Buckeye Reporter

Buckeye Reporter recently reached out to Ohio State Rep. D.J. Swearingen for his opinion on proposed Election Integrity Reform legislation.

Last year, the Ohio legislature filed, but did not advance pieces of legislation focused on election reforms to the administration of elections in Ohio. Swearingen represents the 85th Legislative District of Ohio. He was first elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 2018. Swearingen did not respond to a request for comment on the proposed legislation.

Election Transparency Initiative Chairman Ken Cuccinelli previously told Buckeye Reporter in an interview that the Ohio State Legislature needs to pass election reforms in 2022, including a ban on ballot drop boxes and the practice of mass-mailing absentee ballot applications to voters who didn’t request them. 

“That the Ohio legislature and its governor were unable to come together in 2021 to pass many of the reforms badly needed to ensure secure, transparent and accountable Ohio elections wasn’t just disappointing—and downright unacceptable—but it was a profound disservice to so many other states who leaned bravely into the head winds of resistance determined to thwart election integrity," Cuccinelli told Buckeye Reporter. "Without delay, we urge the House and Senate to act on legislation to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat in Ohio elections."

A bill analysis for the previously filed Election Security and Modernization Act (HB 294) stated that the legislation would make several changes and reforms to the state’s election laws. The bill sought to automate the voter registration and verification system through the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles as well as modify the process for voter roll maintenance in addition to several other changes and clarifications related to voter identification, curbside voting, absentee voting and election administration. The bill failed to advance out of committee.

HB 387 sought to add a picture ID requirement for voting along with reforms to the absentee vote-by-mail process. This bill also failed to advance from the House Government Oversight committee.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said Ohio state law allows any absentee ballot postmarked no later than the day before the election to be received up to 10 days after Election Day, a practice the Election Transparency Initiative (ETI) believes should be limited to only late-arriving ballots from military members and overseas citizens from Ohio.

In 2020, nonprofit groups supporting President Joe Biden tried to expand ballot drop-box access in key Democrat strongholds, including Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Akron, Dayton and Toledo, as reported by NBC News. Their move was opposed by LaRose, who said the boxes would not be secure.

Ohio state law also still allows mass-mailing of absentee ballot applications by political groups, while states including Florida, Kentucky and Iowa have banned the practice. In 2020, a group calling itself the Center for Voter Information mailed filled out absentee ballot applications to thousands of Ohioans who did not request them, according to a report by WSYX-TV (ABC). 

One Columbus voter reported that "her roommate received two separate ballot applications, both addressed to his son, who has not lived in the home for seven years."