Before they adjourned for the Thanksgiving holiday last week, Republicans left an unwelcome surprise for Democrats and Ohio’s voting rights advocates in the form of Senate Bill 29, a bill which could disenfranchise thousands of Ohio voters.
SB 293 came out of nowhere. It was introduced in mid-October and the Republican majority — after holding a single public hearing — passed it in early November with no support from Democrats.
It is a far-reaching piece of legislation that will fundamentally change how Ohio’s elections are conducted. It would:
- End Ohio’s four-day grace period for mailed ballots. All absentee ballots would have to arrive by the time polls close on Election Day.
- Require proof of citizenship when registering to vote or updating a registration.
- If the Secretary of State’s office can’t confirm citizenship through existing records like those from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the person must bring documents to the polls or cast a provisional ballot.
- Order monthly checks of the statewide voter-registration database by the Secretary of State.
- Send monthly reports to county boards of elections listing voters who have died.
- Require election officials to challenge any voter flagged as a non-citizen on their driver’s license or state ID.
Republicans argued that speed in passing SB 293 was necessary because of a pending U.S. Supreme Court case out of Mississippi where it is likely the high court will end the grace period for ballots received after Election Day. Ohio, the Republicans said, is just getting ahead of the situation before it becomes an issue.
Ohio Public Radio’s Statehouse News Bureau reported that State Sen. Terry Johnson (R-McDermott) said there are plenty of early voting opportunities, so the grace period isn't needed.
"It's so easy to vote by mail,” Johnson said. “It's so easy to literally vote for a month before. I can personally guarantee you no one on this side of the aisle is trying to suppress the vote."
Voting rights groups strongly disagree.
“Shortening and then eliminating the window does nothing to enhance security — it just punishes voters for something they cannot control, the speed of the U.S. mail,” said Mia Lewis, associate director of Common Cause Ohio.
SB 293 is also a response to Donald Trump’s oft-repeated claim — which is completely unsubstantiated — that voting by mail opens the door to widespread fraud.
Republicans also say they are trying to prevent non-citizens from voting in Ohio elections, something so rare as to be nearly non-existent.
In September 2024, Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose referred the cases of 597 people to county prosecutors in Ohio for investigation for voting as non-citizens. In nearly all of the cases, county prosecutors said they didn’t have time or the resources to chase these people down.
So LaRose turned to his fellow Republican, Attorney General Dave Yost, to investigate the cases. Yost ended up securing indictments for six of the 597, charging them with voting illegally sometime between 2008 and 2020.
That’s six out of over 8 million registered voters in Ohio.
LaRose, Ohio’s chief elections officer, doesn’t buy into Trump’s rhetoric, saying there is no widespread voter fraud going on in Ohio. But he is a supporter of SB 293, and was the only proponent testifying in favor of it in the one and only public hearing,
“This is not a disruptive change,” LaRose said in the hearing. “Excluding overseas and military voters, fewer than 8,000 ballots were returned after Election Day in last year’s presidential election.”
But to the voting rights groups, one disenfranchised voter is one too many.
“This bill is just the latest in what we see as ‘death by a thousand cuts,’ ” Lewis said. “LaRose can very nonchalantly say this bill would have resulted in ‘only’ 8,000 or so ballots not being counted, but, first of all, 8,000 is a huge number when they are constantly complaining about the theoretical possibility of one non-citizen casting a ballot.”
The Ohio Voting Rights Coalition has mounted a digital campaign to put pressure on Gov. Mike DeWine to veto SB 293, using his own words on a piece of 2023 voting legislation against him.
“I believe that with the enactment of the new election integrity provisions of HB 458, the matter should be settled,” said DeWine, a lame-duck governor. “I do not expect to see any further statutory change to Ohio voting procedures while I am governor.”
Jill Del Greco, DeWine’s assistant director of media relations, told WVXU no decision has been made.
“Governor DeWine continues to review this legislation,” Del Greco said. “No decisions regarding next steps have been made at this time.”
Assuming SB 293 becomes the law in Ohio, there will be longer lines and wait times at polling places, the voting rights groups say.
“Voters who do not or are not able to ‘cure’ their provisional ballots within the four-day window would have their registrations canceled,” Lewis said.
"And, If they don't check in the intervening time, next time they go to vote they will discover they have been removed from the rolls.”
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