Leader Isaacsohn, OLBC President Upchurch Urge Secretary of State to Halt Confusing Voter Registration Directives

COLUMBUS — Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati) and Ohio Legislative Black Caucus President Terrence Upchurch (D-Cleveland) today called on Secretary of State Frank LaRose to pause the implementation of new election directives under Senate Bill (SB) 293 , citing concerns that they could wrongly cancel voter registrations and confuse both voters and election boards.

“The freedom to vote is at the very core of what it means to be an American. Onerous and misguided red tape can be as much of a barrier to voting as outright prohibitions, as some of the darker chapters in our history have made clear. These directives risk going too far down that road and you must reconsider.

These proposed directives conflict with state and federal law, threaten the voter registration of thousands of Ohio citizens, leave important gaps in the data match review requirements, and have significant timing and notice inconsistencies. These comments cover several areas of concern, but we note that it was not feasible to address every problem given their number and the lack of clarity in language,” the lawmakers wrote.

Leader Isaacsohn and OLBC President Upchurch submitted this letter as comments on proposed permanent directives published last week. Along with temporary directive 2062-02 the directives purport to implement SB 293 which passed without any democratic caucus votes in November 2025. The act will eliminate the four-day grace period for absentee ballot receipt and create additional cause for provisional voting.