Today, Project Vote election counsel, Camille Wimbish spoke out against the Ohio Senate’s effort to repeal an election bill that is supposed to go to the voters in November.
Last year, the state lawmakers passed HB 194, a bill that severely limited early voting in Ohio. In December, more than 300,000 voters petitioned to repeal the law through voter referendum.
The referendum was the subject of a hearing by the Senate Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. Lawmakers now want to avoid taking the issue to the voters. Instead, they want to repeal the law with bill substitute, SB 295. However, the bill substitute does not repeal a complimentary provision in HB 224, which also went into law last year shortly after the passage of HB 194.
The substitute “changes the deadline for in-person absentee voting from the Monday before the election, to Friday before the election. This is a [reinstatement of a provision in] HB 224, a bill that was originally intended to only apply to military and overseas voters. If it is this committee’s intention to repeal all of H.B. 194, the full period of in person absentee voting should be restored. Boards of Elections should be permitted to allow citizens to vote in person the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday before the election. Historically, these have been among the days when absentee voting is in the greatest demand by voters,” according to Project Vote’s testimony.
To avoid confusion in November, and to honor the people’s opposition to HB 194, voting rights advocates urge the legislature not to go forward with the substitute, SB 295.
“We cannot overemphasize how confusing it would be for both voters and poll workers if replacement legislation is passed and election rules abruptly change between the primary and general election,” said Ms. Wimbish at the hearing.
“Referendums are an essential component of the checks and balances in our constitution,” said Senate Minority Leader Eric Kearney, D-Cincinnati in a Columbus Dispatch report. “It is a right that belongs to the people and the General Assembly should not infringe upon it.”
The Senate Committee agreed to delay the vote to repeal HB 194 by one week.