Columbus, Ohio — A federal judge has upheld as constitutional provisions the sweeping election law Ohio passed last year, rejecting a Democratic law firm’s challenge to strict new photo ID requirements, curbs on drop-off boxes and tightened deadlines on absentee ballots. and provisional ballots.
In a ruling Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Donald Nugent determined that the new state photo ID requirement “imposes no more than a minimal burden on the vast majority of voters.”
Nugent also rejected other claims from the Elias Law Group, whose lawsuit was filed last year on behalf of groups representing military veterans, teachers, retirees and the homeless, arguing that the law imposed “unnecessary and discriminatory burdens” on voting rights.
The suit was filed the same day Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed the legislation over the objections of voting, labor, environmental and civil rights groups that had advocated for a veto.
The judge wrote that voters have no constitutional right to an option to vote by mail – or, for that matter, to early voting. He added that Ohio’s new schedule for obtaining and returning absentee ballots remains more generous than that of 30 other states.
He said the claim that limiting polls to a single location harmed voters was misplaced because the 2023 law was the first state law to even allow it.
While that was true, Republican lawmakers’ decision to implement a one-drop box limit per county followed a years-long battle over the issue.
Ahead of the 2020 election, three courts blasted Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose for issuing an order setting the single-box limit, calling it unreasonable and arbitrary. Democrats and voting rights groups had tried to set up drop boxes in multiple locations, especially in densely populated counties, to facilitate voting during the coronavirus pandemic.
In a 2020 lawsuit filed by Democrats, an appeals court ultimately ruled that LaRose had the power to expand the number of drop boxes without further legal authorization, but that he did not need to. In codifying its single-box limit, this issue was addressed for the first time in the 2023 law.
But Nugent said opponents of the law failed to make a compelling argument.
“Simply put, plaintiffs have presented no evidence that HB 458’s dropbox rules imposed any burden on Ohio voters, let alone an ‘improper’ burden,” he wrote.
Derek Lyons, president and CEO of Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections, a group co-founded by Republican strategist Karl Rove, praised the ruling in a statement.
“RITE is very proud to have helped defend Ohio’s important and common-sense election law,” he said. “With Ohio courts affirming the new law, voters can rest assured that Ohio elections are an accurate measure of their will.”