Press Releases

COLUMBUS –Today, Secretary of State Frank LaRose issued Directive 2020-22(opens in a new window), making it clear that 1) every Ohio county board of elections may install more than one secure receptacle at their board for the return of absentee ballots, and 2) the board may station bipartisan election officials outside of county boards to accept absentee ballots.

COLUMBUS –With 34 days until election day, Ohio's Poll Worker Tracker shows nine counties have reached their goal and more than half of Ohio’s counties have less than 100 more poll workers to sign up before their goal is met.

COLUMBUS –With just five weeks until Election Day, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced 2,000,489 absentee ballot applications have been received by county boards of elections statewide. This includes 24,222 requests from military and overseas voters whose absentee ballots began to be mailed two weeks ago. All other absentee ballots will be mailed beginning October 6th. Over the past week, 216,485 new absentee ballot requests were submitted by Ohio voters.

In this spring’s primary, Kroger stepped up to provide absentee ballot request forms at their stores. This fall, they are encouraging more Ohioans to make sure their voice is heard.

COLUMBUS –With 41 days until election day, Ohio's Poll Worker Tracker(opens in a new window) shows more than 44,000 Ohioans have signed up to serve as a poll worker on November 3rd. This includes 19,466 Democratic poll workers and 17,437 Republicans.

COLUMBUS –With 42 days to go until Election Day, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced 1,784,004 absentee ballot applications have been received by county boards of elections statewide. This includes 17,217 requests from military and overseas voters whose absentee ballots started to be mailed out last week. All other absentee ballots will be mailed beginning October 6th. Over the past week, 385,657 new absentee ballot requests were made by Ohio voters.

COLUMBUS– Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced voting for military and overseas voters begins today, Friday, September 18, 2020 for the 2020 General Election.

COLUMBUS –After June and July 2020 new business filings broke all previous records with the most new business filings in one month, Ohio entrepreneurs continued the trend in August. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose today announced 18,659 new businesses filed in August – a few hundred more than the short-lived record from the previous month. Comparatively, the number of new businesses created in August is a massive 72.5% increase over August 2019.

COLUMBUS –With 48 days until election day, nearly 40,000 Ohioans have signed up to serve as a poll worker on November 3rd. Ohio’s first-ever Poll Worker Tracker continues to give Ohioans, counties, and partner organizations clear goals for poll worker recruitment for the November election.

COLUMBUS –With 49 days to go until Election Day, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced that 1,398,347 absentee ballot applications have been received by county boards of elections statewide. This includes 15,806 requests from military and overseas voters whose absentee ballots will be mailed beginning this Friday, September 18th. All other ballots will be mailed beginning October 6th. Over the past week, almost 400,000 new absentee ballot requests were made by Ohio voters.

COLUMBUS –Today Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose issued the following statement:

COLUMBUS –Today Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose issued a statement on the decision of the Tenth Court of Appeals (PDF)(opens in a new window) to grant an emergency stay of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas order to accept absentee ballot requests by fax or e-mail:

COLUMBUS – With 55 days to go until Election Day, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced that 1,000,579 absentee ballot applications have been received by county boards of elections statewide. This includes 14,253 requests from military and overseas voters whose absentee ballots will be mailed beginning Friday, September 18th. All other ballots will be mailed beginning October 6th.

COLUMBUS –Each election, thousands of Ohioans dedicate themselves to sustaining the backbone of democracy—our election process. Poll workers help ensure that our elections are fair, and in doing so, maintain the traditions of our past and our hope for the future.

COLUMBUS –Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has launched a Public Service Announcement, in partnership with the Ohio Association of Broadcasters, to encourage Ohioans to register to vote and motivate those choosing to vote by absentee to return their ballot request forms as soon as possible. Ohioans will continue to have three options to cast their ballot this fall – in-person on election day, early in-person, or absentee.

COLUMBUS –Earlier this summer, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced every registered Ohio voter would receive an absentee ballot request form in the mail. Those request forms are arriving in mailboxes this week – one week ahead of schedule.

COLUMBUS – For generations, beauty salons and barbershops have served as special places in neighborhoods of color – as much a social hub as they are an economic engine. They are places not only to get hair care services, but sanctuaries where neighbors can discuss politics and the issues of importance in the community.

COLUMBUS –Continuing his innovative approach to help Ohioans keep their registration active and the state’s voter registration rates high, Secretary LaRose has released the Registration Readiness list. No one on the list of 115,816 registrations will be cancelled prior to the November 3, 2020 General Election.Boards of elections will restore the registration status of any registrant that votes, updates or confirms their registration, responds to a mailing, or engages in any other voter activity from now until December 7, 2020.

COLUMBUS – Today, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose referred 162 alleged violations of Ohio campaign finance laws to the Ohio Elections Commission. Primarily, the violations relate to Rep. Larry Householder’s campaign to become the Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives. The referral comes after weeks of review into campaign finance documents submitted to the Secretary’s office and the Federal Election Commission.

COLUMBUS –After a review of campaign finance materials submitted by Ohio State Representative Nino Vitale, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose referred Rep. Vitale to the Ohio Elections Commission for alleged and apparent violations of campaign finance law. The referral follows a comprehensive review that began June 6th after Rep. Vitale submitted a blank campaign finance report one day after the June 5th campaign finance deadline.