Ohio: Voters Bill of Rights aims to end partisan interference with voting rights | Cleveland Plain Dealer

If proponents can gather the required 385,247 voter signatures, Ohioans this fall may be asked to add an Ohio Voters Bill of Rights to the state constitution. The amendment’s centerpiece is a declaration that voting is a fundamental right in Ohio. Legalese aside, that statement would make it much tougher for Statehouse partisans to try to mess with voting rights, especially the voting rights of black Ohioans, something some (not all) General Assembly Republicans have repeatedly tried to do. Procedurally, the wording of the proposal is now awaiting clearance from Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. Then, after state Ballot Board review, the official committee calling for the measure, which includes two Greater Clevelanders, the Rev. Otis Moss Jr. and Rep. Vernon Sykes, an Akron Democrat, can begin seeking petition signatures from Ohio voters.

Ohio: Husted may decide Elections Board move | The Cincinnati Herald

With the Hamilton County Board of Elections members in a 2-2 political deadlock over a proposal to move its headquarters to the former Mercy Hospital in Mt. Airy in the College Hill area. Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted may be the one to cast the deciding vote. The stalemate came at the Jan. 27 Board of Elections meeting following a public hearing on the issue, during which Republicans and Democrats expressed the pros and cons of it. Speakers on the Republican side said the move would be a sound financial decision in that it saves the county $700,000 in annual rental now paid for the Downtown office on Broadway, and Democrats opposed it as another move to suppress and disenfranchise voters. The Mt. Airy site is offered at no cost to the County. Cincinnati City Council members are unanimously against the move, following a vote on the issue.

Ohio: Elections chief sets early voting hours, days | Associated Press

Ohio’s election chief has set the hours and days that residents can vote early for the May primary election, saying it was necessary because the Legislature has failed to put uniform times into law. Voters can cast an absentee ballot early by mail or in person without giving any reason. The 2012 presidential election cycle in Ohio was marked by several disputes over early voting rules, including a lawsuit brought by President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign. Secretary of State Jon Husted said Wednesday that he’s repeatedly asked the General Assembly to write the hours into law, but members have not acted.

Ohio: Husted, voting rights groups settle on ‘Motor Voter’ Act case | cleveland.com

The state of Ohio agreed to a settlement Monday with voting awareness groups Judicial Watch and True the Vote, effectively ending a lawsuit that lasted almost a year and a half. The case dates to August 2012, when the groups claimed Secretary of State Jon Husted hadn’t taken reasonable steps to keep ineligible voters out of polling places. Monday’s settlement, which involves no money, established nine criteria for Husted’s office to follow, ensuring compliance with the National Voter Registration Act, known widely as the “Motor Voter” Act.

Ohio: GOP appeals election-law injunction | The Columbus Dispatch

Top Republican state officials are appealing a federal judge’s preliminary injunction against a GOP-backed law that would have made it more difficult for minor parties to get on the 2014 ballot. Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a notice of appeal with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday. On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Watson placed on hold the law, which would have blocked all minor parties from having a primary on May 6 and significantly raised the number of signatures needed for a minor-party candidate to reach the ballot.

Ohio: Republicans aren’t done changing voting laws yet | WKSU

After the 2012 election, questions arose about voter fraud, accessibility and accountability. So, as expected, in 2013, many bills that addressed those issues were introduced in the Ohio Legislature. But as Ohio Public Radio’s Jo Ingles reports, few of them actually made it into law. To understand the genesis of many election bills introduced this year, you need to remember what happened in 2012. A contentious law that restricted times and ways Ohioans could vote was under the threat of repeal by voters. So the Republican-run Legislature took matters into its own hands and in an unusual way, repealed that law.

National: Did 17 illegal voters in Ohio steal the 2012 election? | Slate

The headline from Fox News is chilling, especially at this moment when most Americans regret putting Barack Obama back in the Oval Office. “Non-citizens caught voting in 2012 presidential election in key swing state,” reports Eric Shawn. What are the gruesome details? Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced Wednesday that his office found 17 non-citizens illegally cast ballots in the 2012 presidential election — and has referred the case for possible prosecution… Husted also found that 274 non-citizens remain on the voting rolls. President Obama beat Mitt Romney in Ohio by just 2 percentage points in November 2012. Did you catch that, how Shawn pivoted from the number of total votes to the percentage of votes? Why would he do that? Without reading his mind, I’d guess it’s because the actual Ohio margin between Obama and Romney last year was 166,272 votes, and Shawn wants to keep his readers as ignorant as posssible. Seventeen votes represents 0.0003 percent of the total of ballots cast for either Obama or Romney in the state, and 0.01 percent of the margin.

Ohio: 17 people caught casting illegal ballots in 2012 election | The Columbus Dispatch

Thanks to new cross-checking of the statewide voter database with drivers’ license records, Secretary of State Jon Husted today said his office discovered 17 non-U.S. citizens cast illegal ballots in Ohio’s 2012 general election. Husted has turned over the names of those voters, including five from Franklin County, to the state attorney general’s office for possible prosecution. Under Ohio and federal law, a voter must be a U.S. citizen, and must attest to that fact when registering to vote. Another 274 Ohioans, all of whom are in the state legally but also are not U.S. citizens, are registered to vote but have not cast a ballot. Husted said his office is sending a letter to each informing them they are illegally registered along with the forms needed for them to cancel their registrations. They will not be turned over for prosecution unless they fail to cancel, Husted said.

Ohio: Jon Husted renews call for online voter registration | Cleveland Plain Dealer

Secretary of State Jon Husted said Wednesday that his office found nearly 300 people who are non-U.S. citizens but registered to vote in Ohio, including 17 who appear to have voted in the 2012 presidential election. Those 17 cases, including four from Cuyahoga County,  have been referred to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine for possible prosecution. The cases illustrate the need for online voter registration as a way to further bolster the integrity of Ohio’s voting system, Husted said in a news conference. Data incorporated in an online registration system would have caught any non-citizen attempting to register in that manner. “If the legislature had approved online registration and these individuals had attempted to register using that system, they could have been prevented from registering and they and our elections system would be better off,” he said. “I again ask the legislature to take swift action on this common sense reform.”

Ohio: No evidence of plot to register non-citizen voters | MSNBC

Seventeen non-citizens voted in the November 2012 election in Ohio, Secretary of State Jon Husted announced Wednesday morning, but he acknowledged that there’s no evidence of an organized effort to register non-citizens. “It exists, it’s rare, violators will be held accountable,” Husted said of non-citizen voting during a press conference at his Columbus office. Around 5.63 million total votes were cast in the election. The announcement comes as state Republicans are preparing to pass a slew of voting restrictions next month.  In addition to the 17 non-citizens who voted, another 274 non-citizens registered to vote, added Husted, a Republican. He said they all had provided paperwork to the state’s motor vehicles department, both before and after the November 2012 election, demonstrating their non-citizenship status. But he allowed that some of the 274 could have become citizens since registering.

Ohio: Voting bill could lead to long lines, voter purges | MSNBC

A Republican-backed voting bill in Ohio could contribute to longer lines at the polls and make it easier to purge voters from the rolls. State lawmakers passed the legislation Wednesday – and there’s likely much worse to come. The bill itself has voting-rights advocates concerned enough. But it’s almost certain to be just the first step in a broad assault on access to the ballot box expected in the coming weeks from Republicans in Ohio, a pivotal state in presidential elections. The measure cleared the Ohio House of Representatives by a 60-33 vote Wednesday, with just two Democrats in support. It has already been approved by the Senate and now heads to the desk of Republican Gov. John Kasich, who is expected to sign it. Rob Nichols, a spokesman for Kasich, said Thursday morning that the governor is studying the bill and will announce a decision shortly.

Ohio: Voter data-sharing proposal heads to Ohio governor | Associated Press

The state’s top election official sees a bill aimed at keeping Ohio’s voter registration database up-to-date as a missed opportunity to also let residents register to vote online, his spokesman said. The measure passed the Republican-led House on a 60-33 vote Wednesday. It now goes to the governor, who is likely to sign it. The bill would require state agencies to share data with the secretary of state to help maintain Ohio’s voter records. For instance, the state’s health director would have to file monthly reports concerning voters who have died so the deceased could be removed promptly from the voter rolls in the perennial battleground state. It also reduces the minimum number of electronic voting machines a county must have by changing the formula used to calculate it. Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, already has the authority to do what’s included in the bill, said his spokesman, Matt McClellan. “What it should do is authorize online voter registration, which would make it easier to vote, harder to cheat and save the taxpayers millions of dollars,” McClellan said in an email. “It does no harm, but it is a missed opportunity.”

Ohio: ‘Golden Week’ officially a thing of the past | The Daily Record

The Ohio Senate signed off on election-related bills recently that would eliminate the state’s Golden Week and potentially reduce the number of provisional ballots cast during elections. Both passed on split votes amid criticism from Democratic lawmakers that the proposed law changes would make it more difficult for eligible Ohioans to vote. SB 238, sponsored by Sen. Frank LaRose (R-Copley), passed on a vote of 23-10. It would postpone the start of early voting until after the state’s registration period has ended. Under current law, eligible Ohioans can register and cast absentee ballots on the same day for about a week each election cycle. Under LaRose’s bill, absentee voting would start on the day after the registration deadline.

Editorials: With eye on 2014, GOP ramps up war on voting | MSNBC

Working ballot by ballot, county by county, the Republican Party is attempting to alter voting laws in the biggest and most important swing states in the country in hopes of carving out a sweeping electoral advantage for years to come. Changes already on the books or in bills before state legislatures would make voting harder, create longer lines, and threaten to disenfranchise millions of voters from Ohio to Florida, Pennsylvania to Wisconsin, Georgia to Arizona and Texas. Efforts underway include moving election days, ending early voting and forcing strict new voter ID laws. The results could significantly cut voter turnout in states where, historically, low participation has benefited Republicans. In the 10 months since President Obama created a bipartisan panel to address voting difficulties, 90 restrictive voting bills have been introduced in 33 states. So far, nine have become law, according to a recent comprehensive roundup by the Brennan Center for Justice – but others are moving quickly through statehouses. “We are continuing to see laws that appear to be aimed at making it more difficult to vote—for no good reason,” Daniel Tokaji, an election law expert at Ohio State University, said in an interview.

Ohio: GOP looks to turn clock back on voting | MSNBC

Back in 2004, some Ohioans waited in line for 10 hours to vote as President George W. Bush carried the state, and with it, the election. After reforms were put in place, voting went much more smoothly in 2008 and ’12, when Ohio twice went for Barack Obama. So naturally, Republicans are now looking to turn the clock back a decade. Tuesday, the state legislature will hold hearings on four new GOP-backed measures that, taken as a whole, could make voting much harder in the Buckeye State, especially for racial minorities, students, and the poor:
• One bill would reduce the number of voting machines that counties must have on hand, almost inevitably leading to longer wait times at the polls.
• A second would attack the state’s successful absentee ballot program. Last year, Secretary of State Jon Husted mailed absentee ballots to every registered voter, and nearly 1.3 million Ohioans cast one. But the new bill would dramatically limit the period when absentee ballots can be sent, and bar counties from sending them, instead allowing only the secretary of state, with approval from lawmakers, to do so.
• A third measure would cut early voting by six days and end same-day registration, when voters can register and vote on the same day. Voting rights advocates say they expect additional drastic cuts to the early voting period.
• And a fourth would reduce from 10 to three the number of days given to voters casting a provisional ballot to return with the information needed to make their vote count.

Ohio: Jon Husted makes pitch for overhaul of Ohio’s redistricting process with emphasis on compact, competitive districts | cleveland.com

Secretary of State Jon Husted said Thursday that the process for drawing legislative district boundaries encourages excess partisanship and shuts out voices from those in the political minority. Husted, addressing the state’s Constitutional Modernization Commission, told the panel he thinks the process needs to be changed, and changed quickly. The goal, he said, should be to have an issue on the ballot in 2014. “I believe that redistricting reform, if done correctly, can be the most important reform to the Constitution in generations, because it has the potential to fix a broken democracy,” Husted said. Overhauling the process is something Husted has sought dating back to his days in the General Assembly, including his tenure as House speaker. Presently the Republicans, Husted’s own party, have a stronghold on key state offices and large majorities in both chambers in the Legislature. What he’s proposing could reduce that dominance.

Ohio: Efforts to clean up statewide voter database lead to just four duplicates on the books for 2013 election cycle | Cleveland Plain Dealer

Efforts to clean up Ohio’s database of 7.7 million registered voters succeeded in eliminating all but four duplicate entries for this election cycle, the secretary of state’s office said Tuesday. Secretary of State Jon Husted has touted his office’s efforts to improve the voter database since he took office. The database, which was established in 2004, contained more than 340,000 duplicate records in January 2011. “Maintaining accurate and up-to-date voter rolls is an ongoing process that is important in helping to ensure greater security and more efficiency in the administration of elections in Ohio,” Husted said.

Ohio: Third-party bill in limbo amid Republican division | Cincinnati.com

The division in the Ohio Republican Party, exacerbated by Gov. John Kasich’s move to expand Medicaid, is threatening passage of a controversial bill that would set new guidelines for minor political parties seeking to field candidates in the 2014 election. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Green Township, includes a provision to give parties more time to submit initial organizing petitions and makes it easier for them to qualify for the ballot in future elections. The bill would provide the first changes to Ohio law since a a 2006 court ruling said the state made it too hard for parties to get on the ballot. Ohio has operated under directives from the secretary of state since then. The parties affected by the bill, especially the Libertarian, Green and Constitution parties, oppose the Seitz bill. They say it’s too close to the 2014 election and other requirements are still too hard for them to meet and could limit their ability to raise money. Libertarians call it the “John Kasich Re-election Protection Act,” saying Republicans are trying to keep them from winning the votes of conservatives who are disillusioned with Kasich.

Ohio: Tuscarawas County to buy 55 voting machines | The Times-Reporter

Before the year ends, the Tuscarawas County Board of Elections has to purchase 55 voting machines to be in compliance with state law. Monday the Tuscarawas County Commissioners approved more than $35,000 in transfers from various funds to cover the cost. Sarah Kneuss, the board’s deputy director, said the machines will be ready and available in 2014 in time for the  gubernatorial election. She said it isn’t necessary to have them in time for next week’s election. Kneuss said the county made big purchases in 2005, purchasing several electronic machines to be compliant with the law.  “We have to have one machine for every 175 registered voters in a precinct,” she explained.

Ohio: Renewed Debate Over Absentee Voter Applications | ideastream

The debate over unsolicited absentee voter applications first heated up in the fall of 2011. Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald wanted to send these forms to every voter in his county, which gives those individuals a chance to request an absentee ballot. Secretary of State Jon Husted disagreed with FitzGerald because of the lack of uniformity it would bring among the other counties. As part of a compromise, FitzGerald agreed to hold off on sending out the applications and instead, Husted’s office mailed them to voters throughout the entire state for 2012’s presidential election. Now Republican Senator Bill Coley, of southwest Ohio, wants to lock down the rules on these applications in state law. His proposed bill says the Secretary of State can mail unsolicited applications for absentee voter ballots, but only on an even-numbered year and only if the General Assembly provides the money.

Ohio: New Election Bill Would Allow Online Voter Registration | WYSO

If you want to register to vote in Ohio, you need to go to your local election board to do that. But a bill by Republican State Senator Frank LaRose would allow Ohioans to register to vote online.  It would also give voters the opportunity to request an absentee ballot online.  And it would use technology to improve the exchange of voter data among states and state agencies.  Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted says this is a good bill. “We’ve been waiting for several years for the general assembly to take action on online voter registration,” says Husted. ” It’s really the next step in modernizing our election system and making it more secure and online registration does that.” Husted says online registration does something else – save money. “This will actually serve as a cost savings because we will handle the work through the Secretary of State’s office.  And the savings will accrue for local taxpayers as we save money in the 88 counties that will ultimately have to implement this into their systems,” says Husted.  “It would have saved, in the last election cycle, about 3 million dollars.” The Democrat who wants to take Husted’s job next year says she doesn’t have a problem with the legislation. State Senator Nina Turner says it’s a good idea.  But she says the devil is in the details. And there’s already one place where she sees a potential problem.

Ohio: Officers’ voting address: Police HQ | The Columbus Dispatch

County elections officials say they think a clerical error is to blame for 19 Columbus police officers having their voting addresses listed as the Downtown police headquarters. Workers at the Franklin County Board of Elections earlier this year discovered voters who had registered their voting address as the police building on Marconi Boulevard. The registrations were caught as workers scoured the voting rolls for nonresidential addresses at the direction of Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted. Husted isn’t particularly concerned about police officers registering their work addresses, spokesman Matt McClelland said. Instead, he wants local election officials to find out if people are registering the addresses of Federal Express or United Parcel Service offices where they might keep a mailbox, or other means of masking their home address.

Ohio: Cincinnati Police Officers Investigated In Voter Fraud Case | Opposing Views

Voter fraud was one of hottest topics leading into the 2012 Election, and while the media microscope has since focused away from it, it’s far from disappeared. In fact, one case in Cincinnati can potentially land several police officers in jail. According to Cincinnati.com, thirty law enforcement officers in Hamilton County are facing up to a year in prison after a Board of Elections staffer discovered they registered to vote using their police station’s addresses as their own. Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has since ordered county Boards of Elections across the state to review voter rolls and flag any commercial addresses used by individuals to register to vote.

Ohio: Court makes permanent order that Ohio count provisional ballots cast in right polling station but wrong precinct | cleveland.com

A federal judge has made permanent his earlier order that Ohio must count provisional ballots cast in the right polling place but wrong precinct — so-called right church, wrong pew ballots. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley last week addresses voting errors at polling locations where more than one precinct conducts voting and a poll worker directed the voter to the wrong precinct. It makes permanent rules used in the 2012 election. The decision drew praise from voting advocates who said to do otherwise would punish voters when poll workers mistakenly sent them to the wrong place to vote. Misdirected voters could cast provisional ballots, but prior to the injunction their ballots could be rejected for being cast at the wrong precinct.

Ohio: Advocates ask to extend voter-ID order | The Columbus Dispatch

Voter advocates asked a federal judge yesterday to extend a court order that they say ensures that broad definitions of voter-identification requirements would remain in place in Ohio. Attorneys for the state’s top election official, Secretary of State Jon Husted, said he’s committed to the more-lenient voter-ID definitions, unless the legislature changes the law so the decree isn’t needed. At issue is whether an expiring 2010 court agreement that governs provisional ballots and forms of voter ID in Ohio should continue.

Ohio: Federal judge dismisses early voting suit | Dispatch Politics

A Columbus-based federal judge has dismissed an early-voting lawsuit left over from the 2012 presidential election, saying the matter is now moot. U.S. District Court Judge George C. Smith affirmed Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted’s decision not to place a referendum on the November 2012 ballot that challenged a law prohibiting in-person voting on the weekend before the election.

Ohio: Democrats dispute Husted’s report of no voter suppression | The Columbus Dispatch

None? None! NONE!? A new report released yesterday by two Statehouse Democrats suggests there was all sorts of voter “suppression” in Ohio in 2012, an obvious contrast with a report from May 23 released by Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted. That one said there wasn’t any. “Zero? That should’ve triggered a bell, and it did for us too. Zero? Something is wrong with that,” said state Sen. Nina Turner, one of the Democrats behind yesterday’s report. Turner will likely challenge Husted for his office in 2014. The report released by Turner and Democratic state Rep. Kathleen Clyde of Kent cites tens of thousands of instances of voter “suppression,” counting all 34,299 provisional ballots rejected, all 13,190 absentee ballots rejected, 2,188 complaints from Ohio Democratic volunteer attorneys on Election Day, and the 122 votes rejected in the Ohio House 98th District race won narrowly by a Republican.

Ohio: Voter fraud isn’t nearly as bad as some suspected | The Newark Advocate

Ohio has a voter fraud problem, but the problem apparently isn’t nearly as bad as some suspected. That seems to be the conclusion of a report released by Secretary of State Jon Husted. Husted, as part of an effort to separate fact from fiction on voter fraud, had ordered all 88 of the state’s county boards of elections to hold public hearings if they were aware of any credible voter fraud allegations or claims of voter disenfranchisement during the 2012 election. The statewide review resulted in 135 cases being referred for prosecution out of 625 red-flagged for voting irregularities. Most of the cases, Husted noted, were caught before fraudulent votes were counted. The report also showed no findings of suppression, actual in-person ballot denials or intimidation at the polls. While one case of fraud is too many, the 135 cases represent a fraction of the 5.6 million votes cast in November. That’s 0.002397 percent.

Ohio: State moves to comply with 20-year-old federal law on voter information | cleveland.com

Twenty years after the National Voter Registration Act was enacted, Ohio appears ready to comply with a key provision of the federal law. This month, the secretary of state’s office began distributing change of address information from driving records to county boards of elections at least twice a week. That information can then be used by the county boards to update addresses for registered voters. Effectively sharing that data is a component of the voter registration act. Despite being law since 1993, Ohio was not in compliance with that requirement. Efforts to comply with another component of the federal law that also deals with voter addresses, meanwhile, drew new criticism last week from Democrats who question whether voters will be improperly purged from the rolls. Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted says that in his view, his office is properly following the federal law.

Ohio: Election review finds no voter fraud epidemic | Associated Press

A first-of-its-kind statewide review found instances of voter fraud in Ohio during last year’s presidential election but not rampant abuses, the elections chief in the battleground state said Thursday. Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted said the investigation he ordered in January by Ohio’s 88 county election boards resulted in 135 substantiated cases being referred to law enforcement for further investigation out of 625 reported cases of voting irregularities. That included 20 individuals Husted was referring to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine on Thursday who appear to have registered and cast ballots in both Ohio and another state. They included a man who voted in person in both Ohio and Kentucky on Election Day and a woman who cast an absentee ballot in Virginia then voted in person in Ohio. “Voter fraud does exist, but it’s not an epidemic,” Husted said.