Press Releases

COLUMBUS - Secretary of State Frank LaRose issued a statement today on the passage of HB 473 in the Ohio House of Representatives. This legislation was sponsored by Ohio Representative J. Todd Smith and would allow the state motto to be used as part of the state seal.

COLUMBUS – Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose today certified the official results of the 2020 Presidential General Election. The Secretary’s signature today marks the completion of the official canvass and certifies winners in the 2020 General Election.

COLUMBUS –Even ahead of the onset of COVID-19, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose was focused on recruiting new poll workers for the 2020 elections. Beginning with a Working Group of select leaders from county boards of elections, plans were put in place early in 2019 to provide innovative and intensive efforts to ensure polling locations were fully staffed on election day. With the dangers of COVID-19, these efforts became exponentially more important.

COLUMBUS -With 15,470 new business filings in October, Ohio has already surpassed the record total for the entirety of 2019. Ohioans have submitted a total of 145,157 new business filings this year versus last year’s record of 130,621 new filings from January to December.

After months of noise about potential catastrophe in Ohio’s 2020 general election, there is reason for relief and maybe even a modest celebration. Regardless of how one feels about the presidential outcome, Ohioans shattered records for registering and voting, with no evidence of meaningful fraud or suppression.

COLUMBUS –The unofficial results from the November 3rd election show 5,812,804 Ohioans voted in the 2020 General Election, already breaking the all-time record of 5,773,777 set in 2008. It’s important to note that there are still 155,188 outstanding absentee ballots and 156,331 provisional ballots that, if legally cast, will be included in the final official results to be released upon final certification on or before November 28th.

COLUMBUS – Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose provides a morning election update. Media are encouraged to download and share.

COLUMBUS – Tomorrow is Election Day! 3.4 million Ohio voters have cast their absentee ballot or voted early – shattering all previous records. Prior to this election, Ohio had never surpassed 2 million total votes in the entirety of the early voting period. With 243,023 absentee ballots still outstanding, Ohio’s early vote total is already 180 percent of the previous early vote record and equals 60 percent of the total number of votes cast in the entire 2016 General Election. This data includes all ballots received and processed through 2:00pm on Monday afternoon.

Who: Frank LaRose, Ohio Secretary of State

COLUMBUS –With five days until the election, 56,789 Ohioans are trained and ready to serve as a poll worker on November 3rd, exceeding the aggregated statewide goal of 55,165. That goal represents 150% of the minimum number of poll workers needed on Election Day. The number of trained poll workers includes 23,649 Democrats, 20,733 Republicans and 12,407 unaffiliated or minor party poll workers. While this is the largest aggregated statewide number of poll workers ever trained for an election in Ohio, a handful of individual counties still lag behind the goal for their county.

COLUMBUS – With 7 days until Election Day, Ohioans continue to vote early in record numbers. Already 2.2 million Ohioans have cast their ballot for the 2020 general election. After all the votes were counted in 2016, 1.9 million Ohioans voted early in-person or by mail. Two and a half times the number of Ohioans are voting early in-person compared to the same time in 2016.

COLUMBUS – Slightly decreasing from the all-time single month record set in August, Ohio set a record for the month of September with 15,470 new business filings. This number is a massive 54% increase from September 2019 filings which came in at almost 10,000.

COLUMBUS –With 12 days until the election, an all-time high of 53,981 Ohioans have signed up to serve as a poll worker on November 3rd! This includes 23,140 Democratic poll workers and 20,206 Republicans. 74 Counties have met, or are close to meeting, their recruitment goal for the November election. A review of all county data shows Ohio remains 6,037 poll workers short of the goal of recruiting 55,165 poll workers.

COLUMBUS – With 14 days until Election Day, Ohioans continue to vote early in record numbers – with 1.1 million Ohioans already casting their ballot for the 2020 general election. That’s 119% the rate seen in 2016. Nearly triple the number of Ohioans are voting early in-person compared to the same time in 2016.

COLUMBUS –With 18 days until the election, an almost-certain all-time high of 53,034 Ohioans have signed up to serve as a poll worker on November 3rd! This includes 22,830 Democratic poll workers and 20,147 Republicans. 72 Counties have met, or are close to meeting, their recruitment goal for the November election. A review of all county data shows Ohio remains 6,914 poll workers short of the goal of recruiting 55,525 poll workers.

COLUMBUS- Today, Ohio Secretary of State issued a directive to Ohio’s county board of elections that outlines how and when county boards of elections must report election results for the 2020 General Election. Under Directive 2020-23, and consistent with state law, results will only be released twice – once when the county boards of elections upload their unofficial results to the Secretary of State’s Office and again after each county completes its official canvass results and are certified by the Ohio Secretary of State. The directive also sets into place requirements for recounts, post-election ballot curing, post-election audits, and more.

COLUMBUS – With 21 days until Election Day, Ohioans are showing up to vote early in record numbers – with triple the number of Ohioans voting at early voting centers across Ohio compared to the same point four years ago. 193,021 Ohioans voted early in-person in the first week compared to 64,312 at the same time in 2016.

COLUMBUS –Walmart has partnered with the Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office to distribute necessary PPE to Ohio’s county boards of elections as they prepare to administer the upcoming election. 800,000 masks, 27,000 gowns, and 29,000 face shields were donated/purchased by Governor DeWine to help keep voters and poll workers safe.

COLUMBUS –With 27 days until the election, 51,918 Ohioans have signed up to serve as a poll worker on November 3rd. This includes 21,079 Democratic poll workers and 19,169 Republicans. However, because of Party requirements not being met in many counties, 17,257 poll workers are still needed to meet our goal.

COLUMBUS –On the first day of early voting and with just four weeks until Election Day, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced 2,154,235 absentee ballot applications have been received by county boards of elections statewide. This includes 21,570 requests from military and overseas voters whose absentee ballots began to be mailed September 18th. All other absentee ballots will be mailed beginning today, October 6th. Over the past week, 158,839 new absentee ballot requests were submitted by Ohio voters. Totals from early in-person voting will be included in next week’s release.