OHIO PRIMARY ELECTION VOTERS have until Tuesday, April 28th to vote in the extended Ohio Primary election. This after a last-minute order by the Ohio Director of Health closed all polling locations across the state on the regularly scheduled Election Day primary, March 17th. That left many election day voters unclear whether they will be allowed to exercise their right to vote. That was until the Ohio General Assembly passed an emergency measure allowing voting by mail be extended, and concluded by April 28th.
A lawsuit filed by the Ohio League of Women Voters and Ohio A. Philip Randolph Institute was unsuccessful in extending the election date further out to June 2, a date that had been floated by the Ohio Secretary of State which led to further confusion. The issue of lawsuits over elections is not unique to Ohio. The impact of these knee jerk decisions in the climate of COVID-19 is leaving voters, many of whom never voted by mail, scrambling to understand the process of how to obtain and cast a ballot in this primary election.
Community activists in Ohio have stepped forward and are helping get applications in the hands of would-be voters and using a virtual phone bank to call and encourage them to return their completed ballots back to the local board of elections. Reforms are necessary in order to transition Ohio to an all vote by mail system if the virus is still prevalent during the 2020 general election. Activists and voting rights advocates stand ready to help the state get it right.
