COLUMBUS, Ohio (LifeSiteNews) — Ohio elections will now have added layers of security to ensure the integrity of each vote, following legislation signed Friday by Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican.
Gov. DeWine signed House Bill 458, which requires voter identification and also requires votes to be counted faster after Election Day. The legislation also limits drop boxes to one per county and the location must be on county property, according to an Ohio CBS News affiliate.
Gov. DeWine stated:
Elections integrity is a significant concern to Americans on both sides of the aisle across the country. At the same time, I have long believed that Ohio does a good job of administering elections, as we have provided ample opportunities to cast votes while avoiding the problems we have seen in recent federal elections in other states.
“No piece of legislation is a silver-bullet solution, but we are once again showing Ohioans that we take their concerns seriously and are dedicated to continuously improving our elections,” Secretary of State Frank LaRose said in a statement, as reported by 10 WBNS.
The legislation requires faster “curing” of ballots, which means fixing defects on them. The shorter time frame reduces the likelihood of fraud by requiring election officials to move quickly to wrap up an election, not dragging it out for weeks.
The legislation comes after nationwide elections that have brought forth concerns about voter integrity.
Former Department of Justice senior researcher and economist John Lott said he found statistical evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 election and recommended voter ID as one way to rectify the situation. A documentary by conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza and True the Vote also raised concerns about the use of “mules,” or paid harvesters of ballots. The movie 2000 Mules uses phone tracking data to show the possibility of illegal ballot harvesting in the 2020 election.
Other groups, such as the Public Interest Legal Foundation, have used statistical analysis to point out the potential for fraud in the widespread us of mail-in balloting.