06/02/2020

Ohio House Bill Would Further Restrict Voting Rights

It also would end statewide mailing of ballot applications for November election

An Ohio House elections bill, lined up for a swift series of committee hearings since it was introduced last week, would make this year’s presidential election the first one since 2008 in which the state wouldn’t mail an unsolicited absentee ballot application to all registered voters.

House Bill 680 also would eliminate in-person early voting on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday before the election, something that’s been offered since 2015 under a legal settlement between the state, the ACLU and the NAACP.

The proposal runs counter to a plan by Republican Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who has sought to expand early voting for the November election, in part due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. His plan includes giving people the option to request a ballot online, and providing postage-paid envelopes to voters with ballot applications and actual ballots. The new House bill would prohibit LaRose from sending unsolicited absentee ballot applications, something that’s been done for every presidential and gubernatorial election in Ohio since 2012, and bar him from providing postage-paid envelopes with any elections mailings.

The bill, introduced by freshman state Rep. Cindy Abrams, a Cincinnati-area Republican, got its first committee hearing last Wednesday, the day after it was introduced. It’s scheduled for a second and third committee hearing in Columbus on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Cleveland.com.