DeWine reluctantly signs bill ending grace period for late-arriving mail-in ballots

Dec. 19 — Ohio voters will need to ensure their mail-in ballots reach their boards of elections by Election Day so their votes can be counted in future elections.

Ohio has reluctantly signed a bill that eliminates the grace period for late-arriving ballots, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said.

DeWine told reporters he thought the grace period, which allows mail-in ballots in state and federal elections to be counted if they arrive within four days of the election and are postmarked at least one day before the election, is “reasonable” and “makes a lot of sense.”

“Normally I would veto the removal of this four-day grace period, and frankly I wish I could do that,” DeWine said.

He explained that he felt handcuffed by planning considerations. The United States Supreme Court has opted to take up a case on whether accepting federal ballots after Election Day is constitutional, and DeWine has said the case likely won’t be decided until June, a month after Ohio’s May 2026 primary and about four months before the November general election.

DeWine said a June court ruling finding the additional period in Ohio was unconstitutional would lead to “chaotic” elections in Ohio.

This sequence of events would require the primary elections in May to include a grace period but not the general election in November. Or if the state wanted to preserve the grace period for November’s general election, Ohio would have to create two separate ballot measures; One would be able to use additional time for state matters, and the other would not be able to use it for federal matters.

DeWine also said the timing of the court’s decision would leave the legislature little time to bring election rules into compliance with federal law if it comes against the state.

DeWine’s logic echoes the thinking of Republican legislative leaders. He hasn’t had much of a say with Democrats in the state.

“There is no federal law that has been violated. There is a case being reviewed by the Supreme Court that may or may not (affect us),” Rep. Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, told her colleagues on the House floor just before SB 293 passed. “Why are we preemptively changing state laws for a process that works? For a process that is popular with all Ohio voters? Not just my voters, your voters too.”

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