By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
In the presidential election in 2024, more than 9,500 legitimate mailed-in ballots from Ohio voters showed up within the four-day post-election window. Those votes were counted as required under Ohio law.
But in the future, those votes cast by Ohio citizens will be discarded.
Senate Bill 293, sponsored by State Senator Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, requires all mail-in absentee ballots be delivered to the board of elections by close of polls on Election Day. The change goes into effect on March 19, 2026.
“With the signing of this law, Ohioans can be confident that the results they see on election night are the results,” Gavarone said in a press release. “By requiring ballots to be received and counted on Election Day, and verifying the registration of voters, Ohio will continue to be at the forefront of election security and efficiency.”
The bill requires all mail-in ballots to arrive by poll closing, with the exception of uniformed services and overseas absentee ballots. Thirty-four other states already require ballots to be in and counted on Election Day.
Gavarone’s press release noted that the legislation was signed by Gov. Mike DeWine last Friday. It failed to mention that DeWine explained he had “reluctantly” signed the bill, which will eliminate the grace period for absentee ballots. According to the Ohio Capital Journal, the governor pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court agreeing to hear a case out of Louisiana where the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a similar grace period.
“If it wasn’t for the Supreme Court issue, if it wasn’t for this case,” he said, “not only my inclination, but what I would have done, is I would’ve vetoed this.”
The governor expressed concerns about an adverse ruling landing late next summer, and the potential for different rules governing state and federal races.
DeWine said at least voters are now “on notice” about the changes, and despite his misgivings he came down on the side of certainty, “and to avoid what could have been a real mess in leading up to our election.”
However, the Ohio Voter Rights Coalition objected to that rationale. The group noted the changes in the bill “will drastically increase the number of provisional ballots, purge eligible voters from the rolls, and place an additional heavy burden on elections officials,” the coalition said.
“Instead of making Ohio’s elections more reliable for eligible voters to freely and fairly participate in our democratic processes,” the group stated, “Ohio’s leaders have decided they would rather continue to punish voters and leave valid ballots uncounted due to delays by the U.S. Postal Service.”
Earlier this month, the League of Women Voters of Bowling Green issued a public statement saying that Ohioans deserve a voting system that counts every valid ballot, not one that discards votes because of postal delays no one can control.
“That’s why we’re deeply concerned about Senate Bill 293, which would throw out absentee ballots that arrive after Election Day – even if they were mailed on time by eligible voters and properly postmarked,” Shar Katzner, president of the league in Bowling Green, stated in a letter to BG Independent News.
“Here in Bowling Green, our mail is sent to Detroit for sorting before coming back to us. This round-trip can take days or even weeks,” Katzner wrote. “Under SB 293, a voter who follows every rule could still lose their voice simply because their ballot took the long journey through Michigan and back. This isn’t election integrity – it’s voter punishment.”
“Gov. DeWine has said Ohio’s election system is already strong and doesn’t need more changes,” Katzner pointed out, asking that “lawful votes continue to count and protect the votes of everyday Ohioans – especially rural voters, seniors, people with disabilities, and anyone who relies on voting by mail.”
The legislation represents yet another shortening of the return timeline with each successive federal election.
In 2024, ballots postmarked the day before the election had four days to show up. In 2022, properly postmarked ballots had 10 days to arrive.
Thirty-four other states require voters to return absentee ballots by Election Day, but the push to pass S.B. 293 comes after threats from the Trump administration.
In a March executive order, the president reinterpreted federal statutes setting the date of elections to declare any ballots received after Election Day are invalid. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose told state senators the U.S. Department of Justice had already warned his office about a potential lawsuit.
League of Women Voters of Ohio Executive Director Jen Miller said reducing the timeline for returning ballots won’t improve election security, according to the Ohio Capital Journal.
“It simply erects more barriers to voting and punishes hard working Ohio tax paying citizens for something out of control, the speed of the mail service.”
Absentee ballots are often the most accessible choice for voters with disabilities, seniors, and active-duty military, Miller said. They also offer flexibility for Ohioans who work during regular business hours, she added.
But federal cost-cutting has slowed postal delivery.
In several parts of Ohio, Miller said, mail leaves the state for processing before getting delivered.
“We have, over and over again every election, ballots that were sometimes put in the mail two or three weeks before Election Day that just didn’t get there until the day after,” she said. “Those should count.”
And nothing is lost, Miller said, by allowing time for ballots to arrive, since county boards process provisional ballots for four days following the election.
State Sen. Bill DeMora, D-Columbus, testified that relying on an increasingly unreliable postal system is unfair to voters. He described how one of his staffers requested an absentee ballot more than two weeks prior to the election this past November.
It didn’t show up, and she wound up unable to vote.
But Gavarone pointed to the worsening delays in mail service as a reason to remove the grace period.
“Some people are talking about 14-day delays with the post office,” she said. “Well, a four-day grace period isn’t going to help you if there’s a 14-day delay, unless you get it in really early.”
