CASE STUDIES IN EMERGENCY ELECTION LITIGATION

Federal Judicial Center 10/25/2023 1

Whether Counties Could Establish 

More Than One Absentee-Ballot Drop Box 

A. Philip Randolph Institute of Ohio v. LaRose 

(Dan Aaron Polster, N.D. Ohio 1:20-cv-1908) 

Because of social distancing made necessary by a global infectious 

pandemic, absentee voting was expected to be high. Because of the 

postal service’s recent reputation for poor service, many voters 

wanted to hand-deliver their absentee ballots. Ohio’s secretary of 

state allowed county election officials to establish one drop box per 

county, regardless of each county’s geographic or population size. A 

federal district judge issued an injunction allowing county election 

officials to set up more drop boxes, but the court of appeals stayed 

the injunction. 

Subject: Absentee and early voting. Topics: Early voting; 

absentee ballots; Covid-19; equal protection; matters for state 

courts; interlocutory appeal; intervention. 

A Wednesday, August 26, 2020, federal complaint filed in the Northern District of Ohio challenged a decision by Ohio’s secretary of state to allow only 

one drop box per county for absentee-ballot applications and absentee ballots 

at a time of widespread absentee voting because of social distancing made necessary by the global Covid-19 infectious pandemic and uncertainty about 

whether the postal service could handle the volume.1

Judge Dan Aaron Polster set the case for a telephone conference on Monday.2

 On the following Friday, the plaintiffs filed a motion for a preliminary 

injunction3 and a motion to expedite briefing, with the reply brief due on September 15.4

 Judge Polster set the case for another telephone conference on 

Tuesday, September 8, the day after Labor Day.5

On September 9, Judge Polster set the case for an injunction hearing on 

September 23, consolidating consideration of a preliminary injunction and a 

permanent injunction because of the urgency of a final decision and making 

the reply brief due on September 21.6 He held an additional telephone conference in the interim.7

1. Complaint, A. Philip Randolph Inst. of Ohio v. LaRose, No. 1:20-cv-1908 (N.D. Ohio 

Aug. 26, 2020), D.E. 1; A. Philip Randolph Inst. of Ohio v. LaRose, 493 F. Supp. 3d 596, 600 

(N.D. Ohio 2020). 

2. Docket Sheet, A. Philip Randolph Inst. of Ohio, No. 1:20-cv-1908 (N.D. Ohio Aug. 26, 

2020) (notice, Aug. 31, 2020); see Transcript, id. (Aug. 31, 2020, filed Sept. 4, 2020), D.E. 12. 

3. Preliminary-Injunction Motion, id. (Sept. 4, 2020), D.E. 13. 

4. Motion to Expedite Briefing, id. (Sept. 4, 2020), D.E. 14. 

5. Docket Sheet, supra note 2 (notice, Sept. 8, 2020); see Transcript, A. Philip Randolph 

Inst. of Ohio, No. 1:20-cv-1908 (N.D. Ohio Sept. 8, 2020, filed Sept. 15, 2020), D.E. 29. 

6. Docket Sheet, supra note 2 (minute order, Sept. 9, 2020). 

7. Transcript, A. Philip Randolph Inst. of Ohio, No. 1:20-cv-1908 (N.D. Ohio Sept. 17, 2020, 

filed Sept. 21, 2020), D.E. 42; Docket Sheet, supra note 2 (minutes, Sept. 21, 2020). 
Whether Counties Could Establish More Than One Absentee-Ballot Drop Box 

2 Federal Judicial Center 10/25/2023 

On September 15, he granted a September 10 motion to intervene as defendants by the Republican Party and its presidential nominee.8

The hearing lasted from 9:20 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on September 23 and for 

two additional hours on September 24.9

 On the next day, Judge Polster decided 

to hold a ruling in abeyance pending state-court proceedings.10

Because the secretary issued a directive on October 5 that appeared to authorize county boards of elections to receive ballots at locations other than 

board offices, Judge Polster dismissed the action as moot on October 6.11 Persuaded, however, that the secretary had not directed what Judge Polster understood him to have directed, Judge Polster reopened the case and granted 

the plaintiffs a preliminary injunction two days later.12 “The Secretary is enjoined from enforcing that portion of [his directive] that prohibits a county 

board of elections from installing a secure drop box at a location other than 

the board of elections office . . . .”13

The court of appeals stayed the injunction on October 9.14 First, one drop 

box per county constituted fair uniformity.15 Second, “Ohio offers many ways 

to vote. Given all of those options—including on-site drop boxes, casting a 

vote by mail, and voting in-person weeks before election day—the absence of 

off-site drop boxes does not impose a material harm.”16

The parties filed a notice of stipulated dismissal, dissolving the preliminary 

injunction, on October 23.17 Appeals also were voluntarily dismissed.18

8. Opinion, A. Philip Randolph Inst. of Ohio, No. 1:20-cv-1908 (N.D. Ohio Sept. 15, 2020), 

D.E. 27, 2020 WL 5524842; Intervention Motion, id. (Sept. 10, 2020), D.E. 18; see John 

Caniglia, Trump Campaign Fights Multiple Drop Boxes, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sept. 17, 2020, 

at A5. 

9. Transcripts, A. Philip Randolph Inst. of Ohio, No. 1:20-cv-1908 (N.D. Ohio Sept. 23 and 

24, 2020, filed Oct. 1, 2020), D.E. 83, 84; Opinion, id. (Sept. 25, 2020), D.E. 77 [hereinafter 

Sept. 25, 2020, Opinion], 2020 WL 6600102. 

10. Sept. 25, 2020, Opinion, supra note 9; A. Philip Randolph Inst. of Ohio v. LaRose, 493 

F. Supp. 3d 596, 600–01 (N.D. Ohio 2020). 

11. A. Philip Randolph Inst. of Ohio, 493 F. Supp. 3d at 601–02; see Andrew J. Tobias, Judge 

Dismisses Drop Box Lawsuit, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Oct. 7, 2020, at A1. 

12. A. Philip Randolph Inst. of Ohio, 493 F. Supp. 3d at 602–16; see Jessie Balmert, Ohio 

Must Allow Multiple Drop Boxes, Cincinnati Enquirer, Oct. 11, 2020, at A8; Andrew J. Tobias, 

Judge Strikes Down LaRose’s Drop Box Limit, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Oct. 9, 2020, at A1. 

13. A. Philip Randolph Inst. of Ohio, 493 F. Supp. 3d at 616. 

14. A. Philip Randolph Inst. of Ohio v. LaRose, 831 F. App’x 188 (6th Cir. 2020); see Brent 

Kendall & Alexa Corse, Voting-Rule Disputes Bring Flurry of Rulings, Wall St. J., Oct. 12, 2020, 

at A3. 

15. A. Philip Randolph Inst. of Ohio, 831 F. App’x at 192. 

16. Id.

17. Notice, A. Philip Randolph Inst. of Ohio, No. 1:20-cv-1908 (N.D. Ohio Oct. 23, 2020), 

D.E. 96; see John Caniglia, Voter Groups End Fight for More Drop Boxes, Cleveland Plain 

Dealer, Oct. 23, 2020, at A13. 

18. Order, A. Philip Randolph Inst. of Ohio v. LaRose, No. 20-4063 (6th Cir. Oct. 28, 2020), 

D.E. 36.