Advocacy Update from LWVO dated 11/21/25.

SB 293 passed by the General Assembly—now we push Gov. DeWine for a veto:  On Wednesday [11/19/25], the Ohio legislature passed Senate Bill 293, another unnecessary and harmful election law that hurts Ohio voters. This bill would throw away thousands of valid absentee ballots mailed on time from eligible Ohio voters—worse, at the last minute lawmakers threw in parts of SB 153 to make voter registration and election administration more onerous. 

Right now, absentee ballots that are mailed and postmarked by the Monday before Election Day are counted as long as they arrive within four days. SB 293 takes those four days away from voters. If SB 293 becomes law, thousands of legal ballots from eligible voters could be rejected because of the post office, not the voter. 

This change would especially hurt Ohio seniors, voters with disabilities, rural voters, college students, and working Ohioans who depend on voting by mail. It does nothing to make our elections more secure, it only makes our elections less accessible.

SB 293 also skimmed provisions from SB 153 that will result in more Ohioans mistakenly having their voter registration cancelled and dramatically increase the rate of provisional ballots, as well as make election officials’ work more burdensome with no new resources given to support them. 

But Governor DeWine can still stop it from happening with a veto, and he needs to hear from us. He has repeatedly said he did not think any additional election law was needed after HB 458, so let’s remind him of that. 

Here are some talking points for your call:

• · Taking away the 4-day absentee ballot acceptance window would especially hurt Ohio seniors, voters with disabilities, rural voters, college students, and working Ohioans who depend on voting by mail and don’t have easy access to their county Board of Elections’ drop box.
• · Punishing eligible voters who did everything right by getting their votes in on time but had the bad luck to be on a slow mail route is wrong
• · Taking away the 4-day absentee ballot acceptance window does nothing to make our elections more secure, it only makes our elections less accessible.
• · Many voters are likely to be mistakenly flagged as ineligible due to simple clerical errors with the requirements in SB 293, which will not only cancel voter registration for eligible voters it will result in more provisional ballots, more work for Boards of Elections, longer lines on Election Day
• · Adding all of these administrative responsibilities onto election workers without providing additional resources is an unfair, unfunded mandate
• · Forcing local Boards of Elections to waste time and money with continuous monitoring of these different databases takes election officials away from their real work of maintaining secure elections and helping voters. 

Call Gov. DeWine and urge him to VETO Senate Bill 293. He has 10 days from when the bill is passed to decide what to do, but he could sign it any minute so we need to act quickly. No one should lose their vote because of slow mail or a clerical error.

Contact info for the governor: Main office # 614-644-4357

# # # # # # #

Advocacy Update from LWVO Dated 10/31/25

HJR 2: Applies to Congress for a Convention of the States | HJR 2 seeks to have Ohio apply for a convention of states to propose amendments to limit the power of the federal government. Under Article V of the U.S. Constitution, Congress is required to hold a constitutional convention if two-thirds of state legislatures (34 states) call for one. If a Convention is called, there are no rules, guardrails, or protections of our basic civil liberties–this represents an extreme threat to our freedom, rights, and democracy.

HJR 3: Apply for Convention of the States regarding term limits | Like HJR 2, HJR 3 seeks to have Ohio apply for a convention of states; the purpose would be limited to proposing an amendment to the US Constitution limiting congressional terms of office. But again, the convention itself is bound to no rules, so Ohio lawmakers would have no control over what could happen if a convention was unleashed.

• LWVO position: We oppose HJR 2
• Bill status: In the Government Oversight Committee; has heard proponent testimony; has had 2 hearings
• Bill documents: here

 # # # # # # #

SB 4:  Create Election Integrity Unity; revise election law prosecution | SB4  would increase the authority and capacity of the Secretary of State to investigate and refer allegations of election fraud and voter suppression. This would concentrate power and increase capacity to one person in a highly partisan office. This would also complicate the work of elections officials in ways that can't be understood until the impact of the Date Act, HB74, and federal executive orders will have on elections.

# # # # # # #