COLUMBUS, Ohio—Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office is preparing to ask the Ohio Controlling Board next Monday for permission to spend $3 million to cover postage for Ohio voters who mail in their general-election ballot this November, according to a release from his office.
LaRose’s office is making the request after state lawmakers have stalled for months on his request to appropriate money to pay the cost of the 55-cent stamp each voter currently must buy on their own to send in their ballot. Due to the coronavirus crisis, LaRose – a Hudson Republican – has predicted the number of Ohioans who cast early votes could double to nearly half the electorate, or more than 4 million voters.
The $3 million would come from the secretary of state’s business services division, which has seen a jump in fee revenue from a record number of business filings since the rise of the coronavirus crisis, according to the release.
The actual amount LaRose’s office would need to pay to cover postage for mail-in ballots is likely to be about $2 million, the release stated, though his office is asking for permission to spend $3 million just in case.
It’s not the first time a state official has turned to the Controlling Board, composed mostly of state lawmakers, to make an end run around the full legislature. In 2013, then-Gov. John Kasich won approval through the board to expand Medicaid in Ohio, despite legislative opposition.
Elections officials are already planning to use federal coronavirus funding to send absentee-ballot request forms to every registered Ohio voter. LaRose previously said he hoped to use money from a second round of federal coronavirus aid to cover the cost of mailing the ballots themselves, though negotiations over a second aid package have stalled.
The Republican-controlled Ohio General Assembly previously gave LaRose permission to prepay postage for Ohio voters to mail in ballots for the state’s primary election, which was delayed from March until late April because of COVID-19 fears.
However, the Ohio House passed a bill in June prohibiting LaRose from providing voters with postage-paid envelopes along with their ballot applications and blank ballots for the Nov. 3 general election. That legislation, House Bill 680, is currently pending in the Senate.
Legislative Democrats have urged LaRose to cover the cost of mailing in both absentee-ballot requests and the ballots themselves for the general election.
Democrats have also pushed LaRose to allow counties to set up more than one drop box for voters to submit absentee ballots in person, though the secretary of state has declined on the grounds that it’s too late to make the change this year.
LaRose’s announcement was made the same day that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced that the U.S. Postal Service will suspend planned reforms, including eliminating overtime for postal workers, restricting certain deliveries, and dismantling some mail-sorting machines.
Democrats and other critics claim the moves are meant to suppress voter turnout by hamstringing the postal service’s ability to handle mail-in ballots.
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated, in error, that Summit County is offering postage-paid mail-in ballots for the general election. The county, like other counties, covered postage for the primary election earlier this year.
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