HB 194—Election Reform or Voter Suppression
Prepared by Jan Lanier, RN, JD
HB 194 Update—September 29, 2011
The opponents to HB 194 have collected the required number of signatures, which means HB 194 will be held in abeyance pending the outcome of the referendum vote in the November 2012 general election.
According to the Fair Elections Ohio spokesperson, once the signatures are submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office county boards of election will be asked to verify the signatures—a process taking 10-15 days. If , after verification is completed, the number falls short of the 231,324 signatures required to get the proposal on the ballot, opponents of HB 194 will have an additional 10 days to collect additional signatures. (Signature gathering continues during the boards of election review).
Placing HB 194 on hold means the 2012 elections will be conducted under current law. The primary date reverts to March; therefore, the filing deadline for candidates is December 7, 2011.
The following material was prepared to provide nurses the information they need to be knowledgeable about important issues affecting their rights as citizens. HB 194 makes sweeping changes to how Ohio conducts its elections. A referendum drive is underway to stop what many believe is a bill that overreaches and ultimately results in voter suppression.
Introduction
HB 194 was enacted by the General Assembly and signed into law by Governor John Kasich on July 1, 2011. The bill, sponsored by Republican Reps. Robert Mechlenborg and Louis Blessing, was introduced on April 12, 2011. The measure passed the House one month later by a 54-40 vote, and the Senate added its approval on June 22, 2011 by a 23-10 vote. The measure is set to become law September 30, 2011.
Because of the breadth of some of the provisions of the bill—the voter suppression provisions—a group calling itself Fair Elections Ohio was formed to challenge the newly enacted law. The group initially did not want to overturn the entire bill; however, under Ohio law because the bill does not contain financial appropriations the referendum may not target only the most egregious provisions but must attempt to repeal the measure in its entirety.
What’s in the bill?
The bill as enacted is available through the state of Ohio website at www.ohio.gov. The information below is intended only to highlight some of the provisions affecting voters most directly. HB 194 does the following:
¨ Requires the voter to use a full social security number rather than the last four digits, which will then require the data to be redacted.
¨ Shortens the mail-in absentee voting from 5 to 3 weeks and the in-person absentee voting from 5 to 2 weeks.
¨ Eliminates the early voting opportunities in the evening, and on Saturday afternoons and Sundays.
¨ Eliminates the authority for county Boards of Election to mail unsolicited absentee ballot requests to registered voters.
¨ Prohibits providing return postage on absentee ballots.
¨ Permits but does not require an election official to direct a voter who is in the wrong precinct to the voter’s correct precinct.
¨ Changes date of presidential primary election from March to May.
What’s Happening Now?
Opponents to HB 194 started the referendum process immediately after the bill was enacted. That process is quite intense requiring over 231,147 valid signatures to be submitted to the Secretary of State BEFORE the effective date of the bill (no later than September 29, 2011). Those signatures must include at least 3% of the vote in one-half of Ohio’s 88 counties. If the petitioners are successful, the issue will be on the general election ballot in November 2012. In the meantime, Ohio elections will be conducted under the law as it existed before HB 194 was enacted. In other words all the changes affected by the legislation will be on hold until voters have a chance to weigh in. (Please note that Secretary of State Jon Husted issued a directive ordering all county Boards of Election to refrain from mailing unsolicited absentee ballots for the upcoming General Election this November).
Although there have been hiccups along the way, the petition drive is underway across the state. Time is obviously the biggest obstacle so it is important to act immediately if you believe HB 194 should be put to a vote of the people.
To find a petition go to the Fair Elections Ohio website (www.fairelectionsohio.com/home) to find the location of a petition. The site is interactive and identifies numerous petition locations as well as information about the initiative itself.