Republicans and Democrats in the Statehouse are battling fiercely over bills that could change laws that determine when and how people can vote. As Statehouse correspondent Karen Kasler reports, this has a lot to do with next year’s big statewide election. Hear more from Kasler on a recap of the voting proposals in Statehouse. All five statewide executive offices are on the ballot next year – governor, attorney general, auditor, secretary of state and treasurer, along with the entire Ohio House and half the Ohio Senate. Plus there could be several important ballot issues, so naturally proposed legislation is coming forward on voting. Republican Sen. Bill Coley of Cincinnati has pushed a bill that would allow absentee ballot applications to be sent out to all voters so they can vote early in presidential and gubernatorial contests. But it would allow only the Secretary of State to do that, not individual boards of elections.
“I think the whole purpose here was to set up a common set of rules that are enforced across the state uniformly and really bring some consistency across the state that is dictated by the General Assembly and not the courts,” Coley said.
Democratic Sen. Nina Turner of Cleveland is running for Secretary of State next year, and says there’s an important thing to note in that bill.
“Only if the General Assembly appropriates the dollars will that happen,” Turner said. “Whereas we have right now, in terms of having the local control that’s counties in this state can determine whether or not they need to mail those out. Uniformity may sound good, but in larger counties, like Cuyahoga, might not have the same needs as a Butler County.”
Full Article: WKSU News: Ohio lawmakers debate voting bills.