After a federal judge ruled a state law violated the voting rights of those with disabilities, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose again went after ballot drop boxes outside county boards of elections.

LaRose, a Republican, issued a directive to county boards of elections requiring them to get signatures on attestations from those dropping off ballots for others in response to the federal decision that the state violated the Voting Rights Act by restricting who could return absentee ballots for those with disabilities.

That means that a person who under state law is permitted to put a ballot in a drop box would have to sign a document swearing they’re following that law.

It restricts when a person in that situation could submit their ballot because the drop boxes operate 24 hours per day including weekends – starting Oct. 8 and ending at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 5, Election Day. But boards of elections typically are open only during business hours with extended hours during the last week before the election and the two weekends prior to Nov. 5.

LaRose successfully restricted drop boxes to one per county — and only at boards of elections — despite population and size, effective with the 2020 presidential election.

During Republican Donald Trump’s unsuccessful 2020 reelection, he and his campaign strongly opposed drop boxes contending they were used – along with mail-in ballots — to supposedly perpetuate voter fraud.

The drop boxes at boards of elections in Ohio are monitored by security cameras.

In the directive, LaRose wrote: “I am acting under my statutory authority to compel the observance of election laws, in this case Ohio’s prohibition on ‘ballot harvesting,’ a process by which an individual attempts to collect and return absent voters’ ballots of other persons without accountability. To ensure compliance with applicable state and federal laws, this directive provides that a designated assistant delivering a ballot for another must sign an attestation that they comply with applicable law.”

David Betras, chairman of the Mahoning County Board of Elections and a Democrat, said: “I feel bad for people in Mahoning County because this building is not conducive to someone walking in and parking their car. This is really making it hard for people to vote.”

Tom McCabe, the board’s director and the county Republican Party chairman, agreed with Betras that this will be an inconvenience for voters. McCabe said board officials are working on a policy and the directive could be challenged in court.

Because the form doesn’t have to be witnessed, Betras said the board could put them by the drop box. But LaRose’s directive states boards have to post a notification on the drop boxes “indicating that voter-assisted ballots must be returned inside the board office, where the voter assistant will be asked to complete the attestation form.”

This originated from a federal case brought by the League of Women Voters of Ohio, which successfully sued because a law passed by the Republican-controlled state Legislature last year restricts who can help those with disabilities with their ballots.

In a letter, LaRose asked Senate President Matt Huffman and House Speaker Jason Stephens, both Republicans, to ban drop boxes because of the federal court decision.

LaRose contends in the letter that the court decision “effectively creates an unintended loophole in Ohio’s ballot harvesting law that we must address.”

He added: “I suspect this is exactly the outcome the LWV intended. Under the guise of assisting the disabled, their legal strategy seeks to make Ohio’s elections less secure and more vulnerable to cheating, especially as it relates to the use of drop boxes.”

With the Legislature in recess until after the Nov. 5 election, a drop box ban isn’t going to happen for this election.

Senate Minority Leader Nickie J. Antonio, D-Lakewood, said, “On the heels of a court decision meant to protect some of our most vulnerable voters, Secretary LaRose is attempting to play political games. Adding additional steps to make it more difficult for some people to vote is the definition of voter suppression. LaRose’s time would be better spent following the law rather than using his position to undermine the will of the citizens of Ohio and obstruct their ability to vote.”

David Skolnick is a political writer for the Youngstown Vindicator and Warren Tribune-Chronicle, sister Ogden newspapers with the Columbiana Country newspapers. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @dskolnick.