COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Capital Journal and was republished under Creative Common license.

Ohio lawmakers voted Wednesday to shorten the deadline again for returning absentee ballots - removing any grace period and invalidating all ballots that arrive after Election Day. That measure, Ohio Senate Bill 293, is now on its way to the governor.

As recently as 2022, Ohio voters had a 10-day grace period for absentee ballots post-marked by Election Day to arrive at their local county board of elections to be officially counted. Ohio Republican lawmakers shortened that to four days for the 2024 election, and are now eliminating the grace period entirely.

Threats from the Trump administration spurred Ohio lawmakers into action.

In a March executive order, the president introduced a novel

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