Would-be Ohio voters who were recently arrested and jailed are seeking an emergency court action so they can cast ballots in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
According to Ohio law, a person in jail facing criminal charges can still vote.
However, while incarcerated, that person has to request an absentee ballot — the deadline of which was Nov. 2 for in-person requests, and Nov. 3 for mailed requests.
Two men are named plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday by the Campaign Legal Center. One is an eligible voter who was arrested Saturday at 7 p.m. and is being held as a pretrial detainee on misdemeanor charges at the Montgomery County Jail in Dayton. The other eligible voter was arrested Saturday at 10 p.m. and is also being held as a pretrial detainee on misdemeanor charges at the Montgomery County Jail.
“Ohio’s practice of refusing to provide ballots to late-jailed voters is particularly egregious because it most severely affects those who cannot afford bail,” said Mark Gaber, senior legal counsel at Campaign Legal Center.
Tuesday afternoon, a judge ruled that the two men could have access to absentee ballots — but that it was too late for any other inmates to vote who were potentially covered by the lawsuit access.
“The Court concludes that it would be impractical, if not logistically impossible, to grant any class-wide [temporary restraining order] relief this late on Election Day and DENIES Named Plaintiffs any class-wide TRO relief,” U.S. District Judge Michael Watson wrote.
There are a “substantial number” of people who were booked into Ohio county jails on or after the weekend before Election Day, who are eligible to vote, but cannot do so, the suit contended.
“Despite the fact that pretrial detainees and detainees with misdemeanor convictions are not disqualified from voting under Ohio law, these otherwise qualified electors are nonetheless restricted by Ohio election law and policies from exercising their right to vote,” the lawsuit argues.
There are 72 county jails in Ohio, and, as of 2016, the average daily jail population was roughly 19,200, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Of that, 58 percent — or more than 11,000 people — were in pretrial detention.
In their emergency motion for a temporary restraining order, lawyers are asking a judge to mandate that those detained be able to submit requests for emergency absentee ballots through 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Ohio has a procedure for voters who discover ahead of an election that they will be hospitalized, but cannot reach the polls — something the lawsuit points out.
In addition to a constitutional amendment, and a handful of local issues on the ballot, Ohioans are voting for a new governor: Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine (R), a former senator, faces Democratic nominee Richard Cordray, an ex-Ohio attorney general who was appointed by President Barack Obama to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
