This section made it a felony for anyone who is not an election official or mail carrier to possess or return the absentee ballot of a voter with a disability unless the individual assisting that disabled voter is enumerated on a list of authorized relatives.
The Ohio election law, which entered into force on April 7, 2023, limited the authorized relatives to those listed in Section 3509.05 of the Ohio Revised Code; namely, the disabled voter's spouse, parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews.
The complaint was filed on Dec. 19, 2023, by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Ohio and Jennifer Kucera, an individual Ohio voter with a disability.
The judge dismissed three of the plaintiffs' claims without prejudice but sided with their allegation that the challenged law violated Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act, which guarantees that "Any voter who requires assistance to vote by reason of blindness, disability, or inability to read or write may be given assistance by a person of the voter's choice" provided that the facilitator is not "The voter's employer or agent of that employer or officer or agent of the voter's union."
"The text of Section 208 unambiguously allows disabled voters to choose for themselves who will assist them in voting, and that the Challenged Ohio Law's limitations of this choice to only certain family members is unlawful and unenforceable," Judge Brennan wrote in the memorandum and opinion.
"We are thrilled that the court ordered the state to stop denying Ohioans with disabilities the opportunity to cast their ballots via assistance from a trusted person of their choice. This is the correct reading of the Voting Rights Act and a validating decision for Ohio voters."
Such as Alabama, stipulate that only the voter is permitted to return his or her ballot, while other states, such as Wyoming, do not specify who may or may not return a ballot on a voter's behalf.
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