Ohio panel has final say on whether to prepay ballot postage

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A proposal by Ohio’s elections chief to attach postage to every mail-in ballot in this fall's presidential election faces its last opportunity to fly Monday before it becomes logistically impossible.

Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose has run the request for funding through the powerful Controlling Board as a last-ditch effort, after a package of elections changes he proposed in May failed to gain traction in the full GOP-controlled Legislature.

In his latest effort, LaRose has the support of two former Ohio governors — Democrat Richard Celeste and Republican Bob Taft. The pair wrote a joint letter to committee members last week expressing strong support for ballot postage.

“Voting is not a Democrat or Republican issue — it's an American issue,” they wrote. “That is why, when the world is facing a pandemic, we must show the courage to take additional steps to empower voters seeking to exercise their sacred right.”

LaRose contends his “innovative solution” for paying postage would help make “every mail box a drop box for millions of Ohioans,” a message he seeks to emphasize as he faces a lawsuit over his decision to authorize only a single curbside drop box in each county.

The postage request asks the board to approve $3 million in funds from his offices Business Services Division for the postage. LaRose's office doesn’t expect costs of postage to exceed $2 million.

An earlier Controlling Board vote was set aside, ostensibly to address members' questions. LaRose said last week that, because of that delay, it is now too late to print the postage on ballot envelopes.

Instead, should the spending be cleared, he plans to buy actual stamps and get them to Ohio's 88 county boards of elections, which will adhere them by hand.

Legislative Democrats have contended that LaRose already has both the power and the authorization he needs to add drop boxes and to pay ballot postage.

Faced with his insistence that his lawyers disagree, they have placed particular pressure on state Sen. Matt Dolan, who, as Senate finance chairman, is supposed to sit on the board as a matter of Ohio law but who has not attended any of its meetings this year.

Millie Vaughan, executive director for the Ohio Senate Democrats, said “hundreds of thousands of Ohioans are counting on Senator Dolan to vote for paid return postage on absentee ballots."

Dolan, a Chagrin Falls Republican, said he has not attended the board’s meetings because another lawmaker has been designated to take his place. He said he supports LaRose’s postage proposal, however, and has advocated for the panel to pass it.