With the coronavirus pandemic upending the Democratic primary season, states are scrambling to figure out how to safely hold their elections. In Ohio, state lawmakers approved a plan to hold an extended, vote-by-mail primary election through April 28, while shutting down almost all in-person voting. Now, out of necessity, Ohio has joined the handful of states that already primarily conduct elections by mail. But voting rights groups warn that the confusing, multistep process will disenfranchise voters on a large scale. On the eve of Ohio’s scheduled March 17 primary election, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine announced that the state’s public health director would order that polls be closed to prevent the spread of the virus, defying a court ruling. DeWine’s decision to halt in-person voting followed days of pressure for the four states scheduled to vote to postpone their primaries. Instead, Ohio gave voters just over a month to apply for a ballot and mail it in.

A coalition of voting rights organizations, including the League of Women Voters of Ohio, has now sued the state over its “cumbersome vote-by-mail process,” arguing it poses “unlawful barriers” that will hit black and brown voters the hardest. In addition to concerns about the process itself, advocates are demanding the state extend the voter registration deadline. Only Ohioans who registered to vote by the February 18 deadline are eligible to vote in the primary election; voting rights groups say that, under the National Voter Registration Act and Ohio Constitution, that deadline should have been extended. Under this new process, thousands, if not millions, of Ohioans will give up or not be able to cast a vote at all, said Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio. “You can’t just blink your eyes and have an all vote-by-mail election, it doesn’t work that way,” Miller said. “Primarily vote-by-mail states have eight to 10 weeks of the process, not four. Voters get ballots, there’s no application process. There are usually drop boxes and vote centers throughout counties. So the bottom line is: This country, this state, is not equipped to run elections during pandemics and emergencies — we need to upgrade and update our election systems today.” If you don’t already have a ballot, you have to submit an application to request an absentee ballot. The Ohio Secretary of State’s website lays out the three ways to do this: Print an absentee ballot request or have an absentee ballot request sent to you in the mail, call your county boards of election to have them mail you an absentee ballot request, or make your own absentee ballot request. If you own a printer and can print out the application yourself, you fill it out, sign it, and mail it back to the board of elections providing your own stamp and postage, and in many cases, your own envelope — just to receive your ballot. Some grocery stores are also letting people pick up absentee ballot applications through an initiative from the secretary of state, Frank LaRose, and the Ohio Grocers Association. Applications must be received by the county’s board of elections before noon on April 25. But some fear the tight deadline might not give people enough time to fix any mistakes that happen along the way. Both the state’s governor and secretary of state were in favor of a June 2 primary, but the Republican-controlled state legislature went ahead with the rushed timeline anyway. “Many people still think that Election Day is on June 2, others think they’ll be able to go vote in person, which we know is not true, and many people are struggling to get their ballots in time,” Miller said.