COLUMBUS —Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose today issued a series of key reminders to members of the media covering the final weekend of early voting.
“We rely on our media partners to help us convey timely and accurate information to the public,” said Secretary LaRose. “There’s a lot of false and misleading content online right now about this election, especially on social media platforms, and I’m hopeful that Ohio’s news outlets will continue to responsibly report accurate news about this election that’s confirmed with trusted sources.”
Reporting Elections Issues
Between now and Election Day, the Ohio Secretary of State’s Election Command Center has a fulltime communications operation dedicated to actively monitoring media platforms for content accuracy, including traditional news sources and social media platforms. Our team will make every effort to correct mis- and disinformation and provide accurate, timely updates on the status of the election as needed. We also encourage media to remind the public that election problems or violations of law should be reported immediately to a precinct election official at a polling location or to the relevant county board of elections.
Concerns also may be reported to the Ohio Secretary of State’s Election Integrity Unit for investigation by submitting information to the following website: www.ohiosos.gov/publicintegrity. Voters seeking additional guidance about how or where to cast a ballot should contact their county board of elections or the Ohio Secretary of State’s office at https://www.ohiosos.gov/secretary-office/contact-our-office/. Media inquiries should continue to be directed to Dan Lusheck at [email protected].
Questions Regarding Electioneering
Several media outlets have erroneously reported on polling place attire “guidance” issued by the Ohio Secretary of State, citing a document that was not issued by this office. Our officedidrecently reaffirm the policies around electioneering and what is allowable attire at a polling location. State law prohibits campaigning inside the neutral zone at a polling location (the area inside the small American flag markers). Campaigning includes handing out literature, wearing certain items, or otherwise trying to get voters to support or oppose a certain candidate or issue. The following three types of attire and paraphernalia are prohibited in a polling location and its surrounding neutral zone:
Attire and paraphernalia displaying the name of a political party;
Attire and paraphernalia displaying the name of a candidate; and
Attire and paraphernalia demonstrating support of or opposition to a ballot question or issue.
Slogans associated with a political party, candidate or ballot question or issue are not prohibited if they do not violate these three prohibitions. If the person displaying the attire or paraphernalia is someone who entered the polling place to vote and the person refuses to remove or cover the item or article of clothing while in the polling place,the person must still be permitted to voteif the person is otherwise eligible to cast a ballot at the polling place. Please contact us with any questions regarding this guidance or to confirm whether any information attributed to this office by another source is accurate.
Final Early Voting Information
As a reminder, the final in-person, early voting hours are November 2nd from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. and November 3rd from 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. Boards of elections do not offer early voting hours on Monday, November 4th, as boards use that time to deploy equipment, stage polling locations, and prepare for Election Day operations. Absentee ballots must be postmarked by November 4th and arrive at the board of elections no later than four days after Election Day. While absentee ballots may not be returned to election day voting locations, they can be hand-delivered to the County Board of Elections before polls close at 7:30 p.m. on Election Day. Ohio’s absentee and early voting data dashboard will continue to update over the weekend, but will not reflect Election Day votes.
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