop boxes by people helping voters with disabilities.
The lawsuit, filed at the Ohio Supreme Court, says Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s order violates protections for voters with disabilities that exist in state law, the state constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act.
“Frank LaRose’s illegal attempt to deprive Ohioans of their right to return their ballot at a drop box with assistance is in violation of both Ohio and federal law,” party chair Liz Walters said in a statement. “The Ohio Democratic Party alongside Ohioans impacted by LaRose’s illegal directive are taking every action necessary to protect the constitutional right of every Ohioan to participate in our democracy.”
LaRose issued the directive after a federal judge struck down portions of Ohio’s sweeping 2023 election law in July that pertained to the issue. The affected provisions had prohibited anyone but a few qualifying family members from helping people with disabilities deliver their ballots, thus excluding potential helpers such as professional caregivers, roommates, in-laws and grandchildren.
LaRose’s order allows those additional individuals to help voters with disabilities deliver their ballots, but it requires them to sign an attestation inside the board of elections office and during operating hours.
The lawsuit says those conditions subject absentee voters and their assistants to “new hurdles to voting,” and also mean that “all voters will be subjected to longer lines and wait times at their board of elections offices.”
A message was left with LaRose’s office seeking comment.
In his directive, LaRose said that he was imposing the attestation rule to prevent “ballot harvesting,” a practice in which a person attempts to collect and return someone else’s absentee ballot “without accountability.” That’s why he said that the only person who can use a drop box is the voter.
In the new lawsuit, the Democratic Party argued that federal law allows voters with disabilities to have a person of their choice aid them in returning their ballots, while Ohio law broadly allows voters to have certain, delineated family members do the same. “Neither imposes special attestation burdens to do so,” the lawsuit said.
veryGood! (9)
Related
- Krispy Kreme offers a free dozen Grinch green doughnuts: When to get the deal
- Stock market today: Asian shares advance ahead of US jobs report
- TikTok and Universal resolve feud, putting Taylor Swift, other artists back on video platform
- Rosie O'Donnell reveals she is joining Sex and the City spinoff And Just Like That...
- What were Tom Selleck's juicy final 'Blue Bloods' words in Reagan family
- Former Michigan House leader, wife plead not guilty to misusing political funds
- Dance Mom's Chloé Lukasiak Clarifies Comments About Envying JoJo Siwa
- The unexpected, under-the-radar Senate race in Michigan that could determine control of the chamber
- 3 years after the NFL added a 17th game, the push for an 18th gets stronger
- Pregnant Francesca Farago Shares Baby Names She Loves—And Its Unlike Anything You've Heard
Ranking
- Brianna LaPaglia Reveals The Meaning Behind Her "Chickenfry" Nickname
- Indianapolis police shoot male who pointed a weapon at other people and threatened them
- Proof Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky's Cutest Family Moments Are Always in Fashion
- Alabama court authorizes second nitrogen execution
- Elon Musk’s Daughter Vivian Calls Him “Absolutely Pathetic” and a “Serial Adulterer”
- Missouri Senate filibuster ends with vote on multibillion-dollar Medicaid program
- North Carolina congressional candidate suspends campaign days before primary runoff
- China highway collapse sends cars plunging, leaving at least 48 dead, dozens injured
Recommendation
Small twin
Ozzy Osbourne says he's receiving stem cell treatments amid health struggles
Why the best high-yield savings account may not come from a bank with a local branch
Pennsylvania man convicted of kidnapping a woman, driving her to a Nevada desert and suffocating her
Pregnant Kylie Kelce Shares Hilarious Question Her Daughter Asked Jason Kelce Amid Rising Fame
Police in riot gear break up protests at UCLA as hundreds are arrested at campuses across U.S.
Dodgers hit stride during nine-game road trip, begin to live up to expectations
Pregnant Francesca Farago Shares Baby Names She Loves—And Its Unlike Anything You've Heard