DeWine told reporters that he thinks the grace period — which allows mail-in ballots to be counted in state and federal elections as long as they arrive within four days post-election and are postmarked at least the day before the election — is “reasonable” and “makes a lot of sense.”
“I normally would veto a repeal of this four-day grace period, and frankly, that’s what I wish I could do,” DeWine said.
He explained that he felt handcuffed by scheduling considerations. The Supreme Court of the United States opted to pick up a case on whether it’s constitutional to accept federal ballots after Election Day, and DeWine said the case likely wouldn’t be decided until June, one month after Ohio’s May 2026 primary and about four months before its November general election.
DeWine said a June court decision finding Ohio’s grace period to be unconstitutional would cause Ohio’s elections to be “chaotic.”
That series of events would see May’s primary include a grace period but not November’s general election. Or, if the state wanted to keep its grace period for November’s general election, Ohio would have to create two separate ballots, one for state issues, which could use the grace period, and one for federal issues, which could not.
DeWine also said the timing of the court’s decision, should it come against the state, would leave the legislature with little time to tweak its election rules to become compliant with federal law.
DeWine’s reasoning echoes that of Republican legislative leaders. It hasn’t held much water with state Democrats.
“There is no federal law that is being violated. There is a court case that is being reviewed by the Supreme Court that may or may not (impact us),” Rep. Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, told her colleagues on the House floor just before S.B. 293 passed. “Why are we preemptively changing state law for a process that works? For a process that is popular with all Ohio voters? Not just my constituents, but your constituents.”
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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
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