MANSFIELD — Richland County Board of Elections Director Matt Finfgeld didn’t try to downplay the potential impact of a new state law requiring voters to show a photo ID before casting a ballot.
“It’s going to be a big change,” said Finfgeld, who was in Columbus on Thursday with Deputy Director Jane Zimmerman at the Ohio Association of Election Officials winter conference.
“We are still digesting the changes ourself. We have a class on it later today on what all it will effect,” he said during a conference lunch break.
“These are some huge changes that are going to require a lot of educating the public,” he said of the new law, which has already been challenged in federal court.
The biggest change comes in how voters prove their identity at the polls. Ohioans will no longer be able to use utility bills, bank statements, government documents or other forms to prove their identity and cast their vote.
A photo ID such as a driver’s license, state-issued ID card, military ID or passport will be required, beginning with the May 2 primary.
Finfgeld and Zimmerman said 98 percent of Richland County voters who participated last November used photo ID cards. But that means about 2,120 used something else — which won’t be enough in May.
The new law also makes other changes, including:
— shortening the deadline to apply to cast absent voters’ ballots by mail from noon on the third day before Election Day to the close of business on the seventh day before Election Day.
Supporters said this will ensure adequate time for applications to be processed and that voters do not unintentionally disenfranchise themselves by procrastinating too close to Election Day.
Finfgeld and Zimmerman agreed with that change.
“(Under the old law), the chances of us getting that (last-minute) absentee ballot back by mail was slim,” Finfgeld said. “We would mail it out, but then we have no control over it.
“It makes sense that voters have more time to get that ballot in the mail.”
— eliminated early voting on the Monday before Election Day, another change the two local elections leaders said was positive. Supporters said it allows local elections officials more time to prepare for Tuesday elections.
The bill provides discretion to the Secretary of State to reallocate those six hours of early in-person absent voting previously available by adding hours on Monday through Friday of the preceding week.
— eliminated August special elections.
— prohibits the Secretary of State and county election boards from pre-paying return postage on ballots.
— Prohibits curbside voting, except for those with disabilities.
— Limits ballot drop boxes to one per county, on board of elections property.
As expected, the new law has been challenged in court. Several organizations in Ohio joined together to file a lawsuit against the state, saying the new law “imposes needless and discriminatory burdens on Ohioans’ fundamental right to vote.”
“The Challenged Provisions are a solution in search of a problem. No one seriously disputes that Ohio’s elections are secure. (Secretary of State Frank) LaRose has repeatedly celebrated the state’s election system as the gold standard in America and made clear that fraud is exceedingly rare.
“He lauded the execution of the 2020 and 2022 elections as fair, accurate, and a model for other states to follow. Even (Ohio) Senator Theresa Gavarone, one of HB 458’s staunchest supporters, concedes that Ohio performed well in its execution of the 2020 election.
“Nonetheless, members of the Legislature have pressed on in their efforts to restructure the state’s election system in ways that make it significantly harder for lawful voters — particularly young, elderly, and Black Ohioans, as well as military servicemembers and other Ohioans living abroad — to exercise their fundamental right to participate in the state’s elections,” according to the complaint.
