COLUMBUS, Ohio — The U.S. Division of Protection has signed off on Ohio’s request to permit elections officers to mail navy ballots as late as April 5 with expedited postage, Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s workplace introduced Friday.
The Protection Division’s approval of the adjustments got here simply in time, as Friday had been the deadline for navy ballots to be despatched out. Nonetheless, state lawmakers handed laws transferring that deadline again due to the Republicans’ ongoing battle with the Ohio Supreme Courtroom over redistricting.
Underneath the brand new legislation, Senate Invoice 11, Ohioans within the navy and different abroad voters will get a further 10 days the deadline for these ballots to be returned, if they’re mailed previous to the shut of polls on Could 3, Ohio’s main election day, LaRose wrote in a letter to Gov. Mike DeWine and legislative leaders.
Nonetheless, the date of the first stays up within the air after the Supreme Courtroom rejected GOP officers’ legislative redistricting proposal for a 3rd time on Wednesday. DeWine and legislative Republicans stated which means legislative primaries, no less than, received’t have the ability to be held on Could 3, although no plan has but been put ahead to handle that drawback.
Following the court docket’s ruling, LaRose — a Republican and a U.S. Army Special Forces Inexperienced Beret — ordered county elections officers to not mail any ballots regardless of the Friday deadline in state legislation, saying he was finalizing the cope with the Pentagon.
Nonetheless, LaRose added within the letter, “Even with this new delay brought on by the court docket’s resolution, I anticipate that it could possibly nonetheless occur properly upfront of the brand new April 5 deadline created by this settlement and SB11.”
