(C) Ohio Capital Journal
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Ohio Republican senators propose eliminating drop boxes, requiring proof of citizenship for voting • Ohio Capital Journal [1]
['Nick Evans', 'Alex Burness', 'Marty Schladen', 'Susan Tebben', 'More From Author', '- April', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline']
Date: 2025-04-11
Two Republican Ohio state senators want to eliminate drop boxes for absentee ballots and require Ohioans to show proof of citizenship to vote.
The proof-of-citizenship requirements trigger when voters register or update their existing registration. So, registered voters won’t notice any changes until they update information to reflect changes like a new name or address. If everything goes smoothly, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles will already have citizenship documentation on file. But if not, county boards of elections will start sending notices, and pretty soon prosecutors could get involved.
If a voter doesn’t respond to a pair of notices sent over the course of four weeks, the secretary of state must cancel their registration and refer the case to the attorney general. The same goes for voters who proactively cancel their registration after receiving the notice. Ditto if they vote provisionally and then fail to provide citizenship documents within four days of the election.
Similarly, if a county board receives a registration form from someone who’s ineligible — even in error — the board must refer the case to the county prosecutor.
In the name of security, the measure also eliminates ballot drop boxes and codifies an attestation form requirement for anyone dropping off another person’s ballot.
Sponsors’ case
State Sen. Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, told a committee, “It’s simple.”
“If you’re a citizen, you can provide proof of your citizenship, you can vote in our elections — it’s really that easy,” she said.
And in many cases verifying citizenship will be simple. But if the BMV doesn’t have the correct information — for instance, because of a name change through marriage or divorce — voters could be sent scrambling.
A University of Maryland study suggests more than 21 million Americans don’t have up-to-date citizenship documents on hand. Asked what documents would qualify, Gavarone herself stumbled and didn’t mention naturalization certificates. In the case of name changes, the bill requires an underlying proof of citizenship document as well as a marriage license or court order.
Her cosponsor, state Sen. Andrew Brenner, R-Delaware, argued “ballot drop boxes are a major weakness in our elections, as they allow for anyone at any time, to tamper with ballots.” He pointed to a handful of ballot drop boxes firebombed in the Portland, Oregon area. In one case, hundreds of ballots were destroyed. In another, a fire suppression system saved all but three ballots.
But both sponsors overstate the threats they’re addressing while papering over the harms their legislation could cause. For example noncitizen voting is extremely rare, so it’s hard to see what problem the lawmakers were trying to fix with the proof-of-citizenship requirement.
Gavarone argued a recent Pew study showed “90% of Americans support a citizenship requirement to vote,” and lamented that “sadly, we have groups who think this isn’t necessary, or some who believe that we should allow noncitizens to vote.”
But that study didn’t ask about requiring proof of citizenship, and its results do more to undermine Gavarone’s allegation about some people wanting to allow noncitizens to vote. Far from pointing to support for noncitizen voting, Pew pollsters found 90% of respondents said it’s very or somewhat important to stop it from happening. Although Trump voters put more emphasis on the issue, 85% of those who supported Democratic candidate Kamala Harris said it was important to them.
Pressed to identify examples of damage to Ohio drop boxes, Brenner’s biggest complaint was people throwing trash in with ballots. But he warned that could spoil votes, too.
“The point is, if you put all your eggs in one basket,” Brenner said, “they have potential to be destroyed.”
Paid circulators
In addition to pushing back on proof of citizenship and drop box changes, Democrats on the committee seemed skeptical about a provision requiring a special badge for paid signature gatherers.
State Sen. Willis Blackshear, D-Dayton, asked if organizers should be punished because a canvasser lost a badge. State Sen. Bill DeMora, D-Columbus, asked how they expect to police it for small-scale campaigns like liquor options.
Brenner acknowledged liquor issues might not ruffle feathers but argued “having that paid circulator notification a badge to show that you are one, I think that that can prove that, hey, this could be an outside group influencing peoples,’ you know maybe, ideas of what is being put on the ballot. And I think that is an important transparency factor.”
Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on X or on Bluesky.
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