Innovation Ohio

What you need to know about Ohio Politics and Policy

Problems with Sub HB 294 — Ohio’s Anti-Voter Bill

Sub HB 294, legislation currently on the fast track to pass during the post-election “lame duck” legislature, represents a direct attack on Ohioans’ voting rights.

Sub HB294 restricts access to the ballot in several key ways:

  • Cuts time for requesting and returning mail-in ballots.
  • Eliminates the final day of early voting. The final Monday is one of the busiest days of early voting.
  • Restricts the availability and locations of ballot dropboxes
  • Changes ID requirements on absentee form making it 3-tiered and more confusing.
  • Prohibits government agencies from pre-paying the postage on ballots and ballot request forms, even for overseas military voters.
  • Creates a new online absentee ballot request system that’s more restrictive than the paper form, adding two mandatory forms of identification.
  • And, if bill supporters’ claims are true, the bill will be amended tomorrow to include a strict photo ID requirement for in-person voting, something that will disenfranchise tens of thousands of mostly younger, minority and older voters.

Most Ohioans believe that every eligible person should be able to exercise their constitutional right to vote, have equal access to the voting process and should be able to trust the integrity of our elections. Ohioans across the political spectrum overwhelmingly support policies that help everyone exercise their right to vote, including:

  • Prepaid postage on absentee ballots and ballot requests
  • Secure ballot drop boxes available throughout each county
  • Multiple early vote centers
  • Mailing all eligible voters an absentee ballot application

Sub HB294 does the opposite and makes voting more unequal and less accessible for many voters. It’s worse than voter suppression; it’s voter selection. This bill makes voting harder for specific groups of Ohioans, including younger and older voters, Black and brown voters and those with limited income.

What Sub HB 294 Does:

  • Cuts early voting hours, removing the last Monday of early voting, one of the busiest voting days.
  • Severely limits the use of ballot drop boxes
  • Limits access to absentee ballots
  • Forces most Ohioans to pay for postage on absentee ballots / ballot request forms. Even military voters.
  • Changes ID requirements on absentee ballot forms, making them three-tiered and more confusing.
  • Makes it much easier to vote in some small counties than in major urban areas by failing to address current proportionality issues (and actually writing some of the issues into law).
    • There would be the same number of drop boxes and early voting locations for a county of 8,000 vs a county of 800,000.
  • Even the pieces of this bill that seem to expand voting options are actually problematic.
    • Example: HB 294 adds an online ballot request option….with such a strict ID requirement that most college students can’t even use it.
  • HB 294 will institute discriminatory barriers that make it harder for certain Ohioans to vote. The bill will disproportionately impact Military personnel, low-income residents, Black and brown Ohioans, College students, people with disabilities, people who are house-insecure, Rural residents and older voters.
  • HB 294 punishes Ohioans for being poor. Don’t have a car? Can’t afford postage? Don’t have two forms of ID? Change addresses frequently? HB294 makes it much harder for you to vote

TAKE ACTION. Tell these lawmakers to kill Sub HB 294.

MORE INFORMATION

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2022 Legislative Scorecard: House Representatives

In January of every odd-numbered year, newly-elected lawmakers come to Columbus to convene in a new General Assembly. During the two-year session that follows, hundreds of bills are introduced, many of which are signed into law.

This term, legislators grappled with issues ranging from abortion, guns affordable housing, gender identity and how to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As we approach the end of the two-year session that began in January 2021, we’ve compiled a scorecard to easily see how all 99 House lawmakers voted on the issues that matter most to working Ohioans.

View the Innovation Ohio 2022 House of Representatives Scorecard

Poll Finds Democrat Ryan Leading U.S. Senate Race

Contact: goodnight@innovationohio.org

Columbus, OH – A new poll from Innovation Ohio and GrowProgress shows that in the race for US Senate, Congressman Tim Ryan, the newly-minted Democratic nominee, is leading his Republican rival, venture capitalist JD Vance 43-41. 

A memo on the results can be found on Innovation Ohio’s website.

The poll also found that in a state Trump won twice, Vance still lacks the support of more than 1 in 5 members of his own party. A bruising primary and a history of changing political positions – particularly his views on former President Trump – leave Vance with the support of just 78% of Republicans. Ryan, by contrast, picks up 91% of Democrats.

“As the race heads into the General Election, Tim Ryan is showing signs of strength and momentum against J.D. Vance.” said Innovation Ohio President Desiree Tims. “In a state where Trump won twice, Vance has yet to capture similar levels of support.”

“This race is shaping up to be one of the most competitive in the country,” Tims continued.

The poll showed Ryan holding substantial leads among women, black voters, younger voters (18-54) and those with a college degree. Vance, meanwhile, maintains an edge among white voters, those ages 55 and up and non-college voters.

These findings showing Vance’s weakness within his own party are consistent with new analysis by six political scientists that measured how GOP primary voters felt about different political figures. In the JD Vance received a rating of 59 out of 100 on a political “thermometer” scale measuring candidate favorability, compared to a score of 75 for Trump. Overall, the GOP is not as unified as Democrats heading into the General Election.

Founded in 2011, Innovation Ohio is a nonpartisan, nonprofit thank tank that blends policy research and advocacy to fight for working families in Ohio.

Grow Progress surveyed 2000 Ohio voters on April 25th through April 29th, just days before the primary.  The survey’s margin of error is +/-2.5%.

Our Right to Vote is Under Attack — Statement from Desiree Tims

Most Ohioans believe every eligible person should be able to exercise their constitutional right to vote. Our laws should help everyone participate in the process.

But Ohio’s Republican supermajority just introduced a bill to do the opposite.

HB 294 is worse than voter suppression. It’s voter selection. It would let Ohio’s Republican supermajority decide who gets to vote, and who doesn’t.

This bill would:

  • Cut early voting hours
  • Severely limit ballot drop boxes
  • Limit access to absentee ballots
  • Force most Ohioans to pay for postage on absentee ballots and ballot request forms
  • Make it 100x easier to vote in some small counties than in major urban areas

They’re trying to choose which of us can vote. Plain and simple. We cannot let them succeed.

Tell House Speaker Bob Cupp to kill HB 294. Tell him Ohio is watching.

It will take all of us together to stop this attack on our freedoms.

In Solidarity,
Desiree Tims
President & CEO
Innovation Ohio

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