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.

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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

Voting Advocates Release Letter to Secretary LaRose Laying Out Steps He Can Immediately Take For Safe and Accessible Election

Voting rights advocates call on Sec. LaRose to use his authority to ensure Ohio’s election in November is safe, secure, and accessible for all voters.

Columbus, OH – Today, voting advocates representing a diverse intersection of voters across Ohio gathered to release a letter to Secretary of State Frank LaRose laying out four policies he can immediately and unilaterally enact to make November’s election safe and accessible during the COVID-19 crisis. 

“I do not hear from our leaders that all of our votes matter. I am here to say we will not allow this to happen. We must raise our voices to Secretary LaRose and demand he takes action,” said Rev. Chris Attaway of Tabernacle Church in Cleveland. 

The letter is online here and is signed by more than a dozen organizations. It lays out four policies that Secretary LaRose has the authority to enact immediately:

  1. Prepay postage on absentee ballots and applications.
  2. Create a statewide online absentee request form and phone number. 
  3. Encourage county boards of elections to offer multiple dropboxes.
  4. Issue a directive to limit polling place consolidation.


“It is clear that Ohioans cannot rely on their state legislature to pass needed election reforms to make sure we have a safe, secure, and accessible general election. Fortunately, Secretary of State Frank LaRose has existing legal authorities to implement policies that will significantly ease voters’ burden of safely casting a ballot during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” said ACLU of Ohio Policy Strategist Collin Marozzi. “There is a leadership void in our state, and we are calling on Secretary LaRose to use the powers of his office to reaffirm the fundamental right of Ohio voters to make their voice heard.” 

A recording of the press call is online here. (Passcode: 1P&Yd=8U)

The letter and advocacy efforts come in response to massive problems during the Ohio primary election this spring. 

Rev. Brian Cash of East Mount Zion Baptist Church in Cleveland expressed concern that older members of his congregation would be unable to navigate the confusing absentee system. “We must push Secretary of State LaRose to send prepaid postage to ensure that all of our community members are able to participate in this year’s election,” he said. 

Kalesha Scott, a recent Central State University graduate and Ohio Student Association organizer, said: “Many students were unable to vote because of issues with the absentee ballot system, including myself. These four steps that Secretary LaRose can and should take would greatly help college students and young people making their voices heard.” 

“While some voters were able to navigate the system during the primary, countless other Ohioans were unable to cast their ballots,” said Petee Talley of the Unity Coalition and Black Trade Unionists. “The General Assembly has had plenty of time to make our election safe and accessible, but has failed to do so. Time has run out. So we are calling on Secretary of State LaRose to do the right thing, and exercise his authority to take these steps.”

The letter is available online at:
http://innovationohio.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/LaRose-Letter-Aug-4.pdf

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Ohio Democratic Leaders Condemn Republican Voter Suppression Bill, Call on LaRose to Take More Proactive Action

Columbus, OH – Today, leading Ohio Democratic elected officials held a press call to condemn Ohio Republicans for failing to secure safe and accessible elections this fall and calling on Secretary LaRose to take specific actions. 

A recording of the call is available here. (Password: 6t&W626p)

New data shows over 1.5% of all votes (over 30,000 absentee and provisional ballots) cast in the spring primary were thrown out. Those tend to be disproportionately young people, seniors, Black people, and poor people who lack access to transportation and technology.

“We’re going to have a closely-watched, high-turnout, tight-margin election this fall, and that does not give me confidence that Ohioans are going to be able to have faith in the outcome,” said Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin, identifying this as a civil rights issue. “Over the last two weeks, as White and Black Ohioans have been marching together outside on the Statehouse lawn for justice, the Republican majority was inside giving a masterclass in systemic racism.” He asked Republicans to “take their knee off the necks” of Ohioans and let them vote.

They called on the Secretary of State to maximize existing authority to ensure access in the November election. “We’re happy that the Secretary of State announced last night that he plans to use funding from the Controlling Board to send absentee ballot request forms to registered voters. We’re happy that he plans to continue something that has happened in Ohio ever since 2012. It is literally the least he could do,” said Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Aftab Pureval. 

They called on LaRose to: 

  1. Put pre-paid postage on those ballot request forms using funding from the Controlling Board, failure of which constitutes a poll tax and which the Secretary of State has said himself in past letters to the legislature is likely unconstitutional.
  2. Create an online absentee ballot request form instead of making people use printers, ink, and stamps to make their request. This power is within his existing authority under ORC 3509. As Secretary of State, Jon Husted similarly used his own authority to create online voter registration updates. 
  3. Implement automatic voter registration administratively, which he has said he supports in the past. This would counteract the likely fall-off in voter drives and motor vehicle registrations not occurring during the pandemic.

Columbus City Council President Pro Tem Elizabeth Brown introduced a resolution yesterday to declare that the City of Columbus condemns these voter suppression efforts, noting Franklin County, the largest county in Ohio, accounts for about 11% of the state’s population but about 15% of all the absentee and provisional ballots thrown out. She shared several ideas for how cities and counties can remedy the problems the state has failed to solve.  “None of this is an accident,” she said. “We know what this is. It is a recipe for long lines and voter disenfranchisement..If the state is not willing to lead on this matter, then local governments are going to have to step into the breach.” 

State Representative Brigid Kelly condemned House Bill 680 that passed out of the committee on which she is the ranking member. It received no proponent testimony until the Secretary of State suddenly decided to support it even though it does not align with the stated proposals he spent weeks disseminating. “Now the Secretary says he is supporting a bill that does not align with his own priorities. This means the Republicans in the legislature or the Secretary of State are not working for the interests of Ohioans, an overwhelming majority of whom want to make it easier to vote early and by mail.” 

This follows a May 11 press call when these Democrats came together with 20+ elected colleagues across the state to release a letter outlining policies to ensure a safe, accessible, and secure general election. “Unfortunately, it seems we were correct that Republican leaders in Ohio had no interest in ensuring every Ohioan is able to vote this fall,” said Portage County Commissioner Kathleen Clyde. “And unlike with the botched spring primary, there is no possibility of a re-do for the November election. This pandemic is far from over.”

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Senate Democrats announce priority legislation

Nina Turner discusses new voting legislation
Nina Turner discusses new voting legislation
Democrats in the Ohio Senate were the first out of the gate to unveil their list of priority legislation, holding a press conference today in Columbus to promote bills they will be introducing in the 130th General Assembly.  [Read more…]

What does GOP stand to gain by suppressing the vote in Ohio?

There’s been plenty of coverage of the complete mess Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has made of the Ohio election process this year. Directives, court orders countermanding directives, partisanship on the ballot board – it goes on and on. Husted seemed to be his own man for his first year or so in office. From time to time he went his own way from Gov. John Kasich and the right-wing Caveman Caucus in the Ohio General Assembly. The closer we get to Election Day 2012, though, the more Husted has become Ohio’s handmaiden for the national right wing and their concerted effort to suppress the vote in several battleground states. Why mess with an early voting system that worked? A recent NBC News-Wall Street Journal-Marist Poll gives us some evidence as to why Husted and other Republicans are fighting so hard to limit early voting in Ohio. The poll shows that nearly a quarter (24%) of Ohio’s likely voters plan to vote early. Another 17% haven’t decided. OK, lots of people want to vote early. One of my colleagues here at IO dug into the polling data and produced the two charts at the end of this post. As you can see,of those voters planning to cast ballots early, President Barack Obama leads challenger Mitt Romney by 23%. In the second chart you can see that of those voters who plan to vote on Election Day, Romney enjoys a 4% lead. When Republicans work to make it harder for people to vote – in a day and age when we have the technology and resources to manage early voting – there’s a payoff – for them.

State of Play – Where does Ohio stand on early voting?

photo via Mark Kovac
  Last Friday, advocates of early voting were quick to declare Secretary of State Husted’s move to rescind a directives limiting weekend early voting a victory. While the Secretary’s decision paves the way for county Board of Elections to offer early voting for the three days before the election, his action is by no means the silver bullet voting activist were looking for. How did we get where we are today?  In July, the Obama campaign sued Ohio over a new law eliminating early in-person voting on the three days before the election, except for military and overseas voters. Meanwhile, in August, Secretary Husted prohibited counties from opening the polls at night or on weekends for the full five weeks of early voting. [Read more…]

Voters in Ohio not aligned with the ‘cheating’ part of GOP agenda

PPP Poll shows early voting on weekend before election favored by Ohioans There is a trajectory voters in Ohio have been on since 2004 when it comes to open, easy access to the polls – and unfortunately the direction is no longer up. Secretary of State Jon Husted has made a mess of things by forcing counties to scale back early voting hours, providing shoddy guidance to boards of elections and then firing local elections officials who challenge his directives. The state is in court over the whole mess – it’s just been mass confusion from the start. [Read more…]

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