Lawsuits over the are making their way through the courts in Ohio, with anger flaring on both sides of what has become an increasingly partisan issue.
Ohio鈥檚 Democratic Party wants the secretary of state to allow more than one per county, while Republicans are pushing to keep things as they are.
Kelly Woodward with WKSU鈥檚 Election Protection team takes a closer look at the latest fray 鈥� and what it means for the health of democracy in Ohio.
鈥淚t kind of reminds one of what happens on a contested call of a football game," says John Green, the emeritus director of the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron.
According to Green, fighting over election procedures is nothing new.
鈥淭he partisans of both teams are absolutely sure that the ref is wrong or right and they have to go back and forth. The difference is we鈥檙e not having an argument after the play occurred. It鈥檚 before the game has started.鈥�
Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, acknowledges there iswhen it comes to Ohio鈥檚 election law on drop boxes. He maintains his allowing only one box per county is the right one -- that only the judiciary or legislature could change that. He says he鈥檚 also trying to avoid chaos and confusion this close to the election.
"To be clear, dropboxes are a great convenience, I鈥檇 love to see more of them if we had the legal authority to do it, we would have done it," says LaRose.
Democrats and voting rights advocates say LaRose has that legal authority but chooses to ignore it.
鈥淭o me, this is very apolitical," says C. Ellen Connally, a retired judge and a Democrat. She is a plaintiff in a to force an increase in the number of drop boxes.
Connally says that many people are afraid to vote in person during the pandemic and many also doubt that the postal service will deliver their ballots on time. She fears that low-income voters, in particular, do not have reliable transportation to get to the only drop box in Ohio鈥檚 largest counties, including Cuyahoga.
鈥淎nd this is what democracy is about, to have as many people as possible vote,鈥� says Connally.
A Franklin County Common Pleas judge agreed, ruling last week in a separate lawsuit filed by the Ohio Democratic Party that the secretary of state鈥檚 limit is
Following that, the Republican Party posted an inflammatory statement accusing that judge, a Democrat, of colluding with his party. That statement, in turn, triggered a scathing rebuttal from Republican Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O鈥機onnor.
In writing, she called her party鈥檚 attack disgraceful and deceitful and added in with Ohio Public Radio, "No matter how the judge ruled, to accuse them of partisanship is just at the heart of what I think are efforts to weaken the judiciary.鈥�
O鈥機onnor鈥檚 rebuke is actually a positive sign that the separation of powers is working well in Ohio, according to the University of Akron鈥檚 John Green. 鈥淭he job of a chief justice is to, in part, defend the integrity and independence of the judiciary and that鈥檚 what she was doing.鈥�
The irony, Green says, is that there is no way of telling if expanding drop boxes would actually benefit or hurt either party. 鈥淵ou know, one of the common effects of changing political rules, whether it鈥檚 by law or by custom, is that you get unanticipated results.鈥�
In the meantime, voters will have to wait to see if their voting options change. LaRose is appealing the Franklin County judge鈥檚 blocking of his 鈥渙ne drop box per county directive.鈥� Early voting begins in about two weeks.
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