CLEVELAND — A steady stream of voters could be found passing by the outdoor Drop Box at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections on Monday, making sure their vote-by-mail ballots would be returned in time.
Folks like Debbie James Bohanon of Cleveland.
"I opened it up, and I looked at it Saturday, and I'm like, oh no, this is too late, I'm going to have to take it Downtown," she said.
That's because she knew the law had changed. No longer is it good enough to have your ballot postmarked by the day before the election and received by the Board of Elections within four days after. It now has to be received at your local BOE by the close of polls on Tuesday.
"If you have requested your absentee ballot and haven't returned it yet," said Secretary of State Frank LaRose. "It's too late to mail it at this point, but you can drive it down to the Board of Elections, you can drop it in that secure 24/7 Drop Box or bring it in during their open hours and submit it to the elections officials right there."
LaRose has been a supporter of drop boxes, which he called secure, but the man hoping to replace him as Secretary of State, Republican Robert Sprague, has advocated getting rid of them, saying they are not secure. Something Cuyahoga County Board of Elections Director Anthony Perlatti takes issue with is saying they're not only secure but play a vital role in the election process.
"People are so busy and have so many life happening moments, to be able to come down here 24 hours a day, seven days a week, put something that is under security camera, streaming camera, that bipartisan teams of employees go in to take to empty out the content. It's a great way to deposit your ballot."
LaRose says the decision on Drop Boxes will ultimately be up to the state legislature, not the next Secretary of State. Nevertheless, if it were up to him?
"I think they're fine the way that we do them, with the safeguards that we have in place," LaRose said.
Another upcoming debate is likely to center around the very future of no-excuse early voting, either in person or by mail, which President Donald Trump has endorsed eliminating.
"There's really only one benefit to that, and that is that it would be less cost and burden on the Boards of Elections because we keep them open for the four weeks leading up to Election Day," said LaRose. "It's not a security question, though, because in Ohio, the way we run early voting has the same security safeguards that exist on Election Day. You show up, you bring your photo ID, you prove that you are who you say you are, you cast your paper ballot."
"It's not a security question, it's really just a question of sort of utilization of personnel and cost for the Boards of Elections, and again that's a choice for the general assembly to make."
Early voting is something Ohio started after the 2004 presidential election, when hours-long lines at the polls and other issues drew national attention.
So, if we were to get rid of no-excuse early voting, would it not once again put a massive strain on the system?
"Oh, absolutely, if you got rid of absentee and early voting altogether, you would have to massively increase the polling locations and poll workers. It would be a change from what Ohioans have come to expect for the last few decades. I think that early voting is a valuable thing," said LaRose. "We can have an active debate about whether it should be two weeks or four weeks, but I believe that some period of early voting should continue."
Back at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, Debbie James Bohanon said she hopes that it's something that's always around.
"I have back issues, and standing in line is something that I really don't want to do."
