COLUMBUS — Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose said Tuesday he’ll use a new tack with resistant state lawmakers to put paid postage on every Ohio ballot: funding it from his business services budget.
He said the “innovative solution” would make “every mailbox a drop box for millions of Ohioans.”
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Drop boxes have been seen as a key tool during the coronavirus pandemic for voters to deliver ballots without risking illness or U.S. Postal Services delays.
“If the controlling board approves our request, they will effectively be making every mailbox a drop box for millions of Ohioans, making it easier than ever to cast a ballot in a general election. No state [General Revenue Fund] or federal funds will be used to pay for it; instead we’re ready to take it out of my office’s own budget to get it done,” LaRose said.
He estimates the cost of the delivering absentee mail would not exceed $2 million.
LaRose’s $3 million request from the state Controlling Board comes as he faces criticism from Democrats and voting rights groups for a directive limiting the boxes to one per county.
The House Democratic Caucus Tuesday sent a letter to LaRose with a list of 16 requests, including allowing multiple secure drop boxes, paying return postage, keeping all polling locations open and creating a system for online absentee ballot application.
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LaRose on Tuesday announced that Mentor-based RB Sigma LLC is donating 463,500 surgical masks voters and poll workers to wear on Election Day.
Governor Mike DeWine’s statewide mask mandate requires all Ohioans to wear a mask at polling locations, including voters, though LaRose has said that voters who are not wearing masks will be offered masks or alternative methods of casting their ballots, such as curbside voting, or will be allowed inside the polling place to vote at a machine.