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Ohio Courts Consider Online Absentee Ballot Requests

A letter accompanying an absentee ballot form mailed out by the Ohio Secretary of State's office.
ANDREW MEYER
/
WKSU
A letter accompanying an absentee ballot form mailed out by the Ohio Secretary of State's office.

More than one million Ohio voters have already sent in applications to vote by mail. But the Secretary of State and the Democrats are in court over whether they can be submitted electronically.

On Friday, Ohio鈥檚 10th Court of Appeals blocked a ruling requiring the state to accept emailed and faxed absentee ballot applications. Earlier that day, a Franklin County judge said state law didn鈥檛 specifically prohibit online submissions. Presently, applications must be delivered or mailed.

Ohio Democratic Party chair David Pepper said Ohio already accepts online applications from overseas voters.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e already getting emails from other countries where Ohio voters send emails to request their ballots. So if the boards of elections in Ohio can accept emails from other countries, why in the world can they not also do it from Ohio itself?"

Ohio secretary of state Frank LaRose says the court鈥檚 original ruling on Friday could mean 鈥渙pen season for hackers to attack鈥 local boards of election.

Both sides must file responses by Sept. 23rd. 

Copyright 2021 WKSU. To see more, visit .

Afi Scruggs
Afi Scruggs is an award-winning writer/journalist and author who lives in Cleveland, Ohio. Her career started in 1983 as a freelancer in Richmond, Va. After that, she worked at newspapers in Washington D.C., Jackson, Miss., and Dayton, Ohio before settling in Cleveland.