Today, Assistant Minority Whip Senator Sandra Williams and Senator Nickie J. Antonio sent the following request letter to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, asking to see the legal opinion on which he based his newest Secretary of State directive:
"Dear Secretary LaRose,
"We write this letter today to ask for clarification regarding your recent directive banning county Boards of Elections from offering additional ballot drop boxes to voters.
"Please provide us with the legal opinion on which you based this new Secretary of State directive.
"To our knowledge, your office never received an answer from Attorney General Dave Yost regarding your query as to your authority to increase the number of ballot drop boxes in each county.
"If you were unclear on your ability to add drop boxes, it is perplexing that you would feel confident banning additional drop boxes instead.
"From an external perspective, your directive appears to have changed Ohio law, which, as you know, the Ohio Secretary of State is not permitted to do.
"We therefore assume you must have been instead acting on legal guidance that you received in place of that from the Attorney General.
"In the spirit of transparency, we ask that you share the text and source of this legal guidance with us promptly, for further review. Thank you for your timely attention to this issue."
Senator Sandra Williams represents the 21st Ohio Senate District and serves as Assistant Minority Whip for the Ohio Senate Democrats.
Senator Nickie Antonio represents the 23rd Ohio Senate District and serves as Campaign Chair for the Ohio Senate Democrats.