Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, who has been fighting a lawsuit from the Obama campaign trying to restore early voting, said voter identification requirements needed to be streamlined, and that the General Assembly would take up a “more strict” version of Ohio’s voter ID requirements. “I was listening to a show one night where they talked about these onerous rules, these onerous photo ID rules and the onerous rules in Ohio on photo ID,” he said at a Tea Party event in Cincinnati, according to audio circulated by the Ohio Democratic Party. “Well, the photo ID law in Ohio is not onerous. As a matter of fact, I suspect the General Assembly will take up a more strict version of what we have after what we’ve been through with this election process.”
Answering a question from an audience member who complained about the number of forms of ID allowed at polling places, he said, “We need to streamline that because it’s really hard for a poll worker to know exactly what they’re supposed to be checking, and I’m quite confident the legislature’s going to take that up.
State Democrats saw it as proof of a “new attack” on voting rights. “As if Secretary of State Husted has not done enough to undermine access to Ohio’s polls, now he’s planning a secret post-Election Day assault on what forms of identification voters can present to cast a ballot,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern. Husted spokesman Matt McClellan said that wasn’t the case. “The secretary was asked a question about all the forms of voter ID that are accepted, and any simplification of that process would be welcomed,” he told HuffPost.
Full Article: Jon Husted, Ohio Secretary Of State, Talks About Need To ‘Streamline’ Voter ID Requirements.