A Republican-backed bill that moves up the deadline for absentee ballots to be received by boards of elections passed the Ohio Senate on a mostly party line vote.
Senate Bill 293 gets rid of the four-day grace period following election day that voters now have for their ballots to arrive, but carves out an exception for military and overseas voters. Sen. Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green), a joint sponsor of the bill, said that will "ensure a timely and accurate election process".
"We've heard from opponents who have said that ending this four day period after the polls close will hurt voters and cause long lines at the polls. This argument fails to account for the month of early voting that Ohioans have," Gavarone said on the Senate floor. “This bill does not change early voting. Ohioans have the right to vote, and we want all valid votes to count. And the process needs to be done on election day.”
The bill's other joint sponsor, Sen. Andrew Brenner (R-Delaware), noted that most states require absentee ballots to arrive by election day.
“Before we hear that this is taking away rights of people—it isn’t," Brenner said. "Actually we're kind of in the middle of the pack now and actually joining 34 of our other states in doing this. This is right. The vote should be counted on election day. The absentee ballots should be in by election day."
Democrats were opposed, including Sen. Bill DiMora (D-Columbus). He said 10,000 ballots would have been tossed out last year if this bill had been law then.
“What this bill does is, it silences voters. It throws out legal ballots that have always been counted before. And it disenfranchises Ohioans who do absolutely nothing wrong," DiMora said.
DiMora added: "This is about appeasing a base that still refuses to accept the 2020 election results. It's about kowtowing to a president who thinks he can bully states into submission."
Sen. Willis Blackshear (D-Dayton) said the bill will disenfranchise voters who rely on the mail, including people who are elderly, disabled or live far from their county board of elections office.
"This bill accounts for none of those concerns while jeopardizing the accessibility of voting in our elections," Blackshear said. "This bill also fails to solve any real problem. The bill's sponsors mentioned voter fraud multiple times during testimony and during questions, but failed to provide any evidence or solid reasoning as to how this bill would prevent any potential voter fraud."
Sen. Bill Blessing (R-Colerain Twp.) was the only Republican to vote against the bill, which now goes on to the House.
