Ohio Senate concurs in House changes to election bill after heated debate on mail ballots and roll checks

The Ohio Senate on the floor on a late session voted to concur in House amendments to Substitute Senate Bill 293, a package of changes that tightens absentee‑ballot deadlines and increases verification and maintenance of the statewide voter registration list. The motion to concur passed on a roll call that the clerk recorded as 23 yeas and 10 nays.

Supporters, led on the floor by Senator Gavarone, said the bill aligns Ohio law with pending federal litigation and strengthens public confidence. "This bill will require absentee ballots to be delivered to the Board of Elections by the time polls close on Election Day," Gavarone said, while exempting uniformed and overseas citizens covered by UOCAVA. She told colleagues the U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing a Fifth Circuit decision that required ballots be received by Election Day, and that acting now would give election administrators and voters time to adjust.

Opponents said the changes would risk disenfranchising legitimate voters because of routine data mismatches. "We're gonna disenfranchise eligible Ohioan voters by the thousands because of clerical errors," Senator DeMora said, warning that monthly roll reviews and automatic cancellations based on database matches could remove living voters from the rolls. Senator Blackshear cited election data, saying nearly 10,000 ballots were counted during the four‑day grace period in 2024 and argued eliminating the grace period would result in ballots being discarded.

Debate also touched on operational strains. Senator Hicks Hudson said rolling new monthly checks into election administration could impose heavy workloads on county boards and staff who scale up for election season and then reduce staffing afterward. Senator Kent Smith, who identified himself during remarks, described how multiple people with the same name within a single county could trigger incorrect cancellations.

Senator Brenner, a supporter, said the Secretary of State recently referred about 1,200 cases to the U.S. Department of Justice and argued ongoing checks are technically feasible and help prevent noncitizen voting. Senator Antonio read a dictionary definition of "voter suppression" and urged colleagues to oppose the measure, saying the bill contains elements—purging rolls, stricter ID checks and reduced grace periods—that critics associate with suppression.

The bill’s main provisions, as described on the floor, include: requiring absentee ballots to arrive by poll close on Election Day (except UOCAVA voters), mandating monthly reviews of the statewide registration database to identify potential noncitizens using BMV and SAVE checks, procedures to cancel registrations for duplicates or fictitious persons, expanded reporting from the secretary of state to county boards on reported deaths, and expanded membership for the Ohio Election Integrity Commission. The floor discussion did not produce further administrative details about notice, appeal timelines or whether county boards would receive additional resources for added work; those specifics were discussed as policy intent rather than read into statute on the floor.

The clerk called the roll after debate. On the recorded responses the chamber’s presiding officer announced that the Senate "does concur in House amendments to Senate Bill number 293" with the recorded tally. The bill will proceed under the amended text as returned from the House.

The Senate record contains extended floor statements both supporting and opposing the legislation; the chamber adjourned shortly after the votes and said it would reconvene on the date set in the journal.