The Ohio Supreme Court has smacked down a Democrat lawsuit and has allowed restrictions of ballot drop boxes to remain in place to prevent ballot harvesting.

The rule that the court allowed to stay in place on Tuesday requires that voters place their own ballots in the drop boxes, The Daily Caller reported.

It was a 4-3 decision to dismiss a challenge to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s order that limited drop box access to people who were delivering their own ballots. The court decided that the Ohio Democratic Party waited an too long to file its lawsuit as it dismissed the case.

“I’m grateful the court has allowed us to proceed with our efforts to protect the integrity of Ohio’s elections,” the Ohio Secretary of State said of the ruling. “Political activists tried once again to dismantle the safeguards we’ve put in place, specifically in this case against ballot harvesting, and they’ve been rejected.”

“This is the same policy that’s been used successfully in other states, and it’s designed to protect both individuals and election officials from accusations of illegal voting,” he said. “The court’s decision should reinforce the confidence Ohio voters have in the security, honesty, and accountability of our elections.”

Ohio Democratic Party chair Elizabeth Walters was furious with the court’s decision.

“Today’s decision is disappointing not just for us as a party, but for Ohioans who will be forced to jump through unnecessary hoops to exercise their right to vote in this historic election,” the chair said.

The order from the secretary of state does allow for a ballot to be returned for a disabled person or by a family member but only to a county board of elections where they must attest that they were authorized to do so.

“I am acting under my statutory authority to compel the observance of election laws, in this case Ohio’s prohibition on ‘ballot harvesting,’ a process by which an individual attempts to collect and return absent voters’ ballots of other persons without accountability,” the Ohio Secretary of State said.

“Ongoing routine monitoring of drop boxes should continue, specifically monitoring for individuals who are dropping off more than one ballot,” he said. “My office will vigorously investigate and refer for prosecution any individual engaged in ballot harvesting in violation of Ohio law.”