The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections will be allowed to collect ballots at a second location near the board鈥檚 headquarters, as Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose partially lifts a prohibition on plans to expand ballot drop-off locations.
LaRose did not approve a second part of the board鈥檚 plan: collecting ballots at six local libraries. In September, , citing lawsuits over his directive limiting counties to one ballot dropbox each.
, county board of elections staff would accept completed ballots in the parking lot of Campus International High School near East 30th Street and Chester Avenue.
This second location is just a block up the street from .
Ballot drop-offs would begin Oct. 13, and the hours would be the same as the board鈥檚 early in-person voting hours. Plus, the board would staff the second collection point from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 2 and Election Day, Nov. 3.
At a Wednesday afternoon meeting, Democratic members said the board should continue advocating for its original idea to collect ballots in libraries, too. Election officials must do more to relieve traffic around the board鈥檚 parking lot dropbox, they said.
鈥淛ust dictating to us and giving us one more location is not going to alleviate the issue that we know we鈥檙e going to have with the dropping off of ballots,鈥� said Democratic board of elections member Dave Wondolowski.
Republican members, who had joined Democrats in supporting the original plan last month, said they would follow LaRose鈥檚 guidance for now.
鈥淚t does continue to be my hope that before whatever kind of the drop-dead date is for us in a couple weeks, that we may get the authorization to have multiple drop-off locations,鈥� Republican board member Rob Frost said.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost鈥檚 office . Polster is overseeing a federal lawsuit over ballot dropboxes brought against LaRose by the A. Phillip Randolph Institute of Ohio and other voting groups.
Polster has not yet responded to the state鈥檚 filing.
The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections is not a party in that lawsuit, although Democratic board member Inajo Chappell offered testimony in the case. , Polster instructed LaRose鈥檚 office to work with the county to expand drop-off sites.
鈥淭he record shows that the Cuyahoga County board鈥檚 physical layout cannot accommodate the large number of voters who are expected to descend upon board headquarters at E. 30th and Euclid on Election Day and the days immediately before to access the dropbox in the middle of its parking lot,鈥� Polster wrote.
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