COLUMBUS, Ohio — House Bill 294 and Senate Bill 320 could change how Ohioans vote at the polls.
Early voting is essential for many Ohioans to cast their vote.
House Bill 320 would increase the amount of ballot drop boxes from one to three at board of elections offices and absentee ballot requests could be made online. The bill also outlines new early voting rules.
People could no longer early vote in person on the Monday before Election Day. Republican Rep. Bill Seitz is one of the primary sponsors and said that the bill would give poll workers and board of election staff more time to prepare for election day.
“People have to work from 6:30 in the morning until 7:30 at night they have to get electronic poll books ready to get distributed to the precincts so all of that is thrown into a catastrophe if hundreds or thousands of people are descending on the board of elections on that very last day before the general election,” said Seitz. “The OAEA, which is an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, have long asked that we make that change so we’re making the change.”
As it is currently written, the bill would shorten the absentee ballot request window and require citizenship status to be listed on Ohio drivers license.
Senate Bill 320 would add new limits on the identification accepted to vote. It would also require the BMV to provide free state identification cards to persons 17 and older. Senator Theresa Gavarone, who sponsors the bill, said this change is pre-emptive to ensure that there isn’t any voter fraud.
“I think just showing a utility bill and signing your name does leave us vulnerable,” said Gavarone. “Do people misuse that form of identification in order to vote. I think we need to make sure that we’re doing everything possible to make sure that we’re doing things right in Ohio? Even if it happens in one case, that’s one case too many.”
The bill would downgrade certain permissible identifications, like military I.D.’s to a secondary source of identification.
Both bills were the topic of conversation Monday afternoon, at the League of Women Voters of Ohio’s press conference. Partnering with the ACLU, both organizations came out in opposition to the bills.
“We have not seen good reasoning for these bills. Both are in search of problems that do not exist,” said Jen Miller, the Executive Director for League of Women Voters of Ohio.
In the press conference, Miller highlighted that thousands of people came out to the polls the Monday before election day. She said while those hours will be allocated to the other 28 days of early voting, it still takes a physical day away. Miller expressed that both bills need more data and collaboration.
“The most extreme pieces of 294 and 320 are just going to be harmful for Ohio voters,” said Miller.
The League of Women Voters is hoping to work with sponsors on both bills to add various amendments. According to Rep. Seitz, House Bill 294 will have another hearing after the Thanksgiving holiday and he plans to introduce an amendment that would ensure everyone gets a nonvoluntary ballot request form in the mail.
