A plan to require Ohioans to show a photo ID before voting is dead. “I think we’ll probably not see it again,” said House Speaker William G. Batchelder after a brief legislative session today. “There’s a limit to the amount of times you want to run your head into a wall, and it makes your ears ring.”
Although the Medina Republican strongly supports the photo-ID requirement, the bill passed by the House is opposed by Secretary of State Jon Husted, a fellow Republican, and the GOP-controlled Senate.
Later, Batchelder spokesman Mike Dittoe said, “Obviously, the speaker wants the bill passed by the Senate, but I don’t believe he has any indication the Senate will be moving on it anytime soon. Certainly our (House GOP) caucus believes that voter fraud is and could be a bigger problem, and every single poll, no matter what polling entity you use, indicates that the American people believe that as well.”
Democrats bitterly opposed the bill that would require voters to show poll workers a government-issued photo ID (which could be obtained for free) before being allowed to cast a ballot. Noting that people who don’t have such IDs are disproportionally elderly and minorities, opponents likened the proposal to the poll tax used to keep blacks from voting.
Full Article: Voter ID rule is dead, at least for now | The Columbus Dispatch.