Voting by *no mail whatsoever* in Ohio

October 3, 2020 1:06 PM

An acquaintance would like to vote in Ohio but must not receive any postal mail that reveals that they plan to vote or have voted. So, no voter registration cards, no mail-in ballots, nothing at all from the state that talks about voting. Is this possible, or will Ohio always mail you something if you register to vote? The deadline is the 5th --- help!

You may be inclined to worry if this situation relates to domestic abuse in some way. It does not.

posted by Chef Flamboyardee to Law & Government (10 answers total)

Can they receive other mail? You can ask USPS to Hold Mail for up to 30 days, then pick up your accumulated mail. I think they used to mail you a confirmation card; these days they appear to have 2 factor authentication in place.

Also that will hold the mail for everyone at the address, which may not be what they want.

At the very least, Ohio would send you a voter registration card. Their link does show an option for not publishing their address if it’s not safe, but as you mention that’s not the situation here.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 2:22 PM on October 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

Call the town clerk and ask them. Voter Registration, and the fact that you have voted, is public, so if public-minded Everybody Should Vote Org sends mail to all newly registered people, it's hard to stop them.
posted by theora55 at 3:57 PM on October 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

Hi there -- I am a poll worker in a non-Ohio state who has to administer rules like this. If this were a DV situation it might be easier because Ohio has the Safe at Home program which allows people to use a PO Box that is not their home address.

Ohio voting requires ID but the weird edge case is that if the ID is an Ohio driver’s license or state ID card in which case it can be for a previous address. So I guess it depends on the situation. They could potentially register at a previous address if their mail is not being forwarded. Also the polls accept a bunch of other odd IDs that don't have an address. So I guess I'd be scheming: is there another place that person could accept mail where they could also get one of these things sent before the election.

As theora55 says, especially in Ohio this is going to be kind of messy. With the caveat that voter fraud is a crime but that voting is important, I'd think about a "temporary relocation"* situation for the purposes of voting, to a place they could get mail.

* can be super temporary
posted by jessamyn at 3:59 PM on October 3, 2020 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks Jessamyn --- this acquaintance does have a driver's license. As long as they registered with this form of ID, is there a chance that Ohio wouldn't send a voter registration card? Or anything else for that matter?

I ask because it would seem to me then that a voter registration card (or any other kind of reply by mail) wouldn't be necessary.

There is probably not time to work out a relocation before the 5th.
posted by Chef Flamboyardee at 4:10 PM on October 3, 2020

If they have already registered, to the best of my knowledge they do not have to re-register, but you can step through the registration page and see what they will request. But, no, they'll definitely send a card to the address you register at. I only mentioned all this because it's worth noting the address they register at doesn't have to match their driver's license for that "You could have registered at an old address" reason.
posted by jessamyn at 4:16 PM on October 3, 2020

Unless someone posts with Ohio-specific information, you or your acquaintance should contact their County Board of Elections to see if any options are available.
posted by JackBurden at 4:30 PM on October 3, 2020 [2 favorites]

I don't know about Ohio specifically, sorry. But voter rolls are generally public documents. In general if you are registered to vote in the US your name, address, party affiliation, and often other stuff will become a public record and you will ultimately get junk mail about voting.

There is an exceptional process in some states for people to register with a special status that hides their address; often used for people at risk of domestic abuse. Again, I don't know the details in Ohio. There's more information about voter registration privacy on the Tech Safety website. It's mostly in the context of safety from domestic violence but they may still be of help.
posted by Nelson at 5:50 PM on October 3, 2020 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Ohioan here - we don't actually get personal voter registration cards, like ID cards or driver's licenses or anything.

What we do get are flyers from the state and/or county in the weeks before the election notifying you of your voting location along with details about which precinct and division you're in. I just got mine earlier this week. (I've been at the same address for years, so it's possible I may be getting it earlier than folks who are newly registered. Also this year because COVID there are absentee ballot request cards getting mailed out to all registered voters - this is not always the case.)

Nthing that they should contact their county Board of Elections to see what their options are.

You can early vote in person, and cast a provisional ballot with improper or even no ID. (Provide the last 4 of your social security number, for example.)
posted by soundguy99 at 9:00 PM on October 3, 2020 [2 favorites]

So, for example, here is one side of the "election info" flyer I got, from my county BoE as it turns out, so it may be different for your friend, here is the other (the stuff covered by the bookmark in that one is the polling location and precinct info). It arrives folded in half & sealed with a couple of stickers, on the inside is the same info in Spanish.

cigarette pack for scale and also it was already on my desk anyway . . .

Nthing that voter info is public to some degree, so once you're registered you'll get all sorts of campaign flyers that generally look like this, for or against tax levies and judges & sheriff & etc etc etc. Although those are addressed to "The Blah Blah Household or current resident."

So, I dunno, it's plausible that this stuff could all get passed off as "political junk mail that everyone gets." If that helps any.

But definitely reiterating that in Ohio the county Board of Elections is the primary office that runs elections, so their first inquiry should be there. If that's not helpful they can try the Ohio Secretary of State office.
posted by soundguy99 at 8:01 AM on October 4, 2020 [1 favorite]

In OH, you can vote in person at the local county board of elections office starting Tuesday. There is also a confdential voter provision that is usually used for cops or crime victims where their address isn't made public. You might get a card reminding you of your polling place, but that only proves registration and not intent to vote.
posted by greatalleycat at 10:05 PM on October 4, 2020