President Trump said in his State of the Union speech that he wants a national voting standard that would eliminate no-excuse absentee voting. It could mean Ohio would go back to a process similar to the one in place before 2004, when voters needed a valid reason to cast ballots by mail.
But Ohio’s top official isn’t embracing the proposed change by Trump, a fellow Republican.
Gov. Mike DeWine said he doesn’t think there’s a good reason to do away with the state’s absentee voter process.
“We’ll deal with that if it does, in fact, pass," DeWine said to reporters. "I will go back to what I’ve said in the past. I think Ohio does a very good job in running elections."
DeWine said Ohio's process has safeguards to ensure the process is fair.
“Whether the secretary of state is a Republican or a Democrat, we do a good job locally. We have Democrats watching Republicans, Republicans watching Democrats," DeWine said. "It's a system that works. We count the votes quickly. It just is a very, very good system."
Ohio’s absentee voting process also allows voters to cast ballots in person at local Boards of Elections for a month before election day.
DeWine has said several times that "the burden of proof is on those who say we need to change" when it comes to making voting law changes. However, he did sign a bill that cut the grace period for ballots arriving at boards of elections, though he said he did it "reluctantly".
In his State of the Union speech, Trump urged Congress to restrict absentee voting. NPR has reported that Trump's allies have circulated a draft of an emergency declaration that would allow him to make major changes in laws on voting, including banning no-excuse absentee voting, as well as ballots printed in languages other than English. When asked by PBS News about this draft declaration, Trump said, "Who told you that?"
