The Ohio House has approved a Senate bill that would require mail-in ballots to arrive and be counted by Election Day.
President Trump threatens to eliminate mail-in voting before 2026 midterm elections
President Donald Trump has threatened to issue an executive order to end mail-in voting before the 2026 midterm elections.
- If passed by the Senate and signed by the governor, Ohio would no longer count ballots that arrive within four days of an election.
- Supporters say the changes align with federal policy in Ohio, while opponents question the changes to a system they say works well.
Ohio may soon require voters to return their mail-in ballots by Election Day.
On November 19, the Ohio General Assembly voted 58-29 to approve a bill that would eliminate the grace period for mail-in absentee ballots that arrive after Election Day. The move comes as President Donald Trump vows to crack down on mail-in voting and the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear a case over voting deadlines.
State House Republicans have added a measure that would require the Ohio Secretary of State to automatically cancel the voter registrations of people who appear to be non-citizens based on state and federal databases. Democrats expressed concern that the change lacked guardrails to prevent conflicts with legal citizens.
The Ohio Senate must approve the changes before the bill goes to Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.
DeWine said in 2023 that he did not expect any further changes to election law during his term. A spokesperson for DeWine did not respond to a request for comment.
Ohio is one of 16 states that will count votes after Election Day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Local officials can accept ballots that arrive up to four days after the election if they are postmarked the day before the election.
The state Senate bill would require absentee ballots to arrive by the end of polls, with the exception of votes from military or overseas voters.
“This bill will help protect and improve Ohio’s election process,” said Republican state Rep. Sharon Ray.
Supporters argue it would align Ohio with the priorities of most other states and the Trump administration, which has threatened to sue the state. In September, the U.S. Department of Justice told Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost that the state’s grace period violates federal policy and urged state leaders to change it.
The Justice Department’s letter cited arguments in a Mississippi lawsuit brought by the Republican National Committee that Election Day is a single date. President Trump also pushed for this idea in an executive order he issued earlier this year, but some of it was blocked in federal court.
But the Brennan Center for Justice lawyers who sued the Trump administration said Ohio has not violated any federal law and is not obligated to comply with any executive orders or rulings in the ongoing case.
“Why would we preemptively change state law to make the process work?” asked Rep. Allison Russo, a Columbus-area Democrat who is running for Ohio secretary of state in 2026. “Voter fraud is extremely rare in Ohio. Those are not my words. They are actually the words of the Ohio Secretary of State (Republican Frank LaRose) himself.”
State government reporter Haley BeMiller can be reached at hbemiller@gannett.com or @haleybemiller on X.
