Originally published by: Jim Siegel and the Columbus Dispatch
July 15, 2011
A coalition including progressive groups, unions and the former Democratic secretary of state will attempt to overturn several parts of a new election law that takes effect at the end of September.
A group called Fair Elections Ohio said it is collecting the initial 1,000 signatures needed to get the process started for ultimately obtaining nearly 232,000 names of valid Ohio voters to get a referendum on the November 2012 ballot asking voters to overturn parts of House Bill 194.
“We saw that parts of this bill make it harder to vote and, even when you did vote, make it harder to have your vote counted,” said former Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.
Gov. John Kasich signed the sweeping bill on July 1 after the legislature passed it along party lines.
If the coalition collects 1,000 signatures and has its petition language certified, it gets until Sept. 30 to collect the full 232,000 names. If that effort succeeds, the law would be put on hold until after the 2012 presidential election.
“It’s strictly a partisan effort to put this law into suspension until after the 2012 election,” said Rep. Louis Blessing, R-Cincinnati, the No. 2 House leader and a sponsor of the bill.
“If you’re interested in signing the petition, your choice is to keep some of these reforms in place so we’re not at the whim of a federal judge and we don’t have all kinds of problems on Election Day, or you can go with them and have a muck-up party.”
Among the provisions the referendum will try to overturn:
• A reduction in early voting from 35 days before an election to 21 days by mail and 17 in person. Brunner said she also doesn’t like further limits on in-person voting by barring it on Saturday afternoons, Sundays and the three days prior to the election. Republicans say the law leaves plenty of time for early voting.
• A prohibition on counties such as Franklin from sending unsolicited absentee-ballot application to all voters. Republicans frame that as a fairness issue because not all counties can afford to do that, and the ban will keep the courts from hitting Ohio with an equal-protection ruling.
• A new requirement that precincts in cities consist of a minimum of 500 voters. Brunner questions why this was not applied to rural areas as well.
• Requirements regarding whether a poll worker has to tell a voter that he or she is in the wrong precinct.
• A new definition of corporations as it relates to political contributions. The U.S. Supreme Court has opened the use of corporate donations, but Brunner is concerned that the bill softens regulations on reporting.
• Standards for when a vote should be tossed out, such as when a person puts the wrong birth date on an absentee envelope. Brunner called these “gotcha situations,” but Republicans say they are necessary to maintain the integrity of the voting process.
Brunner said she supports a number of election-cleanup provisions in the law, which is why the referendum would overturn only parts.
Link to article: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/07/15/new-election-law-spurs-repeal-push.html