Bowing to public outrage, Clear Channel will donate space on 10 billboards to counter the ones by anonymous donors meant to intimidate African American voters in Cleveland.

New Billboards To Counter Controversial Voter Fraud Warnings

National advertising company Clear Channel Outdoor sold the billboards, which have also appeared in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Milwaukee.  The buyer is only identified as "a private family foundation".  A Clear Channel spokesman says it's company policy to identify those behind billboard purchases, but says, "Policy was not followed in this case." As the buyer requested to stay anonymous in the contract, Clear Channel will never release their identity.

But after hearing from several African-American lawmakers, including Ohio state senator Nina Turner and City Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland, Clear Channel has now agreed to donate 10 new billboards Councilwoman Cleveland says will help assure voters across the city. 

"In close proximity - if possible - to the original billboards that have gone up," she explains, "the billboard will actually say, `VOTING IS A RIGHT, NOT A CRIME'. The first of those should start going up, probably Monday."

Cleveland says she'd have preferred the original billboards be taken down, but she's still pleased that Clear Channel sympathized with her complaint and others from the black community. 

Read The Full Story from Ideastream

Update:

More than 140 billboards in Ohio and Wisconsin warning of the criminal consequences of voter fraud will be taken down starting on Monday after the sponsor chose to remove them rather than reveal its identity, the billboard owner said.

The billboards, which show a large judge's gavel and read "Voter Fraud is a felony - up to 3 ½ years and a $10,000 fine," went up primarily in low-income minority neighborhoods in early October, just weeks before the November 6 elections, and were immediately criticized by voter rights groups as an attempt to intimidate minority voters.

Crews on Monday will begin taking down 30 billboards in Cleveland, 30 in Columbus and 85 in Milwaukee, Jim Cullinan, vice president of corporate communications for Clear Channel Outdoor said.

In response to today's U.S. Supreme Court decision ProgressOhio Executive Director Brian Rothenberg offered the following statement::

Today's decision by our nation's highest court is a victory for the countless number of working Ohio citizens whose jobs may keep them from the polls on Election Day.

Today's decision reaffirms our belief that all Ohio voters should be treated equally and given the same opportunity to vote as such.

Now that the partisan gamesmanship is put to rest, we should all be working to educate voters on the final weekend hours and ensuring there is minimal voter confusion as a result of Secretary Husted's lengthy and bizarre legal attempts to stop early voting. 

The secretary wanted uniformity, now we have it, with all voters having the equal treatment at the polls during the final weekend of early voting.

Secretary Husted was forced to finally do the right thing in setting final weekend voting hours. We only hope that this type of silliness won't have to happen during future elections.

Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald endorsed a YES vote on Issue 2 today, saying it is needed to end policies that harm Cleveland and Ohio's other great cities.

"There is no good reason to have a congressional district that extends from Greater Cleveland all the way to Toledo. That district is an insult to people in both regions,'' FitzGerald said. "Ohio cannot fully recover if its cities continue to be undermined and under-represented.''

The newly drawn 9th congressional district, often derided as "the snake along the lake," has been the subject of national ridicule and experts have christened it "the worst congressional map in the nation."

The map also is harmful to Summit County, home to Akron, he said. Summit County has had one elected representative for nearly 80 years. Today's map puts pieces of it in four different congressional districts. If all four incumbents win, there will be no elected representative who lives Summit County for the first time since the 1920's, he said.

FitzGerald also took aim at Statehouse politicians who are systematically siphoning money away from cities to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and promote what he called "ridiculous gimmicks like privatizing the Ohio Turnpike."

His comments came one day after Gov. John Kasich's administration unveiled a consultant's report showing that the 141-mile toll road could generate several billion dollars over decades if toll are permitted to rise at the rate of inflation.

Cincinnati--State Representative Alicia Reece (D-Cincinnati), David Singleton, Executive Director of the Ohio Justice and Policy Center, President of the Cincinnati Baptist Ministers Conference, Rev. Doc Foster, Rev. Nelson Pierce with the AMOS project, along with other Hamilton County clergy held a press conference today asking for voter intimidation billboards in Hamilton County and throughout Ohio to be taken down. The billboards warn, "VOTER FRAUD IS A FELONY!," when there is little to no evidence that voter fraud is a widespread problem in Ohio. The ads have been allowed to run anonymously throughout the state, claimed only by a private family foundation.
 
"We are asking the Outdoor Advertising Association of Ohio to work with the anonymous sponsors of the billboards to have them removed immediately. It's obvious that the billboards are designed to intimidate voters and leave some wondering if merely voting is now a crime."
 
The billboards have been strategically placed in African American and low-income neighborhoods.
 
"It's sad that we have to fight against voter intimidation billboards when voters are already struggling to understand the ever changing election law directives from our Secretary of State. Maybe it would be more productive to have billboards announcing early voting hours," added Rep. Reece.

Court has placed the case on an expedited schedule

The Obama campaign on Friday night filed a brief in the Supreme Court, arguing that Republican Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted's reasons for asking the court to stop implementation of equal weekend early voting rules for all Ohio voters in a county are "simply not credible."

Earlier this week, Husted appealed a ruling from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that would permit counties to allow early voting on the weekend before next month's election for all voters in the county.

Prior to the court battle, Ohio law allowed a small group of voters subject to a federal law regarding some military voters and their families to cast an early in-person ballot on the weekend before the election. Other voters, however, would be unable to do so.

Related:

ProgressOhio Applauds 6th Circuit Decision As A Step Forward For Voters

Rep. Clyde Slams Sec. Husted's Decision to Fight Early Voting

ProgressOhio Calls On Secretary Husted To Stop The Political Gamesmanship

A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that Ohio boards of elections must count ballots with errors caused by poll workers.

The Ohio ruling stems from SEIU v. Husted and NEOCH v. Husted, which both sought to block enforcement of a law that, as interpreted by the state's Supreme Court, allowed elections boards to throw out provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct.

A federal judge ruled in August that the measure was likely unconstitutional, prompting the state to appeal to the Cincinnati-based Sixth Circuit.

The appeals court ruled that the state must count ballots cast in the wrong precinct but at the right polling place, as long as the error was the fault of a poll worker. (Some polling places serve voters from several precincts.)

A federal district court found that Ohio rejected more than 14,000 wrong-precinct ballots in 2008 and 11,000 more in 2010.

The ruling was Mr. Husted's second loss in recent weeks.

Related:

ProgressOhio Applauds 6th Circuit Decision As A Step Forward For Voters

Breaking: Secretary Husted to Appeal Federal Court Decision to the U.S. Supreme Court

Pledges that whatever the outcome, voting hours will be uniform statewide

COLUMBUS - Secretary of State Jon Husted today announced that he will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to make the final determination on whether the General Assembly of the State of Ohio or the federal courts should set Ohio election laws. Husted will be appealing the Friday decision by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Obama v. Husted. Regarding this decision, all of the following may be attributed to Secretary Husted:

"This is an unprecedented intrusion by the federal courts into how states run elections and because of its impact on all 50 states as to who and how elections will be run in America we are asking the Supreme Court to step in and allow Ohioans to run Ohio elections.

"This ruling not only doesn't make legal sense, it doesn't make practical sense. The court is saying that all voters must be treated the same way under Ohio law, but also grants Ohio's 88 elections boards the authority to establish 88 different sets of rules. That means that one county may close down voting for the final weekend while a neighboring county may remain open. How any court could consider this a remedy to an equal protection problem is stunning.

Columbus--Today, Senate Minority Leader Eric H. Kearney and Senate Democrats released the following statements in response to the bipartisan decision by the Ohio 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the ruling by Federal District Court Judge Peter C. Economus which ordered in-person early voting to be restored for the three days proceeding the November 6th election:

Sen. Eric H. Kearney
Senate Democratic Leader (D-Cincinnati)

"Today's ruling speaks to the issue of fairness and equity.  Voters should be given as many opportunities to exercise their right to vote as possible. The Republican controlled legislature gave the boards the authority to grant last weekend voting and I encourage boards to use today's Court of Appeals decision to do so."

Sen. Nina Turner
Minority Whip (D-Cleveland)

"Today is a truly great day for people all over the state of Ohio. The ruling by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upholding Judge Economus' decision supports the right of suffrage for all voters, and affords them critical opportunities to cast their ballots this fall. Justice is served!

"With the last three days of early voting again an option, it is now the duty of local boards of elections to side with voters and promote access to the ballot box."

Sen. Edna Brown
Assistant Minority Whip (D-Toledo)

"Today's decision is a victory for Ohioans. The court system has forcefully checked the transparent and shameless efforts by Republicans to suppress voter turnout in our state. There is no excuse for deliberating limiting a citizen's ability to vote no matter how much easier it is to cast a ballot than in the past. This ruling marks a setback for those attempting to circumvent access to one of the most precious rights we have as Americans; THE RIGHT TO VOTE."

Tomorrow the Voters First bus will be pulling into an early voting center near you.

Come cast your ballot among friends and neighbors!

Find out more about why Yes on 2 means fair elections for Ohio.

Tuesday, October 2nd - Yes on 2 early vote stops:

• Columbus - 9 am at Old Kohl's store at Northland Mall [directions]
• Mansfield - 11:30 am at Richland County Board of Elections [directions]
• Marion - 2 pm at Marion County Board of Elections [directions]

Please come out and join us!

Vote YES to end politics as usual--because when elections are fair and balanced, we the people win.

More dirty tricks from Republicans trying to steal another presidential election -- Tea party groups work to remove names from Ohio voter rolls:

Lori Monroe, a 40-year-old Democrat who lives in central Ohio, was startled a few weeks ago to open a letter that said a stranger was challenging her right to vote in the presidential election.

Monroe, who was recovering from cancer surgery, called the local election board to protest. A local tea party leader was trying to strike Monroe from the voter rolls for a reason that made no sense: Her apartment building in Lancaster was listed as a commercial property.

"I'm like, really? Seriously?" Monroe said. "I've lived here seven years, and now I'm getting challenged?"

Monroe's is one of at least 2,100 names that tea party groups have sought to remove from Ohio's voter rosters.

The groups and their allies describe it as a citizen movement to prevent ballot fraud, although the Republican secretary of state said in an interview that he knew of no evidence that any more than a handful of illegal votes had been cast in Ohio in the last few presidential elections.

"We're all about election integrity -- making sure everyone who votes is registered and qualified voters," said Mary Siegel, one of the leaders of the Ohio effort.

Some Democrats see it as a targeted vote-suppression drive. The names selected for purging include hundreds of college students, trailer park residents, homeless people and African Americans in counties President Obama won in 2008. [...]

The tea party groups, scattered around the state, have joined forces under the banner of the Ohio Voter Integrity Project. It is an offshoot of True the Vote, a Texas organization that has recruited volunteers nationwide to challenge voter rosters and work as poll watchers.

True the Vote was founded by Catherine and Bryan Engelbrecht, a couple who run an oil field equipment manufacturing firm in Rosenberg, Texas.

In Ohio, election records show, one of the project's top priorities has been to remove college students from the voter rolls for failure to specify dorm room numbers. (As a group, college students are strongly in Obama's camp.)

Voters challenged include 284 students at the Ohio State University campus in Columbus, 110 at Oberlin College, 88 at College of Wooster, 38 at Kent State -- and dozens more from the University of Cincinnati, Miami University, Lake Erie College, Walsh University, Hiram College, John Carroll University and Telshe Yeshiva, a rabbinical college near Cleveland.

So far, every county election board that has reviewed the dorm challenges found them invalid.

Former Ohio First Lady Frances Strickland and former Republican State Representative Joan Lawrence headlined a Thursday news conference to urge Ohioans to make sure their votes matter by voting YES on Issue 2.

The two released a an "Open Letter" to Ohio women urging them to support Issue 2, the common sense redistricting reform measure that would strip politicians and special interests of the right to rig the district lines for their own advantage.

"As women, one a Republican and one a Democrat, we invite you to unite with us around issues of fairness and accountability," the letter states. "There is much wrong with politics but how we choose our elected officials should not be one of those wrongs. We can fix this problem once and for all."

In order to fix this broken system, they offered a simple message: "Leave a legacy. Vote for fairness, vote for our future, and vote YES on ISSUE 2."

The two were joined by representatives of women's groups who said Issue 2 is needed to re-focus legislators on issues of importance to women and families, rather than promote the hyper-partisan legislation that wins approval today.

Planned Parenthood's Stephanie Kight said Planned Parenthood "isn't just a health services we offer; it's the attitude with which we approach our world. We stand up for women and their rights.''

The current state legislature has introduced 12 bills that seek to restrict a woman's access to essential health care services. At least 44 hearings have been held on the bills. Four of them have passed, she said.

She compared that with 9 bills and resolutions introduced to increase access to reproductive health care and preventive health care services. "Not one single hearing has been held on them,'' she said. "Politics have trumped women's healthcare at the statehouse.''

Issue 2 held the press conference in the Ladies' Gallery at the Statehouse, a homage to the Women's Suffrage Movement and the first group of women legislators.

"Meaningful elections are at the core of what their struggles were about,'' Ms. Lawrence said. "Let's make sure their struggles are not in vain."

At a press conference held outside the Ohio Supreme Court, representing Secretary of State Jon Husted's recent court defeats, Voters First gave Mr. Husted's job performance an F.

Tasha Jones, a mother of four who works two jobs, spoke about the importance of weekend voting. "In 2008, I went to church on the Sunday before Election Day and then joined my fellow parishioners as we went to vote. That was one of the proudest and most gratifying days of my life," said Ms. Jones, "Secretary of State Jon Husted is trying to take us back to 2004 when his mentor J. Kenneth Blackwell was in charge, and we were denied weekend voting rights."

Deidra Reese, coordinator of the Ohio Unity Coalition, revealed a poster-sized "Report Card" for Secretary of State Jon Husted, going through a list of issues on which Voters First gave Mr. Husted an F. The list included Mr. Husted's recent court losses in Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus, where judges over-ruled him on issues including provisional balloting, weekend voting, wrongful termination, and misleading voters with slanted ballot language. Click Here to see the report card.

"Understand one thing. Secretary of State Husted's job is to run smooth and fair elections. Today, Secretary of State Jon Husted is getting his job performance report card. And I think we need a parent conference and an intervention right now," Ms. Reese said. "Voters First and the Ohio Unity Coalition, like millions of voters in this state, have had enough. We're going to vote YES on Issue 2 to put citizens in charge and send a message to Husted and any other politician who wants to try to trample on our voting rights."

The Voters First campaign scored another victory against Issue 2 opponents' ongoing effort to mislead and confuse voters.  Today the Ohio Elections Commission found probable cause that the Ohio Republican Party was purposely lying voters about state Issue 2 in a recent campaign mail piece.

The Ohio Elections Commission unanimously found probable cause and the Commission will conduct a full hearing on October 4^th.

Issue 2 supporters accused reform opponents of continuing their ongoing campaign to intentionally misrepresent Issue 2 to voters with false statements. The Elections Commission found probable cause to hold a hearing on the first statement, "Some of the members will be chosen in secret." The Ohio Republican Party has also agreed to discontinue their use of the second false statement, "They'll have a blank check to spend our money."

"We are encouraged by the commission's ruling today," said Catherine Turcer, chair of the Voters First campaign. "It is no surprise that these opponents of reform will stop at nothing to mislead voters and protect their own power. The politicians and lobbyists have controlled the system for too long. If you've had enough of politicians looking out for themselves and their friends instead of the voters, vote YES on Issue 2."

Issue 2 would change Ohio's method of drawing legislative and congressional districts by no longer allowing politicians to draw their own district boundaries.

The 40th president was a big fan of redistricting reform. In this interview, his last as president, Ronald Reagan shares his vision for what a fair system would be, and it looks a lot like Issue 2.

Voters First filed a formal complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission today that accuses the Ohio Republican Party of lying to voters about Issue 2, a proposal that would take the power to draw legislative and congressional boundaries from politicians and give to the voters.

The complaint centers on a mailer that contained three deliberately misleading statements, including statements recently rejected by the Ohio Supreme Court as inaccurate.

"This is the latest in a string of deceptive tactics to mislead voters by the opponents of reform," said Sandy Theis, spokeswoman for Voters First. "Last week the Supreme Court ordered a re-write of the ballot language because it was false. This week, the same misinformation shows up in a Republican Party mailer."

"This shows that some politicians will do anything to say anything to protect the rigged system they created. Have you had enough? If you have, vote YES on Issue 2 in November. Issue 2 will stop the lies and give the power back to the people.''

In the first of many Scrub Off Saturdays to come around the state, We Are Ohio is expecting hundreds of drivers will let volunteers scrub off last year's anti-Senate Bill 5 bumper stickers and replace them with a new "This year it's Yes on Issue 2," bumper sticker to support putting citizens in charge. 

The first Scrub Off Saturday will take place tomorrow, Saturday, September 15 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at 390 Worthington Galena Road, Westerville, OH 43082.

• What: First Scrub Off Saturday for new "This year it's Yes on Issue 2" bumper stickers
• When: Tomorrow, Saturday, September 15, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
• Where: 390 Worthington Road Galena, Westerville, OH 43082

http://www.facebook.com/weareohio/events#!/events/280156055419067/

Yesterday, Public Policy Polling released a new Ohio poll, concluding, "Last month we found voters in the state supported an independent redistricting commission by a 37/24 margin. But with the official ballot language, which frames the commission as 'removing the authority of elected representatives' and giving it to appointed officials, only 33% of voters now say they support the amendment to 38% who are opposed."

Dan Tokaji of Voters First issued the following statement:

"This new polling data illustrates just how badly Jon Husted's Ballot Board distorted the truth to serve their own partisan political ends. When presented with a full and fair explanation of Issue 2, Ohioans overwhelmingly support this common sense reform. But when presented with the misleading anti-reform spin that leaves out key facts, that support erodes.

"We expect these kinds of cynical tactics from our opponents, but the Ohio Ballot Board has a responsibility to tell voters the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. In this instance, Secretary Husted and his colleagues have put their own partisan self-interest ahead of their legal obligation the Ohio voters."

"The only goal of Voters First is to ensure that Ohio voters have fair and impartial information about Issue 2. We know that when elections are fair, the people win."

Voters First has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to do one of three things:

• Adopt the language submitted by Voters First but rejected by the Ballot Board,
• Order the Ballot Board to re-convene and draft fair and accurate language, or
• Write fair and accurate ballot language.

Voters First is a coalition of non-partisan, pro-reform groups who demand better government, and seeks to end to the kind of extremism that strips people of the right to vote.

Secretary of State Jon Husted just released a new order putting Ohio's voting rules more closely in line with an earlier judge's ruling:

Secretary of State Jon Husted on Tuesday directed poll workers to count all so-called "right church, wrong pew" ballots. Those are ballots cast by voters who show up at the correct polling place but are erroneously directed to vote in the wrong precinct.
    
U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley noted in his August order that this issue has become an increasing problem as the number of multi-precinct locations grows, particularly in urban areas. Poll workers gave more than 3,300 wrong precinct provisional ballots to voters last year.

In other election news, a judge has set a date for a hearing for the two fired county election board members:

Unjustly fired Montgomery County Elections Board members Dennis Lieberman and Tom Ritchie Sr. will get their day in court after a federal judge set an evidentiary hearing in their "wrongful termination" lawsuit against Secretary of State Jon Husted.

"We are pleased with the judge's decision today to set a hearing on our request for an injunction. We hope we can return at some point to our jobs serving the great people of Montgomery County," Lieberman said. "Tom and I together have almost 28 years on the board and these next two months are crucial for making sure our voters receive the attention and service they deserve."

Dayton - Montgomery County Elections Board members Dennis Lieberman and Tom Ritchie Sr. filed a federal lawsuit this morning against Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted for unjustly firing them after they voted to continue allowing residents to vote early on weekends in their home county.

Lieberman and Ritchie, who combined have nearly 28 years experience on the board, are also asking for a temporary restraining order that would immediately reinstate them on the Montgomery County Elections Board.

"We believe SOS Husted was wrong when he unjustly fired us. He violated our free speech and the free speech of other county elections board members," Lieberman said. "SOS Husted fired us and then dared other election board members to try and stand up for the voters in their community."

"Dennis and I followed SOS Husted's directive to establish minimum early voting hours," Ritchie said. "We were extending voting on the weekend during the same hours they were open during this year's primary and in the 2008 presidential election. To reduce voting opportunities to our residents would be a disservice to our community."

The "wrongful termination" lawsuit was filed this morning in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Western Division in Dayton.

"There is a larger, public interest to be served by returning us immediately to the board," Lieberman said. "We are in the critical final stages in a presidential year, and Montgomery County voters deserve a smooth and well-run election with experienced hands at the helm."

"Dennis and I did nothing wrong. We knew that 11,000 Montgomery County residents voted during early weekend hours in 2008. The county has the money to pay for the extended hours. We were only trying to give people a fair chance to vote," Ritchie said.

Did you ever try and phone your congressman or congresswoman? Did you ever write a member of congress to ask a question?

If so, I bet that even if you got an answer it was slow to arrive.

There is a good reason for that: The politicians get to pick their own voters because they get to draw the boundaries of their districts.

Sometimes, however, the bureaucracy moves at record speed. When Speaker Boehner wanted to change the congressional map to move the Timken Company's headquarters into Jim Renacci's congressional district, it happened at lightning speed. 13 minutes to be exact.

Just 13 minutes to use taxpayer money to slice and dice and manipulate a northeast Ohio congressional district. Meanwhile, Congress did little to address the issues voters care about.

If you want to change Congress' priorities, vote YES on Issue 2. Issue 2 puts citizens in charge of drawing legislative boundaries.

COLUMBUS - Fired Montgomery County Elections Board members Dennis Lieberman and Tom Ritchie Sr. are calling on Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted to resign as Ohio Ballot Board chairman after missing a critical deadline for the November elections.

"SOS Husted is guilty of nonfeasance. It's pretty simple. He's the Ohio Ballot Board chairman. By August 23, he was supposed to call the board for a meeting to prepare the ballot language and the argument against Issue 2. He didn't. He should resign," Lieberman said.

"After 17 years of public service on the board, SOS Husted fired me because I wanted to let people vote on the weekends," Ritchie said. "During the same week he was conducting a witch hunt against Dennis and me, Husted was derelict in his duty. The Ohio Constitution designates him as Ohio Ballot Board chairman. He is responsible for calling meetings and getting the job done. His inaction is inexcusable."

On Thursday, August 30, Ohio Ballot Board members Fred Strahorn and Mark Griffin sent Husted a letter pointing out he had missed a critical deadline. Husted was a week late in either designating someone to write the argument against Issue 2 for voters to review or ensuring the Ballot Board developed the language.

Strahorn and Griffin cite the Ohio Revised Code in their letter to Husted: "3519.03 requires the Ballot Board members to take action or face dismissal from their posts."

"Husted's a stickler for detail except when it comes to policing himself on the job," Lieberman said. 

"Now if this deadline would have had anything to do with shutting down the polls on weekends or in the evenings, intimidating or harassing voters in urban areas, suppressing the vote or reducing voter turnout, Husted would have been a week early instead of a week late," Ritchie said.

Ohio Republicans limited early voting the weekend before the election only to military members. This afternoon a federal judge ruled that all Ohio voters will now be able to vote early, in-person, through Monday, November 5th:

On balance, the right of Ohio voters to vote in person during the last three days prior to Election Day - a right previously conferred to all voters by the state - outweighs the state's interest in setting the 6 p.m. Friday deadline. The burden on Ohio voters' right to participate in the national and statewide election is great, as evidenced by the statistical analysis offered by Plaintiffs and not disputed by Defendants.

This is a huge victory for voters across the state, as an estimated 93,000 people voted during this same time period during the last presidential election.

Early voting in Ohio was passed into state law in 2006 as a way to make voting easier and to eliminate the outrageous voting lines we all saw in 2004. Now, early voting is under attack after just one voting cycle. What's interesting however is that these new efforts to scale back on voting opportunities for Ohio voters is being led by the same political leaders who voted to enact early voting. More interesting is that this one voting cycle where early voting was used happened to be during the historic election of 2008. 

Here's what Politifact's Truth-O-Meter had to say about these recent attacks on Ohio's early voting process:

The bill initially passed the Ohio House on June 21, 2005. The Senate approved legislation on Oct. 18, 2005. However, the Senate substantially altered the bill in its session -- including adding the in-person early voting. The House voted to accept those changes on Oct. 19, 2005. Gov. Bob Taft signed the bill and it became law on Jan. 27, 2006.

Official accounts of each chamber's vote are kept in the Ohio House and Senate Journals and they show that the Senate vote was a party-line vote of 22-10 with all 22 Senate Republicans voting for the bill and all 10 Democrats present voting against it.

The second House vote -- after the early voting language had been added to the bill -- was 60 to 36. All Republicans were in support. All Democrats were opposed.

News accounts of the debate show that while Democrats agreed with the legislation, they were upset that the no-fault absentee provision was being passed by GOP lawmakers just weeks before Ohioans were going to the polls to vote on a proposal to expand absentee voting opportunities.

COLUMBUS - Montgomery County Elections Board members Dennis Lieberman and Tom Ritchie Sr. were fired Tuesday by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted because they voted to keep voting hours in Dayton and their home county open on weekends.

"I'm disappointed, but not surprised. SOS Husted is trampling on the rights of voters in this state and he will target anyone who dares to stand up to his suppressive acts," Lieberman said.

"SOS Husted has acted rashly every step of the way so today's decision is unfortunate yet not unexpected," Ritchie said. "The losers here are the voters and our democracy. Voters want the polls open on weekends and evenings so give the people what they want."

Lieberman and Ritchie will confer with legal counsel before deciding next steps.

Saying "the Constitution demands a safety net without holes", a federal judge has blocked an Ohio law that automatically threw out provisional ballots cast at the wrong precinct. Under the law, voters who showed up at the right polling location, but were directed to a machine or table representing a different voting precinct, would not have their vote counted.

Secretary of State Jon Husted's office has announced they disagree with the ruling invalidating the "right church, wrong pew rule" and will likely appeal. If he succeeds, thousands of Ohioans will likely have their ballots thrown out because of errors beyond their control.

Mark Kovac has posted the memo from Jon Allison, the man who oversaw last week's hearing of Montgomery County Board of Elections members Tom Ritchie and Dennis Lieberman. Allison recommends firing them in his memo to Sec. of State Jon Husted.

Husted has announced he will make his decision tomorrow.

True the Vote is a Texas-based Tea Party off-shoot thas been described in news accounts as "one of the political right's fastest growing and most controversial groups."

It has been mired in pretty serious controversy, relating to its voter suppression tactics:

• Earlier this year a Texas judge found them to be a "GOP front group" and operating in violating of their tax status.
• Their primary tactics involve poll watching in minority districts which was so aggressive that it sparked an investigation by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.

It was announced earlier last week that Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted would be speaking at the group's Saturday conference in Columbus. Husted pulled out at the last minute, and didn't have to face protesters from ProgressOhio and Fight for a Fair Economy that were waiting for him outside the event.

Here's Rachel Maddow with more info about True the Vote and Husted's recent questionable decisions on voting:

Embattled Montgomery County Board of Elections officials Tom Ritchie and Dennis Lieberman have been temporarily reinstated. The reason given by Secretary of State Jon Husted is to ensure the board is able to meet "impending statutory deadlines."

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This morning sees the release of new polls from both Quinnipiac [doc] and the University of Cincinnati's Ohio Poll [pdf].

Quinnipiac shows President Obama up 6 points in Ohio, unchanged from their August 1st poll, and Sen. Sherrod Brown up 7 points over Treasurer Josh Mandel.

The Ohio Poll shows a tighter race with Obama up 3 points over Romney and Brown leading Mandel by a single point.

The other number that jumps out from the surveys is Quinnipiac's finding that only a around a quarter of voters support the Romney-Ryan plan to gut Medicare. In their analysis released with the survey they summarized, "By more than 4-1 margins, voters in each state say the health care program for the elderly is worth the cost and six in 10 say they favor keeping the current Medicare model."

Embattled Montgomery County Board of Election members Dennis Lieberman and Tom Ritchie were on the Rachel Maddow Show last night. You can watch the segment, which starts with a ProgressOhio video, here:

A decision on whether the two will be fired for voting in favor of longer polling hours is expected later this week.

Yesterday afternoon the Dispatch published comments from Franklin County GOP head, and long-time Kasich ally, Doug Preisse. Preisse stated:

"I guess I really actually feel we shouldn't contort the voting process to accommodate the urban -- read African-American -- voter-turnout machine," said Doug Preisse, chairman of the county Republican Party and elections board member who voted against weekend hours, in an email to The Dispatch. "Let's be fair and reasonable."

He called claims of unfairness by Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern and others "bullshit. Quote me!"

Even in the wake of national press attention, Preisse is standing by his comments.

Over one hundred people gathered outside Secretary of State Jon Husted's office this morning for a protest over voting hours and more are expected this afternoon for a 2 pm rally.

Secretary of State Jon Husted set off a fire storm by suspending two country board of election officials who voted to expand voting hours. Rather than just casting the tie breaking vote in favor of not expanding the hours, Husted took the radical step of suspending them prior to a hearing to be held this morning on whether to fire them. In response, over a 100 protesters gathered at 8 am this morning outside Husted's office to hear from the two embattled board members, Dennis Lieberman and Tom Ritchie.

Here are some of the signs that lined the streets of downtown Columbus this morning:

At 8 AM this Monday, August 20th, protesters will be gathering outside of the Secretary of State's office [map] to express their outrage at Jon Husted's decision to suspend two board of elections officials that voted to extend weekend polling hours.

Later that day, at 2 PM, protesters will gather at the corner of 4th and Broad streets in downtown Columbus for a rally to restore the weekend voting rights that citizens had in 2008. They will march past the Secretary of State's office to the county board of elections to make their voices heard at the board meeting.

COLUMBUS - A group of voting rights advocates (listed below) today called on Secretary of State Husted to restore at least two weekends for in-­‐person early voting.

"While we understand Secretary Husted's desire for uniformity, early voting hours must also be reasonable," said Carrie Davis, Executive Director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio. Norman Robbins, Research Director of the Northeast Ohio Voter Advocates" added, "Voters in many counties have come to expect that they will be able to cast an early ballot on Saturday or Sunday. Challenging budget times may mean that county Boards of Elections cannot offer early in-­‐person voting every weekend, but even offering two weekends for early voting would make a big difference for working Ohioans"

Recent restrictions on extended hours and weekends for early in-­‐person voting have eliminated the voting times when some 257,000 Ohioans voted in 2008. Secretary of State Husted's Directive 2012-­‐35 restores only 53,000 of these votes but denies the public the opportunity to vote on weekends. Restoration of two weekends for voting would permit another 51,000 to vote, and most of all give working people and African Americans (who used in-­‐person voting heavily) a chance to vote the way they preferred in 2008. Indeed, more than this number might vote on these weekends because 3 other weekends would still be denied to them. We note that despite availability of mailed vote-­‐by-­‐mail applications in 2008 in some counties, many voters in those counties chose to vote early in-­‐person rather than by mail. Therefore, mail applications are no substitute for our proposal.

We ask Sec. of State Husted to issue a revised Directive requiring that in addition to offering extended hours to 7:00 p.m. for in-­‐person absentee voting on Monday through Friday on October 22 through November 5, every Board of Elections should be required to also be open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m on Saturday, October 20 and Saturday, October 28; and from noon to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 21, and Sunday, October 28.

In deference to special needs of smaller counties, the Boards of Elections should also be instructed that they may obtain a waiver if their board members request one by unanimous vote.

This statement endorsed by:    League of Women Voters of Ohio, Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, Ohio Conference NAACP, Northeast Ohio Voter Advocates, Project Vote, Ohio AFL-­‐CIO, Miami Valley Voter Protection Coalition, Ohio Women with Disabilities Network, and Citizens Alliance for Secure Elections

(Cleveland) - State Senator Nina Turner (D-Cleveland) issued the following statement today in response to Secretary of State Jon Husted's announcement that all county boards of elections will have the same early voting hours this year:

"While I am pleased that Secretary of State Husted has decided to provide for uniform extended early voting hours during the this year's election, his directive does not go far enough. It will still be harder to vote in Cuyahoga County than it has been in the past, when voters had the option of casting ballots on Saturdays and Sundays.

"These more restrictive hours will still disproportionately affect the county's African American communities, which were responsible for 56 percent of all ballots cast on the four weekends leading up to the election in 2008.

"While the Secretary's decision does create uniformity, I cannot understand why--in a presidential election year--voters would not be afforded every opportunity to cast their ballot. Weekend voting is essential to promoting voter access."

Fair Elections Ohio notes that Ohio voters will not have an opportunity to vote for or against a repeal of HB 194, Ohio's latest voter suppression law. Over 500,000 Ohio voters petitioned and were granted their constitutional right to place the measure on the November ballot, only to see this right disappear in an unprecedented move by the Ohio Ballot Board today that treated their voices as a nullity. Today's decision by the Ohio Ballot Board ignored the voices of more than half a million Ohioans who sought to vote on what the legislature tried to do to their voting rights. Today's actions further illustrate the political culture of disrespect for the rights of Ohioans to determine the propriety of laws adopted by their leaders. Ohio's leaders took that right away from them.
 
Fair Elections Ohio Campaign Director Greg Moore added "Today's omission by the Ohio Ballot Board serves as a rubber stamp for the kind of partisanship that has no place in the state's election laws. The voices of a half-million Ohio voters who wanted to see this issue on the November ballot were silenced today. While today marks the 90th day since the passage of SB 295, which has now officially repealed all of the remaining provisions of HB 194, the earlier maneuvers of the state legislature still deny Ohio voters the final three days of weekend voting.
 
No one can deny that HB 194 has officially been defeated., Every voter who signed the petition and every organization and activist who worked to circulate petitions should take heart that their efforts were not in vain. Despite the unprecedented partisan maneuvering we have seen this year, we claim victory and thank our supporters for forcing legislative leaders to act as they never have before in the 100-year history of referendum in Ohio.
 
These Ohio voters have sent a strong warning signal to future legislators who attempt to roll back the voting rights of Ohioans.. "We now turn our attention to the courts where the issue of the full restoration of the final three days of voting preceding Election Day remains to be decided. This will allow voters to vote in the same manner as they voted during the relatively problem-free 2008 elections. We will fight vigorously until we obtain this full restoration. We are pleased that President Obama's election campaign has filed its lawsuit to restore the final three days of voting.

Democrat Derides Shameful Attempt to Use Military to Suppress Voting

COLUMBUS - State Rep. Teresa Fedor (D- Toledo) attended a hearing in federal court about restoring the final three days of early voting to all voters.  Afterwards she met with veterans who are supporting the Obama campaign's efforts to give voting back to all voters.  She released the following statement:

"I supported early voting for all voters 6 years ago along with my Republican colleagues.  Unfortunately, Republicans have changed their tune because they have seen how wonderfully early voting has worked out for working people, minorities, and any voter who cannot make it to the polls on Election Day but still wants to vote in person.  I am deeply saddened by the blatant attempts by Republicans to cut off voting opportunities for most voters, even veterans.  I would like to see them compete fairly in elections on the strength of their ideas, instead of by rigging the election system."

The lawsuit brought by President Obama's campaign seeks to restore the final 3 days of in-person early voting for all voters.  Republican legislators set two end dates for in-person early voting with the passage of SB 295, cutting off those final 3 days for veterans and most other voters despite their repeated hollow calls for uniformity.

House Bill 76 creates uniform counting of provisional ballots statewide
 
Columbus--State Representative Alicia Reece (D-Cincinnati) in a letter sent earlier this week has urged the Hamilton County Board of Elections to extend early voting hours for Hamilton County; this issue is up for review in their meeting on August 16th at 9:00 AM. Hamilton County had extended voting hours for the 2008 Presidential election and the 2010 gubernatorial election. Rep. Reece is asking that this practice be continued.
 
"Several heavy Republican populated counties have already voted to extend their hours.  Why wouldn't Hamilton County do the same?  Many working people need these extended hours so they can exercise their right to vote. This process has worked in the past; why change now!  Let's not disenfranchise the voters of Hamilton," says Rep. Reece.
 
Representative Reece is also calling for action in the State House on her legislation to standardize the counting of provisional ballots across the state.
 
The full text of the letter can be seen below:

Act of denying extended voting rights is unconstitutional
 
Cincinnati--Today in a press conference held at the Hamilton County Board of Elections, State Senator Eric H. Kearney and Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory called for Secretary of State Jon Husted to extend early voting hours for all 88 counties.
 
On August 16th, the Hamilton County Board of Elections will meet to vote on extending early voting hours, as was the case for the 2010 general election. The final vote by the board may end in a deadlock forcing Husted, a Republican, to cast the tie-breaking vote.
 
In recent weeks, Ohio's largest counties--including Franklin, Lucas, Summit and Cuyahoga--with large minority populations have had their extended voting hours cut as a result of tie-breaking votes cast by Husted. However, several Republican leaning counties will have additional early voting hours.
 
"This act of denying extended voting hours for a select population is unconstitutional and violates our 14th amendment rights," said Senator Kearney. "What is happening across the state in urban counties for extended early voting hours is a part of a pattern of voter suppression that needs to end."

Columbus - The Senate Democratic Caucus' leadership team today sent the following letter to Secretary of State Jon Husted:

Secretary of State Husted:
 
We write to you regarding the unequal access to the polls that exists for extended early voting hours in Ohio.  Thanks to tie-breaking votes you cast, Ohio's largest counties, which have significant minority populations and tend to vote Democratic, will not have extended early voting hours.  In the meantime, several Republican leaning counties will have additional early voting hours.  This defies the fundamental values of our democracy and raises suspicion that our voting system is being manipulated for partisan advantage.
 
Throughout your tenure as Secretary of State you have claimed to advocate for "uniform standards" that treat all voters the same.  Unfortunately, it has become abundantly clear that all voters in Ohio are not being treated the same in regards to early voting and any notion of "uniform standards" has been thrown out the window.  That is unacceptable and must be rectified immediately.
 
We call on you to take action to ensure fair and equal access to extended early voting hours across the state.  Whether you decide to reconsider your tie-breaking votes or issue a new directive, the result should be giving all Ohioans the opportunity to vote beyond normal business hours at their local boards of election.
 
Respectfully yours,

Sen. Eric H. Kearney

Sen. Edna Brown

Sen. Joe Schiavoni

Sen. Tom Sawyer

Sen. Nina Turner

Democrat Questions Why System is Made Available Only to Already-Registered Voters

COLUMBUS - State Rep. Michael Stinziano (D- Columbus) released the following statement in response to the Ohio Secretary of State's new online change of address system.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Today, Ohio Secretary of State Husted took a step towards improving voter access by announcing the availability of an online change of address system for existing voter registrations. That's one step, but there is a long way to go to making voting accessible, fair and equal in the state of Ohio.
 
We as voting advocates are dismayed that Secretary Husted and several Boards of Elections have voted to restrict early in person voting opportunities. We are calling upon Secretary Husted and the Boards of Elections in Cuyahoga, Franklin, Lucas, and Summit counties to reconsider the recent decisions to deny in person voting opportunities during evenings and weekends.
 
We all remember the long lines on Election Day 2004.  In counties all across this state voters waited as long as four, five, even six hours in the cold rain for the opportunity to cast their ballot at the polls.  Thankfully, those long lines have been a thing of the past since 2006 when the legislature allowed every Ohio voter the ability to vote absentee without a reason.
 
"Expanded access to early voting opportunities - both by mail and in person - has been hugely successful with voters and reduced lines on Election Day," said Carrie Davis, Executive Director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio.  "While Secretary Husted is to be commended for expanding access to voting by mail, it is disappointing that the Secretary and several county Boards of Elections have rolled back successful early in-person voting hours in some of the counties hit hardest by long lines in 2004."

Columbus -Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted today launched a new online service that allows Ohio's registered voters to update their voting address online.

This new tool, housed at www.MyOhioVote.com, will help voters in meeting their primary responsibility: To be registered at their current addresses 30 days prior to an election. Additionally, reducing manual data entry at Ohio's boards of elections will save tax dollars and improve the accuracy and security of Ohio's voter rolls.

"We are making it easier for Ohio voters to do their part in making Election Day run smoothly," Secretary Husted said. "This added convenience for voters is also a powerful tool against voter fraud as current and accurate voter rolls leave less room for abuse."

The most common reason a voter must cast a provisional rather than a regular ballot on Election Day is because they have not updated their address prior to the voter registration deadline. Provisional voters' ballots must be verified for eligibility in the days following an election before they can be included in the official tally. Secretary Husted noted that had this system been in place during the 2008 Presidential Election, an estimated 130,000 voters who cast a provisional ballot could have taken advantage of this convenience and voted a regular ballot.

Petitioners have met requirements to place issue on November 2012 ballot.

COLUMBUS - Secretary of State Jon Husted today certified that petitioners seeking to place a redistricting reform constitutional amendment on the November ballot collected an additional 151,889 valid signatures. The total number of valid signatures now certified is 406,514 and meets the constitutional requirements. Petitioners needed 385,253 valid signatures, or 10 percent of the total vote cast for Governor in 2010.

As part of the total number of valid signatures needed to place the measure on the ballot, petitioners must also have collected signatures from at least 44 of Ohio's 88 counties, and within each of those counties collected enough valid signatures equal to five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election, 2010. Petitioners for the proposed constitutional amendment met or exceeded the five percent threshold in 60 counties.

Additional Information

Secretary of State Certification Letter (PDF)

Petition Tracking Sheets (Includes County-by-County Breakdown) (PDF)

2010 Governor's Race Percentage Chart (Includes County-by-County Breakdown)

Procedure for a Citizen-Initiated Constitutional Amendment

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted today certified 406,514 registered voters names submitted by Voters First, above the 385,000-plus required to qualify for the general election. The group also met required threshold levels in 60 counties.

Barring a legal challenge -- the Ohio Republican Party and others have questioned whether Voters First' signature-gathering efforts were legal -- the next step in the process will involve the state ballot board finalizing language to be put before voters, as well as arguments for and against the issue.

Voters First, the non-partisan movement led by the League Of Women Voters, filed 300,904 additional signatures with the Ohio Secretarty of State on Saturday, adding to the previously filed petitions for a total of over 400,000 valid signatures - ensuring placement on the November ballot.

Thanks go out to all the volunteers who worked tirelessly to collect signatures and thanks to all the ProgressOhio members who came out to sign the petition.

Friday is the Voters First fair districts petition deadline, and we need your help. 
 
I just received an urgent note from the Voters First movement. Due to recent developments, they now fully expect an aggressive and unprecedented attack on petition signatures by politicians and their insider cronies. These self-serving special interests have recently made it clear that they will use every means necessary to stop the voice of everyday Ohioans from being heard. 
 
Every signature will likely be attacked, so if you haven't signed, it's critical that you to find a location and sign today. There are NEW signing locations all across the state. 
 
Click here to find the signing location nearest you!
 
The Voters First campaign and its partners continue to collect as many signatures as possible in the final days, but it's going to be very, very close. As of today, the campaign projects that they have 350,000 valid signatures. That number is 50,000 short of the 400,000 total valid signatures the effort will need to defeat possible challenges by opponents. 
 
Our opponents are desperate. They will work to silence the voice of everyday Ohioans in every way possible. Their only concern is holding on to their power and that means stopping our non-partisan effort to put citizens in charge of creating fair districts. 
 
There are lots of new signing locations across the state, and it is now easier than ever to find a location to sign a petition and get involved with this historic movement. 
 
Click here to find a signing location near you!
 
If you've already signed a petition, consider picking one up to circulate at one of the signing locations or sharing the petition link on Facebook and asking your friends and family to sign. 
 
We have just a few days left to make the ballot and put the power of our government back where it belongs - in the hands of the people. 
 
Your signature will make the difference.

Get the Scoop!   

Come learn more about voting and protecting your rights and enjoy free ice cream! 

Common Cause Ohio, OhioVotes, Project Vote, Ohio Voice, ProgressOhio and the Advancement Project would like to invite you to an ice cream social on Saturday, July 28 at 2:00pm at Advent United Church of Christ, 2303 N. Cassady Ave., Columbus, Ohio 43219.

Get the scoop on voting from the Franklin County Board of Elections and from voting rights and election experts. 

My Vote Counts! Rev. Susan K. Smith, author of "Crazy Faith: Ordinary People; Extraordinary Faith" and Sam Gresham of Common Cause will share why voting is important to them.   

We'd like to hear your story too!

Speakers also include Camille Wimbish of Project Vote, Donita Judge of the Advancement Project and Professor Dan Tokaji of Election Law @ Moritz at The Ohio State University.

Did you hear the bad news? They're winning.

Voters First will make Ohio a state where the voter's voice is heard. Lobbyists and politicians will no longer have the power to deviously scheme behind closed doors to redraw Ohio's congressional districts to protect themselves at the expense of the people they are supposed to serve.

We are looking to purge our state of corruption while restoring power to the people by creating a transparent, independent 12 member Citizen's Commission to redraw fair districts for every Ohioan.

But without your help. the lobbyists and self-interested politicians will win.

The clock is ticking and Voters First only has until next week to collect more than 100,000 valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

Don't let corporate money silence the voice of millions of Ohioans! Visit  ProgressOhio to get involved and sign a petition near you.

With your help, we can once again live in an Ohio where people, not politicians hold the power.

COLUMBUS -- The Voters First constitutional amendment on redistricting reform needs more than 130,000 more signatures to get on the November ballot .

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced that 254,625 valid signatures have been submitted. Ten percent of the total votes cast for governor in 2010 is needed. That's 385,243.

Petitioners also fell short of a requirement to collect at least five percent of ballots cast in 44 counties. The threshold was met in 34 counties.

The Voters First group has ten more days to make up the difference. Additional signatures must be in no later than Saturday, July 28.

Catherine Turcer, Chair of Voters First, said, "When the collection ends we are confident that in Novemebr the voters of Ohio will be able to put people first. We have continued to give voters the opportunity to tell politicians who use redistricting to protect themselves and their cronies that it's time for voters first; it's time for redistricting to be in the hands of a non-partisan, independent citizens commission.

Our volunteers will continue to use this ten day window to collect the signatures needed, so that in November voters will have a say.

While the politicians raise money from lobbyists and insiders behind closed doors at private clubs to protect their power, tens of thousands of Ohio voters have added their names to the Voters First petition - to restore the power of their voice and vote."

COLUMBUS- State Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) released the following statement on the decision by President Obama's campaign to file suit in federal court today to restore early voting during the Saturday, Sunday and Monday before Election Day.

"I applaud President Obama's decision to fight the shameful attempts by Ohio Republicans to limit early voting.  I have fought this battle on the floor of the legislature and also made repeated calls to Secretary of State Jon Husted to allow the people to vote, all to no avail. 

The last three days of early voting are by far the three busiest.  These days are crucial to the ability of all Ohioans to exercise their right to vote, free from the long lines and chaos that plagued our state in 2004. 

Ohio Republicans want to take us back to a time when voting was a privilege, not one of our most sacred rights.  President Obama wants to take us forward, and I commend him for it."

The Voters First amendment ensures every Ohio voter's right to fair, competitive elections by replacing the current system - where politicians draw their own legislative and congressional districts - with an independent, non-partisan, citizen's commission that will draw districts out in the open for everyone to see. Politicians, lobbyists and political insiders are not permitted to serve on the commission.

The petition submission on July 3rd includes signatures of more than 430,000 registered voters, which means Voters First has met the mandated requirement of collecting at least 385,253 signatures from half (44) of Ohio's 88 counties. In fact, they met the threshold in over 50 counties. But during the Ohio Secretary of State's verification period, Voters First still wants to get as many signatures as possible. So please continue to do the great work out in the field that has made this effort possible! 

Voters First Amendment Takes Politicians and Special Interests Out of Redistricting; Replaces Them With Independent Nonpartisan Citizen Commission.

COLUMBUS, OH -- Voters First, the non-partisan movement led by the League of Women Voters, filed petitions today with the Ohio Secretary of State to place a constitutional amendment on the November ballot. The Voters First amendment ensures every Ohio voter's right to fair, competitive elections by replacing the current system--where politicians draw their own legislative and congressional districts--with an independent, non-partisan, citizens commission that will draw new districts out in the open for everyone to see. Politicians, lobbyists and political insiders are not permitted to serve on the commission.

See Where You Can Sign a Petition This Weekend!

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11) sent a formal request to Ohio Secretary of State John Husted yesterday requesting the number of registered voters, organized by county, who have been removed, or "purged" from the Ohio voter rolls since 2008. The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), is a federal law which helps to ensure accurate and current voter registration rolls are maintained. States are required to perform general voter record maintenance due to NVRA.
 
On April 18, 2011, the Secretary's office issued instructions to the election boards on how to conduct the general voter records maintenance program as required by law. However, when requested by the Congresswoman's office, she learned that the information was not maintained by the Secretary's office or readily available in its entirety.
 
The letter to Secretary of State Husted asks for public disclosure of the number of voters removed from the rolls across Ohio - information that should be cotinuously maintained and available to all citizens of the state.  The Congresswoman asked that the information be made readily accessible to Ohioans no later than October 9, 2012, the last day of registration before the General Election.

Earlier today, the Fair Elections Legal Network, along with Advancement Project, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, and Project Vote filed suit against Florida's Scretary of State Ken Detzner over their recent efforts to remove alleged non-citizens from their voter rolls.

This purging not only directly violates the National Voter Registration Act, but already hundreds eligible voters have been improperly flagged for removal as part of the process. Once flagged, these citizens are forced to provide proof of citizenship within 30 days of recieving a notification letter, which may be easily lost or misplaced. The burden falls in the hands of the citizens to update the state's records, rather than on the state itself.

Furthermore, the data matching process by which Florida is conducting the purge is flawed and innacurate. The state is using potentially out-of-date information from the DMV and jury recusal records, which can also suffer from error in data entry, similar-sounding names, and changing information.

This lawsuit will protect all eligible voters in Florida from being erroneously removed from the voter rolls. While counties have an obligation to clean and update voter rolls, they also have an obligation to follow the law in doing so.  There is no way to make up for a voter who loses their right to vote through this impermissible process.  Once it's lost, it's lost.  If there are people on the roles improperly, there is a legal process to remove them.

Voters First is led by a coalition of nonpartisan groups and people from across Ohio.  It was created to take the power over drawing our congressional and legislative districts out of the hands of the politicians and put it in the hands of the people.

The Voters First campaign comes after a highly controversial redistricting process where Ohio's district maps -- drawn by politicians -- received widespread criticism from citizens and editorial boards of major newspapers across Ohio for destroying competition, dividing communities, and giving one political party an unfair advantage over the other party.

Sign the Petition today!

Sen. Sherrod Brown appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show Wednesday to warn that the amount of corporate money being spent on politics today is "potentially disastrous for our democracy."

Watch It:

COLUMBUS - ProgressOhio today called on the Ohio General Assembly to halt an earmark tucked away in HB 487, the Mid-Biennium Review (MBR). The earmark shifts redistricting tax funds away from public oversight while covering redistricting costs for majority party legislators and shutting out minority legislators.

Buried in the omnibus budget revision bill was the transfer of $350,000 from the Legislative Task Force on redistricting to the Ohio Attorney General's office. This contradicts and overrides a previous agreement signed by both parties in the General Assembly on how task force funds should be expended by individual caucuses.

"The party in power already used redistricting to hurt their opposition at the ballot box. Now this earmark is being used to hit them in the pocketbook," said Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director, ProgressOhio.

November's ballot already is so overcrowded that Ohio voters may just give up instead of trying to make sense of it. But a potential addition to the long list of state and local levies and questions is both timely and needed.

Every 10 years, after the national Census, Ohio adjusts the boundaries of state legislative and U.S. House districts to reflect population changes. Whether Republicans or Democrats control the General Assembly and hold the statewide offices that are charged with redrawing the lines, the party in power abuses its power to create more districts for itself and fewer for the other party.

The gerrymandering is often appalling. The new 9th Congressional District meanders along Lake Erie from Toledo to Cleveland. It is neither compact nor competitive, and is contiguous only because of a bridge that connects two parts of the district that are separated by water.

State lawmakers talk about making the process less political. This year, the GOP-controlled legislature created two panels -- the Redistricting Task Force and the Constitutional Modernization Commission -- to recommend changes.

But there is little hope for reform when Gov. John Kasich and state Senate President Thomas Niehaus, both Republicans, say they don't think the Ohio Constitution requires neutrality in redistricting.

So it is up to Ohio voters to do what politicians won't: remove the apparently irresistible temptation to place partisanship ahead of public interest. And the only way to do that is with a constitutional amendment that will put a nonpartisan, independent citizens' commission in charge of creating compact, competitive political districts that reflect the demographics of the state.

Voters First Ohio, a nonpartisan coalition of government watchdog groups, has advocated such a plan for years. It held public contests to create districts that would be immensely fairer than those drawn in Columbus. It is routinely ignored by the state's political leaders.

CLICK HERE to read more.

COLUMBUS, OH -- Voters First, the non-partisan coalition, led by the League of Women Voters of Ohio, formed to give the people the power to draw congressional and legislative districts instead of politicians, today kicked off a week of campaign activity that includes welcoming  We Are Ohio in the effort to amend the Ohio Constitution to restore voting power to the people by making every vote truly count.

"Voters First is actively collecting signatures to ask voters in November to amend the Ohio Constitution to restore the voting power to the people," said Ann Henkener, Ohio League of Women Voters Director. "We believe voters should choose their elected representatives. Politicians should not pick their voters."

The constitutional amendment would create a non-partisan independent citizens commission responsible for drawing legislative and congressional boundaries in the state. No politicians or lobbyists would be permitted to sit on the citizens' commission.

"We Are Ohio supports Ohio Voters First because it is time for our elected officials to represent us," said Izetta Thomas, a Columbus special needs teacher. "When politicians pick their voters, they go against the will of the people and we end up with extreme legislation like Senate Bill 5.

Ohio Voters First has volunteers collecting the approximately 386,000 valid signatures to put the amendment on the ballot in November.

"We are going to be hitting the streets, going door to door, organizing drive-thru signature collection efforts where people don't even have to get out their cars to sign the petition," said Dave Janiszewski, who works for a Mt. Vernon manufacturer. "The time is now to return the power to the people. We need to take our voice and vote back."

COLUMBUS- State Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) released the following statement upon the signing of SB 295, an unprecedented partial legislative repeal of HB 194, which was signed by Gov. Kasich today.   SB 295 is an unconstitutional effort to undermine voters' rights to challenge the terms of a bad law at the ballot box.

"One year ago, Republicans rammed through one of the worst voter suppression bills in state history, House Bill 194.  HB 194 dramatically limited early voting opportunities, created meaningless reasons to throw out perfectly good absentee and provisional ballots, and took away local control from counties who adopted practices to eliminate the long lines that plagued Ohio voters in the 2004 presidential election.

"Senate Bill 295 does not repeal all of the vote suppressing provisions of HB 194.  By signing this into law today, Gov. Kasich is disregarding the wishes of over 400,000 voters who want those three days of early voting back.  This overreach by the Republicans could again mire Ohio in expensive litigation during a busy election year."

Niehaus and Blessing Ordered To Dismiss Ohio Supreme Court Case That Sought To Re-impose Voting-Rights Violations That Federal Consent Decree Corrects

COLUMBUS, OHIO - U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley has ordered Ohio Republican leaders to cease their efforts to interfere with a federal Consent Decree that protects Ohioans' voting rights. The order enjoins Republican legislative leaders Thomas E. Niehaus and Louis W. Blessing, Jr. from pursuing a case that the two filed on April 16 before the Ohio Supreme Court and orders the legislators to dismiss the case, The case seeks to undermine a voting-rights Consent Decree the plaintiffs obtained in April 2010 from Judge Marbley. The Decree was issued in the case now captioned as Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless et al. v. Husted, et al. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Case No. 2:06-cv-896.

The injunction was sought by plaintiffs, the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1199, joined by intervenor the Ohio Democratic Party.

Niehaus is the Ohio Senate President and Blessing is the Ohio House Speaker Pro Tempore.

In issuing his order, Judge Marbley held that there could be no reasonable dispute that as leaders of Ohio's General Assembly suing in their official capacities in the name of the State of Ohio, Niehaus and Blessing were acting as agents of the State of Ohio, despite the State's prior agreement to enter into the Decree. The Judge in the hearing announcing his decision said that federal courts would be protective of the right of the franchise and invoked the federal All Writs Act that enables federal courts to protect their jurisdiction and judgments against interference.

The Decree requires the Secretary of State to direct Ohio's 88 county election boards to count certain provisional ballots where poll workers make mistakes. For example, ballots must be counted where poll workers (1) wrongly allowed the voter to cast a vote in the wrong precinct (but right polling place), (2) wrongly allowed the voter not to complete or sign the provisional-ballot application, or (3) incorrectly failed to complete or sign the provisional-ballot application for the voter. These have been common government-worker errors in the election.

Plaintiffs' counsel Subodh Chandra, a Cleveland attorney, said, "Judge Marbley's decision ensures that legitimate voters do not lose their right to vote when government workers make mistakes. One would hope that these legislators stop their efforts, on the eve of a presidential election, to undermine the right to vote."

Critically, the Decree protects those who lack the state-mandated forms of ID that require a person to have financial means (such as a utility bill, bank statement, or current driver's license reflecting a current address), by ensuring that voters who provide social-security numbers to prove their identities will have their provisional ballots counted. The Decree thus reached a compromise regarding plaintiffs' concerns that the voter-ID law was a poll tax and disenfranchised voters who are poor or transient. After all, for example, many poor people do not have utility or bank statements in their names.

COLUMBUS--State Senator Nina Turner (D-Cleveland) issued the following statement today regarding the approval by the House or Representatives of Senate Bill 295, legislation that will repeal HB 194:

"It is a truly sad day for the people of Ohio.  Not only have their lawmakers plainly circumvented their will and rendered the pending referendum on HB 194 moot, they have passed legislation that clearly conflicts with provisions of the Ohio Constitution.

"HB 194 was an historic step backwards in the struggle for voting rights because it made it harder for voters' voices to be heard.  Senate Bill 295 is an equally negligent blunder in that it disregards the voters altogether--300,000 of which signed petitions to vote upon HB 194 this November.  Moreover, SB 295 still bans early voting the three days immediately preceding an election, perennially the busiest time period of early voting.

"Instead of working to address the hardships faced by the long-term unemployed, putting more teachers in the classroom, or investing in the infrastructure of tomorrow, majority Republicans have made it their mission to help Jim Crow move north, keep women in the kitchen, and restrict workers' rights."

Bill Also Aimed at Stopping Voter Referendum

COLUMBUS - The Ohio House of Representatives this afternoon once again approved legislation that will make it harder for citizens to vote.  State Representative Matthew A. Szollosi (D-Toledo) voted against Senate Bill 295 and issued the following statement:

The election law changes created in Senate Bill 295 serves only to create more voter confusion and further chaos, complicating the process in November.  It is another blatant attempt by the Republican majority to make it difficult for the citizens of Ohio to exercise their right to vote.  The bill has been described as the repeal of House Bill 194, another bad piece of legislation which they passed earlier in the year.   It put the obstacles in place to undermine the effort to make sure all votes are counted and that everyone would have ample opportunity to have their voice heard.  Unfortunately, that obstacle -- the elimination of the last three days of early voting before Election Day-- remains in place in Senate Bill 295.

"Senate Bill 295 presents an unprecedented legislative action that has never been taken in the Ohio General Assembly's 209-year history - a pre-emptive legislative repeal to a law that has been certified for a citizen's referendum. This bill undermines the right of referendum that is enshrined in our constitution and I believe it will be met with a serious and credible constitutional challenge.

"Once again, this legislation is a means to reduce turnout in densely populated urban areas by severely restricting successful early vote initiatives. These changes will disenfranchise minorities, young people, the elderly, and those on the lower end of the socio-economic scale.  It has no place in Ohio law."

Urges Republicans to Stop Pursuing Elections Laws and Legal Actions that Harm Voters

COLUMBUS- State Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) released the following statement on the passage of Senate Bill 295, an unprecedented partial legislative repeal of HB 194, which is subject to voter referendum.   SB 295 is an unconstitutional effort to undermine voters' rights to challenge the terms of a bad law at the ballot box.

"It is time to end the tricks, and end the attacks on Ohioans most basic rights-- whether it's the right to referendum, which is enshrined in Ohio's constitution, or the very right to vote.  SB 295 is not a straight repeal of House Bill 194, the voter suppression bill that's been certified for a citizen's referendum.  In fact, it brings back one of the most harmful provisions of HB 194-- the elimination of the three busiest days of early voting.

"I'm not optimistic, but I will try to remain hopeful that talks on this serious matter can continue, and a compromise on this unprecedented legislative repeal can be reached.  SB 295 in its current form should not be signed into law."

COLUMBUS, Ohio -Former Director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, Rep. Michael Stinziano, criticized House passage of the Senate bill to repeal HB 194 as a political tactic to subvert the will of Ohio voters. The passage of SB 295 is a legislative attempt to end early voting the final days before Election Day.

"I am disappointed with the Majority's decision to reject bi-partisan compromise and instead move ahead with Senate Bill 295 in an attempt to repeal HB 194 before voters can decide on it this November," Rep. Stinziano said.

However, the legislation is not a "clean" repeal and includes provisions that would end early voting prior to the final days before the election.

"As someone who signed the referendum petition to address, among other things, the taking away of local control to set voting hours, I am disheartened by this partisan maneuver," Rep. Stinziano added. "Today I offered a common sense amendment to restore early voting to the close of business the day before Election Day, restoring Ohio's voting laws to what they were prior to HB 194 and HB 224. It was rejected along partisan lines. If the goal today was to truly reset and return election law to what it was during the 2010 elections, then corrective changes are needed to address all legislative changes to remove the final few days of voting. This is exactly what my amendment would have accomplished."

The Plain Dealer Reports:

The Ohio House of Representatives has passed a bill to repeal a controversial election law up for a referendum on Nov. 6.

The vote early Tuesday afternoon was 54-42. The bill now goes to Gov. John Kasich for approval; he is expected to sign it.

Democrats strongly objected to the repeal because it does not restore in-person absentee voting the weekend before an election -- a provision in the bill up for referendum and duplicated in a later bill.

Democrats also said the repeal violates the people's right to referendum.

Ohio House Democratic Leader Armond Budish (D- Beachwood) said, "Senate Bill 295 constitutes an admission by Republican lawmakers that they violated voters' rights last year when they passed HB 194 to suppress Ohioans constitutional right to vote.  

But SB 295 is deceptive; it is not a clean or complete repeal.  Instead it is another attempt to disenfranchise voters by enabling one of the most harmful provisions of HB 194 - the elimination of the last three days of early voting before Election Day.  

Cutting off in-person early voting on the three busiest voting days makes it harder for working Ohioans to exercise their right to vote. SB 295 also undermines citizens' constitutional right to challenge a bad law through the referendum process.

Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, chaired a field hearing today examining the impact of Ohio's new voting law, HB 194, which restricts early voting, eliminates the requirement that poll workers direct voters to the proper precinct, and makes it harder to vote absentee. Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown joined Durbin at the hearing.

"If the goal of Ohio's new voting law is to drive down turnout by causing confusion and erecting barriers to the ballot, than the law will undoubtedly be a success," Durbin said. "Cutting back on early voting, making it difficult for voters to find their polling place and hurting the ability for voters to vote absentee could disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Ohio voters. Regardless of how clever or innocuous a new voting law may seem, if it makes it harder or impossible for citizens to cast a ballot, we must speak out and work to get that law modified, repealed, or invalidated by a court of law. And that's why we're here in Ohio today."

"H.B. 194 is a solution in search of a problem. It will repeal a number of common-sense measures that assist Ohioans in voting. For instance, this law eliminates early voting on the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday prior to the election, the three busiest days of early voting. This reduction was made despite the fact that in 2008, up to 19 percent of Ohio voters cast their ballots on the weekend prior to the election," Brown said. "Not only that, but under H.B. 194,  ballot workers will be prohibited from directing voters--who may be their friends, colleagues, or parishioners--to the correct polling location. Rather than protecting the right to vote, HB 194 is a brazen attempt to undermine it. This bill will disenfranchise more Ohioans of their right to vote, and that's wrong. Our citizens deserve better."

Bishop Timothy J. Clarke, the visionary leader and Senior Pastor of First Church of God in Columbus gives a statement encouraging Ohio lawmakers not to block access to the polls by way of legislation.

Watch It:

COLUMBUS: Religious leaders joined voters today in calling on state lawmakers to reopen the voting booths on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday before Election Day in November.

"This is a voting rights, a civil rights and a moral issue. Our vote is sacred. In 2008, an estimated 93,000 voters cast their ballots on the three days right before Election Day," said Rev. Timothy C. Ahrens of the First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ in downtown Columbus. "Politicians need to stop playing games and restore all voting opportunities to Ohioans."

Tasha Jones, a Columbus mother of four who has two jobs and works on Election Day at a voting precinct, said in 2008 she drove fellow church members to vote on the Sunday before the election.

"So many people have died fighting for their right to vote. They were beaten, thrown in jail. I don't take my right to vote lightly. I want to be able to vote early on the final weekend in person," Jones said.

US Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, has announced a field hearing With Senator Sherrod Brown examining the impact of Ohio's new voting law, HB 194, which restricts early voting, eliminates the requirement that poll workers direct voters to the proper precinct, and makes it harder to vote absentee.

As an Ohio voter, can you attend this important hearing?

Who:   US Senator Dick Durbin
            US Senator Sherrod Brown
 
What:  Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights Field Hearing: "New State Voting Laws III:  Protecting the Right to Vote in America's Heartland"
 
When:   Monday, May 7, 2012 9:30am ET
 
Where: Carl B. Stokes United States Court House
              801 West Superior Avenue
              Cleveland, Ohio

US Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, yesterday announced a field hearing examining the impact of Ohio's new voting law, HB 194, which restricts early voting, eliminates the requirement that poll workers direct voters to the proper precinct, and makes it harder to vote absentee.  The hearing will be held on Monday, May 7th, at the Carl B. Stokes United States Court House in Cleveland, Ohio.  Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) will join Durbin at the hearing.

Ohio's new law reduces the number of early voting days from 35 to 17, eliminates voting on the weekend before an election, removes the requirement that poll workers direct voters to their proper precinct and prohibits county boards of elections from mailing unsolicited absentee ballots.  HB 194 will be subject to a ballot repeal measure in November.  Witnesses will be announced at a later date.

They're at it again.

Out of touch politicians in Columbus are locking the doors on your voting booth, barring you from your most sacred right in our Democracy.

Protect Your Voting RightsThey are also up to their old tricks to stop you this November from making it easier and more convenient to vote.

Democracy shouldn't be this hard, but these extremists don't want you to vote. They passed a law last year to close the window of opportunity to vote early or by absentee. We didn't take this voter suppression sitting down. Hundreds of thousands of voters collected signatures to repeal this law just like we did last year with Senate Bill 5, the unfair, unsafe attack on us all.

Now, these politicians are saying Senate Bill 295 will repeal the anti-voting rights law, but the truth is it won't. You still will not be able to vote on the weekend and Monday prior to Election Day. In 2008, tens of thousands of voters cast their ballots, but this year the voting booths will be padlocked on those days.

Sign our on-line petition now and add your name to the thousands who are demanding that the Ohio House of Representatives stop suppressing the voting rights of Ohioans.

SB 295 continues to limit voting rights and opportunities for all voters and is NOT a true repeal.

Columbus - Senate Democratic Leader Eric H. Kearney (D-Cincinnati), Senator Joe Schiavoni (D-Boardman), Senator Edna Brown (D-Toledo), Senator Nina Turner (D-Cleveland), Senator Shirley Smith (D-Cleveland) and Senator Charleta B. Tavares (D-Columbus) today condemned continued efforts by Republicans in the General Assembly to disenfranchise voters. 

Yesterday, Senate President Tom Niehaus (R-New Richmond) and House Speaker Pro Tempore Lou Blessing (R-Cincinnati) filed a lawsuit (State of Ohio ex. rel. Neihaus v. Husted) asking the Ohio Supreme Court to overturn a federal consent degree which, if successful, would result in fewer provisional ballots being counted.

"The lawsuit makes it clear that Republicans in the General Assembly will stop at nothing to disenfranchise more Ohioans," said Senator Kearney.  "They are circumventing constitutionally guaranteed rights and defying the federal courts in a cynical effort to throw the next election in their favor."

"Wasting taxpayer dollars to eliminate voting rights is a lose-lose situation," added Senator Tavares.

COLUMBUS-State Rep. Michael Stinziano (D-Columbus), former Director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, released the following statement regarding the lawsuit filed by Majority leaders yesterday against Secretary of State Jon Husted:

"I am disappointed in the misguided suit brought against the Secretary of State yesterday by leaders in the Majority. The decree this suit seeks to reverse was a result of the many serious legal issues that arose from the 2004 election under Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. The suit ignores the circumstances and the embarrassment that many Ohioans suffered during the 2004 election and I am disappointed by the Majority's imprudent lawsuit that would prevent some qualified voters from having their properly cast ballot counted. If the goal is to return to the disastrous election process Ohioans saw in 2004, then this lawsuit will take us there.

"Patchwork"changes would further add to internal inconsistencies, voter confusion

Citing voter confusion and critical timing issues, a group of voter advocates including the League of Women Voters of Ohio and Common Cause Ohio today called on the Ohio General Assembly to halt further voting legislation until 2013.

"Voters are already confused due to all the voting legislation proposed in 2011 and 2012," said Carrie Davis, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio. "Did voter ID change? Is early voting the same as 2010? Why does early voting end the Friday before the election when HB 194 was blocked by the referendum?

"Enough already!" said Davis. "Legislating in a hurry is a bad way to do business, especially when it comes to election law. When the election code is changed in a patchwork fashion, it creates internal inconsistencies and voter confusion."

Here is our chance.

Politicians draw lines for their own districts -  the fox guarding the henhouse.

You can stop it.

    •    How different would Ohio be if Legislators and Congress faced competitive districts?
    •    How different would Ohio be if politics were taken out of the process, communities would be kept whole and citizens made the rules?

That's why Voters First needs your help to circulate petitions to change redistricting in Ohio.

Sign up to fundamentally change and give power back to Ohioans through Voters First's petition.

    •    A system where citizens are paneled to make the rules not politicians.
    •    A system where no party has an edge and party politics takes a back seat to a supermajority that requires dialogue.
    •    A system that protects your communities from divided representation and limits to 5% any partisan advantage.
    •    A system that gives the Ohio Supreme Court narrow rules to prevent gaming the system.

Sign up today to be a circulator for Voter's First.

It's time to put power back in people - not politicians!

Voters First Cleared to Circulate Petitions for Citizen Redistricting Amendment
 
COLUMBUS, OH -- The Ohio Ballot Board today gave Voters First the green light to begin their effort to place a constitutional amendment on the November ballot, which will take the power to draw Ohio's legislative and congressional districts out of the hands of politicians and political elites and put it in the hands of a nonpartisan citizen's commission. 
 
"It's time to end 'fox in the henhouse' politics and give voters a real voice in our government," explained Ann Henkener, spokesperson for Voters First and a board member of the League of Women Voters of Ohio.
 
The group's proposed constitutional amendment comes after a highly controversial redistricting process where the State's district maps -- drawn by politicians and their national political party --received criticism from editorial boards of major newspapers across the state.

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) -- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today certified the petition for the proposed legislative redistricting amendment to the Ohio Constitution.

On March 19, 2012, the Ohio Attorney General's Office received a written petition to add and repeal language to the Ohio Constitution from the committee to represent the petitioners. The submission was certified today as containing both the necessary 1,000 valid signatures from registered Ohio voters and a "fair and truthful" summary of the proposed amendment.

"Once again the Republican-controlled Senate continues to play games with the voting rights of Ohio voters. Instead of taking the opportunity to pass a true repeal of both HB 194 and the provisions of HB 224 that eliminated weekend voting, the Senate chose instead to codify this prohibition with the passage of HB 295. By voting down Democratic sponsored amendments in committee and on the Senate Floor they missed the chance to fully repeal HB 194 and restore the full early voting rights to Ohio voters.

The passage of SB 295 will return Ohio's elections to the days of long lines on Election Day and voter confusion. Most importantly SB 295 is an attempt by the legislature to remove the referendum from the ballot and take away an important constitutional right of voters to have the final say on the issue this November.

Voting rights and the right to vote on constitutional referenda are not pawns in a chess game. Both H.B. 194 and now SB 295 as passed by the Senate are harmful laws that curtail and not expand Ohioans' voting rights. We urge the House to reject this approach and restore the full voting rights to voters when they take this bill up in the coming weeks.

H.B. 194 has been out of the hands of the legislature since the governor signed it in July 2011. It has been certified by the Secretary of State for a November 6th referendum vote for more than three months. It is discouraging to watch our state legislature waste the public's time and money debating how it can prevent Ohio voters from having their say on H.B. 194.

The failure of the legislature in S.B. 295 to restore Ohio's election laws to what they were before the passage of H.B. 194 demonstrates a motive that rests more in politics than in policy. If the legislature is truly interested in restoring voting rights, it would repeal the provisions of H.B. 224 that were adopted to correct parts of H.B. 194 related to weekend voting."

Columbus - Today the Senate Democratic Caucus voted unanimously against the repeal of House Bill 194.  More than 300,000 Ohioans signed petitions calling for a statewide referendum on the controversial voter suppression bill. However, Republicans in the General Assembly are moving to repeal HB 194 before the citizens of Ohio have the opportunity to vote on the referendum.

"This will set a dangerous precedent for future referendums," said Senate Minority leader Eric H. Kearney (D-Cincinnati).  "If the General Assembly can repeal a bill that is subject to referendum and then pass the same or similar legislation, it makes the referendum process meaningless.  The citizens of this state would no longer have the power to fight hyper-partisan legislation such as last year's Senate Bill 5."

The Ohio Senate today voted along party lines to pass Senate Bill 295, which repeals HB 194.  This unprecedented legislative maneuver circumvents Ohio's constitution.

"The framers of our state constitution set up a system of checks and balances where the ultimate power belongs to the people not legislators," said Senator Shirley Smith (D-Cleveland).  "After losing their effort to strip collective bargaining from public employees, Republicans are undermining citizen rights to avoid another defeat at the ballot box."

It turns out yesterday was the 200th anniversary of the political cartoon which put a name to the practice of drawing funky political lines for partisan reasons.

We didn't buy the gerrymander a cake, but our friends at Ohio Citizen Action did put together a top ten list to mark the occasion:

Top Ten Reasons for Ohioans to Reject Gerrymandering

1. Ohio's new Congressional Districts now look like they were drawn using an Etch A Sketch.

2. Ohio's new 9th Congressional District is so narrow that with a good long jump you could leap right over it -- from the 4th District, right in to Lake Erie.

3. The mapmakers put The Ohio State University and Ohio University in the same Congressional District instead of the NCAA Elite 8.

4. Tax-payers had to foot the bill for a fancy hotel room1 -- the politicians called "The Bunker" -- so the mapmakers could have more privacy to gerrymander Ohio's new Congressional and State Legislative districts.

5. Washington political leaders had more of a voice drawing Ohio's lines than most members of the Ohio's General Assembly.

6. Washington politicians directed the mapmakers to include Timken headquarters in an incumbent Congressman's district in order to maximize contributions to his campaign.

7. The mapmakers came up with a brand new criteria for redistricting called, 'Save Our Politicians Millions in Future Campaign Spending.'

8. Partisan operatives got $150,000 to help draw the maps.  Ohio's voters got the shaft.

9. Mapmakers ignored public input and protected their own political interests.

Their efforts made a mockery of public redistricting hearings held across the state.

10. Congressional districts were rigged so that most U.S. Representatives were selected during the Primary, robbing millions of General Election voters of a voice.

Greg Moore, Campaign Director of Fair Elections Ohio, issued the following statement regarding the Ohio Senate Government Oversight and Reform Committee declining to take action today on S.B. 295 (to repeal H.B. 194):

"We are pleased that the Republican-controlled Senate continues to hesitate in taking action  to repeal H.B. 194, a harmful law that curtails Ohioans' voting rights. H.B. 194 has has been out of the hands of the legislature since the governor signed it in July 2011. It has been certified by the Secretary of State for a November 6th referendum vote for more than three months.
 
"While it is encouraging that dialogue in Columbus is no longer about defending a law that hurts voters, it is discouraging to watch our state legislature waste the public's time and money debating how it can prevent Ohio voters from having their say on H.B. 194.

"The failure of the legislature in S.B. 295 to restore Ohio's election laws to what they were before the passage of H.B. 194 demonstrates a motive that rests more in politics than in policy. If the legislature is truly interested in restoring voting rights, it would repeal the provisions of H.B. 224 that were adopted to correct parts of H.B. 194 related to weekend voting."

Columbus - Senate Democratic Leader Eric H. Kearney (D-Cincinnati) issued the following statement today in response to Republican efforts to repeal House Bill 194 before Ohioans have a chance to reject the voter suppression legislation through a statewide referendum:

Coalition of Leading Non-partisan Groups Submits Initial Petitions to Attorney General

COLUMBUS, OH -- Vowing to put citizens, not politicians, in charge of drawing fair political districts a coalition of leading non-partisan organizations in Ohio (including the League of Women Voters of Ohio, Common Cause and many others) filed over 1,700 signatures today with Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine.  After the state's latest redistricting and reapportionment process, which was widely criticized by leaders and major newspapers across the state, the Coalition determined the effort was vital to ensuring that Ohio government represents all Ohioans.

"Ohio's Constitution is being abused by politicians to protect their partisan interests," said Sam Gresham of Common Cause/Ohio. "The politicians have created maps that attack the fundamentals of representative democracy.  That's not going to work.  Every Ohioan must have a voice."  Gresham's comments follow the implementation of Ohio's highly-controversial congressional and general assembly maps that were crafted by politicians in a backroom they, themselves, called 'The Bunker.'

The Voters First measure updates Ohio's Constitution in order to protect voters from politicians that manipulate district lines for their own political interests rather than those of their constituents.  The proposed measure takes redistricting out of the hands of elected officials, special interests, lobbyists and political hacks and puts it back in the hands of Ohio voters with a non-partisan citizen commission.  The commission is designed to restore citizen input, fairness and protect against political elites gaming the system to their own advantage.

Broad Coalition of Ohioans Will Overturn HB194 and Preserve Our Right to Vote

COLUMBUS, OH - Following polling released last week showing a strong 23 point swing of voters in favor of HB194 Repeal, Fair Elections Ohio updated the press on the continuing campaign to repeal HB194 with a Citizen's Veto.   FEO's campaign is getting national media attention and gaining strong support from a growing national coalition to fight back on this misguided voter suppression bill.

The following statement can be attributed to Greg Moore, Campaign Director for Fair Elections Ohio:

Federal observers will be present at polling locations on Tuesday

COLUMBUS - State Representative Alicia Reece (D-Cincinnati) issued the following statement applauding the U.S. Department of Justice's decision to place federal observers at polling locations for Tuesday's primary.

"Ohio has a provisional ballot crisis.  We capture too many ballots in a dangerous maze never to be counted.  With a 2010 Hamilton County judges race still unresolved 16 months later and Republican officials fighting every step of the way to throw out votes, we needed to do everything possible to restore the integrity of the democratic voting process. It is imperative that voters are assured that when they exercise their right to vote, their vote is actually counted.  There was no improvement in our provisional ballot problem in this state from 2010 to the 2011 election and we had no choice but to ask for help.

"Additionally, given the extreme problems other states have had counting their votes in Republican caucuses and primaries, it will be a welcome added protection to have elections experts here protecting the voting rights of Ohioans of all political parties." 

Rep. Reece wrote to United States Attorney General Eric Holder in January, requesting that the Department of Justice send federal election observers to Hamilton County for the 2012 election. The letter raised concerns over the procedure for counting provisional ballots miscast due to poll worker error and cites the unresolved 2010 Hamilton County Juvenile Court race as evidence that federal assistance is needed.

Restrictions Prevent Ohioans from Participating in Politics

CLEVELAND- The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio filed a lawsuit today in U.S. District Court for Northern Ohio challenging a law that prevents formerly incarcerated felons from circulating petitions. Those who have been convicted of a felony, but are not incarcerated, have a right to vote in Ohio; however, they cannot circulate the petitions that help decide who and what will appear on their ballot.

"Formerly incarcerated Ohioans have a fundamental right to participate in civic life once they have served their time," said ACLU of Ohio Legal Director James Hardiman. "In the last year alone, Ohio has seen ballot issues on a wide array of important concerns. By denying citizens the right to participate in these processes, state legislators continue to punish them long after they have paid their debt to society."

Husted sided along party lines, breaking a tie vote to appeal a federal court decision to count provisional ballots

COLUMBUS- State Representatives Kathleen Clyde (D- Kent) and Alicia Reece (D- Cincinnati) expressed disappointment in Secretary of State Husted's decision to appeal the federal court ruling to count provisional ballots in the undecided Hamilton County Juvenile judge race.

"I am incredibly disappointed in Secretary Husted's decision to continue to drag out this voting debacle by once again appealing the federal court ruling to count the votes. The continued delay in resolving this case will cost citizens more of their hard earned tax dollars and further undermines confidence in Ohio's election process" said Rep. Reece. "Every citizen deserves to have their vote counted, and we will continue to fight for what is right and just."

Last week, the Hamilton County Board of Elections came to a tie vote on whether to pursue yet another appeal of the federal court's decision in favor of counting the provisional ballots.  Siding with the GOP board members, Secretary Husted voted late yesterday to appeal the decision.

COLUMBUS, OH - Leaders from Fair Elections Ohio and Bob Meadow Ph.d., Partner at Lake Research Partners held a press call on Tuesday morning to discuss the latest poll results from recent statewide polling on the HB194 referendum.  

Greg Moore, Campaign Director for Fair Elections Ohio, said, "Today's polling data released by the Lake Research Partners clearly shows that the vast majority of voters from across the state in every region and demographic group are showing their support for our repeal efforts by 54-31%.  Even among Republicans across the state the support for repeal is evenly split 43% for repeal and 44% against --a strong showing considering its passage along partisan lines last year.

This support mirrors the level of support Fair Elections Ohio and our allies discovered last summer during our petition drive that was carried out in every region of the state.

The support of the voters across the state was evident in both urban and rural counties. Clearly this is an issue that cuts across partisan lines. The voices of the voters are clear. They want the restoration of their full voting rights and they are prepared to repeal HB 194 at the ballot box this fall."

Greg Moore added, "Ohioans elected our legislators to create a better future for our families and communities, not limit our constitutional right to participate in government.   If the legislature and the Secretary of State choose to engage in politics and fight the will of the people, we are ready hit the streets and will have the strong support of voters across the state and across political parties."

A complete copy of the Polling Memo from Lake Research Partners can be found here:   http://www.scribd.com/doc/82301422/LRP-Memo-on-HB194-Repeal

COLUMBUS- State Representatives Kathleen Clyde (D- Kent) and Alicia Reece (D- Cincinnati) called on Secretary of State Husted to vote 'NO' on appealing the federal court order to count provisional ballots in the undecided Hamilton County Juvenile judge race.

"This has gone on long enough. I am calling on Secretary of State Husted to vote 'NO' on the Hamilton County Board of Elections' appeal and bring an end to this voting debacle that has gone on for 15 months," said Rep. Reece.  "Secretary Husted claims he wants to put an end to voter confusion, but voting with the Republican board members to continue to appeal this decision will only further the very confusion he claims to want to avoid."

Earlier this week the Hamilton County Board of Elections came to a tie vote on whether to pursue yet another appeal of the federal courts decision, thus leaving the final vote to Secretary Husted.  Last year, at an earlier stage of the 15 month long litigation, Secretary Husted voted with the Hamilton County Board of Elections to appeal an earlier order from the federal district court to count the provisional ballots.  The United States 6th Circuit Court of Appeals then said that Ohio's provisional ballot laws operate in a way that is "fundamentally unfair to the voters of Ohio, in abrogation of the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of due process of law" and refused to overturn the district court's decision to count the votes.  Likewise, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of the 6th Circuit's ruling.

In 2011 the Ohio General Assembly passed HB 194 limiting voter rights to be guided to the correct precinct voting location, the time to Vote-By-Mail, Boards of Elections from sending Ballot Applications or paying for postage to return a ballot.

In late summer and early fall 2011 Ohio ARA activists joined the Fair Elections Ohio coalition and participated in a senior to senior education and petition signing campaign that put these voting restrictions on the November 2012 Ballot for repeal.

Here's why Fair Elections Ohio and the Ohio ARA Educational Fund will be urging a "NO" vote on HB 194 to protect access to voting; if allowed to become law, HB 194 will:
•    Reduce by mail absentee voting to 3 weeks from 5 weeks and reduce in-person absentee voting to 2 weeks.
•    Ban in-person absentee voting on Sundays and Saturday afternoons
•    Make it more difficult for the boards of elections to open extra offices in the community to make it more convenient to vote early
•    Stop local Election Boards from sending absentee ballot applications unsolicited to all voters
•    Stop local Elections Boards from paying postage on return absentee ballot requests or on the return of absentee ballots
•    Impose technical reasons not to count votes
•    Order a minimum voting precinct size in cities and villages only
•    Prohibit someone with no ID from having their ballot counted
•    Eliminate the 10-day period after the election to provide missing ID
•    Strike down disclosure rules for corporations participating in campaigns

Reps. Reece & Clyde say enough taxpayer dollars have been spent trying to prevent votes from being counted

COLUMBUS - Representatives Alicia Reece (D-Cincinnati) and Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) released the following statement today in response to the Hamilton County Board of Elections' tie vote on whether to appeal a federal court's order to count provisional ballots in a still-unresolved 2010 juvenile court judge race.

"I am extremely disappointed in the Hamilton County Board of Elections' tie vote today to appeal Judge Dlott's decision. The continued delay in resolving this race will cost Hamilton County citizens more of their hard earned tax dollars and will further undermine confidence in Ohio's election process. I am calling on Secretary of State Husted to vote 'NO' on the board of elections' appeal and bring an end to this voting debacle that has left Hamilton County without a Juvenile Court judge for fifteen months," said Rep. Reece.

Rep. Clyde said, "The Board's action is quite regrettable.  All this time and money is being wasted to keep registered voters' ballots from being counted.  These voters have waited long enough.  Secretary Husted should vote against appealing this decision to count the provisional ballots, and he must take immediate action to make sure there is a statewide process in place to easily identify poll worker error so this doesn't happen again.  Thousands of other voters in Ohio have been deprived of their voting rights over simple mistakes just like the voters of Hamilton County."

Last year at an earlier stage of litigation, Secretary Husted voted with the Hamilton County Board to appeal an earlier order from the federal district court to count the provisional ballots.  The United States 6th Circuit Court of Appeals then said that Ohio's provisional ballot laws operate in a way that is "fundamentally unfair to the voters of Ohio, in abrogation of the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of due process of law" and refused to overturn the district court's decision.  Likewise, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of the 6th Circuit's ruling. 

After opening a can of worms for Republican leglslators by saying that HB19, the Voter Disenfranchisement Bill, should be repealed.

Secretary of State Jon Husted got back on the Republican team messaging bus yesterday by bringing forth numerical inconsistencies in 2 Ohio counties that he said create "a greater chance for voter fraud".

But elections officials from Wood and Morrow counties say they know the causes for the discrepancies and many are already resolved. And the leader for a liberal policy group said Husted is treating voters like "political footballs" by threatening voter fraud in a presidential election year.

"There are indisputably very few examples of voter fraud in Ohio," said Brian Rothenberg, executive director for ProgressOhio, a liberal policy group. "Every four years, when national politicos start paying attention to Ohio, people start talking about voter fraud. My concern is for the voters, because in absence of actual examples of voter fraud, this will be used to make it harder to vote."

Thus Husted, the only known Ohio Secretary of State who had to go to The Ohio Supreme Court to get a favorable ruling that he himself hadn't committed voter fraud, demonstrates that he will play ball with the unconstitutional strategy to undermine the referendum on HB194 which was signed by over 500,000 Ohioans and is scheduled to be voted on this November.

As we observe Black History Month, there is no better time to stop and recognize that the struggle of many Americans to exercise their right to vote is not confined to the past. A disturbing new chapter of that struggle is playing out now. In 1870, African-Americans were given the right to vote through the 15th amendment, yet for nearly 90 years, many were prevented from exercising this very right. Voter qualifying tests, dis criminatory enforcement of registration rules, poll taxes, and outright racial gerrymandering were just some of the devices standing between African-Americans and their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote.

Fast forward to now. In October of last year, the state of Tennessee denied Dorothy Cooper, a 96-year-old African-American, the voter ID she is now required to produce to vote at her polling place. They cited her inability to produce her marriage certificate. Ms. Cooper has voted in every election but one since she became eligible to vote, including many during the Jim Crow Era. In the last year, we've seen 34 states propose or pass voter ID bills; twenty-five percent of African-Americans do not possess an ID these states have established as acceptable. We've seen 19 states pass laws that restrict access to voting by shortening early and absentee voting periods, eliminating same-day voter registration and limiting registration processes, as well as making it harder to restore voting rights to citizens with past felony convictions. Republican legislatures have attempted to eliminate Sunday voting entirely, because historically this is a common day for minority voters to cast their ballot. In 2008, in Florida, 33 percent of black voters took advantage of voting on the Sunday before Election Day. Twenty-three percent of Hispanic voters did the same. These new laws could make it significantly harder for more than 5 million people to vote in 2012. The excuse provided by many Republicans is that they are attempting to weed out fraud, but it doesn't hold up. In 2004, Ohio had a fraud rate of 0.00004 percent, that's four fraudulent votes of the 9,078,728 votes cast.

Columbus - Senate Democratic Leader Eric H. Kearney (D-Cincinnati) issued the following statement today in response to an announcement by Senate Republicans that they have introduced legislation to repeal HB 194, the controversial voter suppression bill:

"More than 300,000 people signed petitions calling for a referendum on House bill 194 to give Ohioans the chance to speak through the ballot box.   We think the referendum process is a fundamental right in Ohio's constitution and should not be circumvented.

"Senate Democrats are diametrically opposed to any form of voter suppression and we will fight to ensure all Ohioans have the right to vote.  Clearly, HB 194 was an example of voter suppression.

"Let's not forget Republicans in the General Assembly passed this voter suppression bill despite strong objections from Democrats and voting rights advocates.  Now that HB 194 is subject to referendum, and likely to be overturned by voters in November, they suddenly have had a change of heart.

"If Senate Republicans are sincere about reaching bipartisan consensus, they should postpone any further discussion of changing Ohio's voting laws until the next General Assembly.  We must respect the referendum process and the right of Ohioans to have the final say on controversial legislation."

Related:

Fair Elections Ohio Pledges to Fight Any Attempt to "Repeal and Replace" HB194

Will Take Action to Stop End-Run Around Citizen Referendum  

COLUMBUS, OH - Greg Moore, Campaign Director of Fair Elections Ohio, issued the following points at a Press Conference this morning: 

• Fair Elections Ohio supports the call by Secretary of State Husted for the legislature to repeal HB194 but strongly opposes any attempt to re-enact any provisions of HB194 without the people voting first. 
• Our repeal effort has achieved consistent election procedures for Ohioans in 2012, allowing voters to utilize nearly the same rules as were in place in the last presidential election.  
• If the legislature repeals and replaces HB194 with any new voting rules, especially regarding absentee and provisional voting, Ohioans would be voting under different rules in the Primary and General, inevitably leading to greater voter confusion and disenfranchisement.
• For 2012, the time for legislative changes to our voting laws is over, and election officials and Ohio voters deserve to know the rules well in advance to promote access to fair elections. 
• Any attempt to put the provisions of HB194 in place before this year's general election is nothing more than a "sleight of hand" to thwart the state constitutional referendum process and silence the voices of half a million voters who signed the HB194 Citizen Veto petition. 
• Stopping HB194 with a Citizens Veto has already preserved our ability to vote.  Ohioans are currently voting early for the March 6 primary.  If HB194 was in effect, these Ohioans would not be able to exercise the choice to vote early until next week, diminishing access to voting and creating the potential for long lines at the polls, especially in this year's contested Republican Presidential primary election. 
• Fair Elections Ohio's efforts are and will continue to be focused on access to fair elections for every eligible voter, improving participation and protecting the rights of Ohio voters to exercise their constitutional right to a citizens' veto.
• Fair Elections Ohio believes no election laws should change at this time, and HB 194 should remain a question for the voters to decide.
• If the legislature chooses to re-enact the provisions of HB194 before the 2012 election, Fair Elections Ohio and our allies across the state are prepared to collect enough signatures to once again stop this attempt to limit voting in Ohio.
• In 2011, Fair Elections Ohio collected half a million signatures to repeal HB194 at the height of the SB5/Issue 2 battle.  This time, we will not only have our original coalition of faith, civil rights and communty based organizations.  Additionally, we will have the full support and focus of a labor movement fresh off its victory in defeating SB5/issue 2.
• There is an energized base that will act with purpose and intention to protect Ohioans from political maneuvers to prohibit their right to determine by what laws they will be governed, a right reserved to them by our state constitution.

COLUMBUS - State Representative Alicia Reece (D-Cincinnati) released the following statement after a federal court in Cincinnati ordered many uncounted votes to be counted in the 2010 Hamilton County juvenile court judge's race.  The dispute over the decision to count or throw out provisional ballots miscast due to poll worker error has been ongoing for 14 months.

Election Night in 2010 ended in a cloud of confusion on who really won the Hamilton County Juvenile Court judge's race.  The unofficial result had John Williams ahead of Tracie Hunter by 23 votes.  But over 800 ballots were left uncounted.  Election officials had counted some provisional ballots where a voter was given the wrong precinct's ballot in error but not others.  Standards were inconsistently applied and the rules were made up in the middle of the game.  The cloud of confusion has persisted these last 14 months as Tracie Hunter has had to wait with no certainty about when she could start her job serving the people.

"Today is a victory for the voters of Hamilton County and for voters' rights across this state.  After 14 months, a court is ordering the last of the votes in the 2010 Hamilton County juvenile court judge race to finally be counted," said Rep. Reece.  "I now call on Secretary of State Husted to implement the provisional ballot process laid out in House Bill 76 immediately, or at the speed of business, so that Ohio will have a statewide uniform standard for counting provisional ballots that will comply with the federal court order.  This shameful ordeal should never happen again in Ohio. We must restore the integrity of the voting process in my district and in the state."

"The recent suggestion of Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted that the Ohio General Assembly should repeal House Bill 194 has ignited several debates including whether it can actually be done while a referendum on the measure is pending.
 
While Fair Elections Ohio appreciates Secretary Husted's suggestion that HB 194 should be repealed, the apparent result seems to be a desire by some members of the legislature to substitute other changes before the November 2012 general election. This will create more confusion than good.

Fair Elections Ohio urges no changes to Ohio's election laws in 2012, especially between the primary and the general elections. Our repeal effort has achieved consistent election procedures for Ohioans in 2012, allowing voters to utilize nearly the same rules as were in place in the last presidential election. 
 
While the Ohio House and the Senate agreed to previous compromises with the assistance of former Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner in 2010, they failed to become law when there was time to implement them.  For 2012, the time for compromise has passed, and election officials and Ohio voters deserve to know the rules well in advance.

Fair Elections Ohio respectfully suggests the best thing for the Secretary to do is to execute his duties to educate the public about the current rules governing elections. The law specifically requires that he "Conduct voter education outlining voter identification, absent voters ballot, provisional ballot, and other voting requirements." (R.C. 3501.05(Z)

Fair Elections Ohio's efforts are and will continue to be focused on increasing voter participation and to protect the rights of every Ohio voter to access and fair elections. For this reason Fair Elections Ohio believes no election laws should change at this time, and HB 194 should remain a question for the voters to decide.

Legislation will ensure all votes are counted and rules are evenly applied

COLUMBUS- State Reps. Kathleen Clyde (D- Kent), Tracy Maxwell Heard (D- Columbus) and Alicia Reece (D- Cincinnati) announced today a common sense legislative solution to increase voter access, establish a more accurate voter database, and improve that ballot counting process. This week, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted called for the repeal of the controversial House Bill 194, which is currently facing a voter referendum in the fall.

Democrat's election law reforms would restore the requirement that poll workers direct voters to the correct polling place. It would ensure early voting lasts thru the Monday before Election Day and it would restore less burdensome vote-counting rules.

"In response to the colossal failure in legislative leadership by the Republicans, we again are saying work with us. Here are our priorities for creating better elections in Ohio that promote more participation in our elections, and ensure that more ballots are counted.  We were shut out of the process last time, but we hope that the Republicans learn from their mistakes and work with us," said Rep. Clyde.

The following statement was issued by Fair Elections Ohio Campaign Director, Greg Moore:

"Fair Elections Ohio welcomes the comments of Secretary of State Jon Husted and legislative leaders in calling for the repeal of HB 194. They join the growing chorus of citizens across the state of Ohio who signed over half a million petitions that successfully placed this issue on the November 2012 ballot. We will support any and all measures that will ensure that HB 194 never becomes the law of the land in Ohio.  

Fair Elections Ohio and our broad based coalition will continue our work to build a strong grassroots statewide campaign that will ensure that HB 194 is defeated at the polls this fall.  We hope the Secretary, the legislature and the Governor will all take this opportunity to expand and not suppress the voting rights of any Ohio voter."

See Related:

Senate President not happy about Husted's call for repeal | The Columbus Dispatch http://bit.ly/wrRgLi

Video: http://bit.ly/wNKGCS

Letter to Attorney General Highlights Concerns over Provisional Voting

COLUMBUS - State Representative Alicia Reece (D-Cincinnati) has written to United States Attorney General Eric Holder, requesting that the Department of Justice send federal election monitors to Hamilton County for the 2012 election. The letter, mailed to the Attorney General this week, raises concerns over the procedure for counting provisional ballots miscast due to poll worker error and cites the unresolved 2010 Hamilton County Juvenile Court race as evidence that federal assistance is needed.

"We are not heading in the right direction on provisional ballots and efforts to correct the problem are being ignored," said Rep. Alicia Reece in her letter to the Attorney General. "Federal monitors will help restore confidence in the democratic process among voters."

Bill eliminates conflicts of interest for candidates for the Ohio Supreme Court

COLUMBUS - State Representatives Jay P. Goyal (D-Mansfield) and Dennis E. Murray (D-Sandusky) today introduced legislation to create a public financing system for Ohio Supreme Court campaigns.  The system, if passed, would use various means of funding without using any GRF money.

"The campaign finance system Rep. Murray and I are creating would do much to improve the current system, which has become increasingly unpopular," said Rep. Goyal.  "Members of the public, as well as the judiciary itself, have expressed significant dissatisfaction with the current system and have advocated for change.  Our legislation would improve the judiciary's credibility and appearance of impartiality by eliminating any skepticism of the current electoral process."

New map makes some improvements to Congressional districts, but long-term reform demanded

COLUMBUS- Today, Ohio House Assistant Minority Leader Matthew A. Szollosi (D- Toledo) released the following statement on the compromise to reunite the primaries and end the redistricting standoff.  The compromised redistricting plan makes some improvements to congressional districts, takes the first steps towards necessary long-term reform and saves taxpayers from footing a more than $15 million bill for two primaries.

Columbus - Senator Tom Sawyer (D-Akron) issued the following statement today in response to a report from the Ohio Campaign for Accountable Redistricting:

"The revelations confirm my worst suspicions about the redistricting process.  It is now apparent that public hearings in which I participated across the state were nothing more than a charade.  Ohioans were promised a fair and open process for drawing new Congressional districts. Instead, they got a map put together behind a veil of secrecy in a Columbus hotel room.

"Despite previous denials from Republicans, it is now clear that people working for Speaker of the U.S. House John Boehner carefully orchestrated the entire process. The result is a map where the addresses of major campaign contributors took priority over maintaining communities of interest.

"I am the first to admit that redistricting has always been a political process, but this is a new extreme for the state of Ohio."

You can find a location in your area to sign the petition to overturn the gerrymandered redistricting process here.

Plan to shroud the process in secrecy originated with national Republican officials

Columbus, Ohio - This morning, the Ohio Campaign for Accountable Redistricting (OCAR) released a comprehensive transparency report on Ohio's redistricting process. The independent group graded state officials a D minus on transparency.

The report, entitled "The Elephant in the Room," documents a number of backroom activities which had not been publicly disclosed, including:

• At the last minute the corporate headquarters of a major financial contributor was moved into Congressman's Jim Renacci's district at the request of the Speaker John Boehner's political team.

• Ohio Republican officials believed that they saved millions of dollars in future state legislative campaign expenditures by making many districts more safely Republican.

• Speaker Boehner's political team controlled the congressional mapmaking process. Senate President Thomas Niehaus committed to adopting a map which Boehner fully supported.

• Republican officials determined that the new congressional map would provide a 12 - 4 Republican advantage, with only the 14th District (LaTourette) being a possible swing district.

• $210,000 was secretly paid to two Republican staffers for working three months on redistricting maps.

• A downtown hotel room was rented for three months to use as a secret redistricting office.

• The plan to shroud the process in secrecy was recommended early on by a national Republican consultant who advised state officials in a series of secret meetings.

"We are trying to shine a light on what took place in the political backrooms, since very little took place in public," stated Jim Slagle, Manager of the Ohio Campaign for Accountable Redistricting.

Today it was announced that the repeal of HB194 will officially be on the November 2012 ballot. Secretary of State Jon Husted certified 307,358 valid signatures, over 75,000 more than were needed.

Members of the Fair Elections Ohio coalition celebrated the news. Former Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said, "Fair Elections Ohio is grateful to the diverse coalition of organizations and dedicated individuals who believe in and are willing to do the hard work to guarantee free and fair elections for all Ohioans. We will wage a robust campaign in 2012 that reflects that spirit."

Fair Elections Ohio campaign manager Greg Moore added, "The voters are sending a message to the Ohio politicians and legislatures across the country - voting rights restrictions will not be tolerated

Petitioners have met requirements to place issue on November 2012 ballot.

COLUMBUS - Secretary of State Jon Husted today certified that petitioners seeking a referendum on House Bill 194 have collected 307,358 valid signatures, meeting the requirements to place the issue on the 2012 November ballot. Petitioners needed 231,150 signatures, or six percent of the total vote cast for Governor in 2010.

As part of the total number of signatures needed to place the measure on the ballot, petitioners must also have collected signatures from at least 44 of Ohio's 88 counties, and within each of those counties collected enough signatures equal to three percent of the total vote cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election, 2010. Petitioners seeking a referendum on HB 194 met or exceeded the three percent threshold in 64counties.

Having met the requirements to place the issue on the ballot, the next step in the process is for the Ohio Ballot Board to meet to prepare and approve language for the ballot, which must be done no later than 75 days prior to the election.

Half A Million Ohioans Signed Petition to Protect Voting Rights 

COLUMBUS - Fair Elections Ohio officially delivered a supplemental referendum petition to the Secretary of State on Tuesday with more than 166,148 additional signatures that all but assures a statewide referendum vote at the 2012 general election on HB 194, called the "Election Reform" bill, legislation that actually makes it harder for Ohioans to vote and to have their votes counted.

The initial petition needed an additional 9,578 signatures after verification by the state's boards of elections of the more than 333,000 signatures filed by Fair Elections Ohio on September 29, 2011. State constitutional provisions allow an extra ten days to circulate for additional signatures to qualify referendum petitions for the ballot. A total of 231,147 valid signatures are needed statewide, with at least 3% of the number of voters who voted in the 2010 gubernatorial election from at least 44 counties. Backers of the referendum already qualified a sufficient number of valid signatures in 52 of the state's 88 counties, surpassing the 44-county requirement.

Campaign Director Greg Moore said, "Today is another important step in the campaign to protect Ohioans' most basic rights to vote and have a voice in their government.  Today's signature delivery shows the strength of the movement and the importance of free and fair elections to the citizens of Ohio.  Fair Elections Ohio's successes are even more impressive taking into account the actions of the Attorney General and Secretary of State to slow down our efforts early on in the petition process.  In only six short weeks and during the height of the SB5 fight, Fair Elections Ohio and our allies collected nearly half a million petition signatures from all 88 counties across Ohio."

We asked you to sign the Senate Bill 5 petition. We asked you to sign the petition to repeal the voter suppression bill. And now... you guessed it... we need you to add your signature to another petition. This one is to repeal HB 319 - the Republicans' unfair, gerrymandered Congressional map that rips apart Ohio communities and takes away fair and competitive elections.

Whether it's defending workers' rights, voting rights or gerrymandering, we are fighting back against the Republican agenda. Please help us by signing the petition to protect your voice in Congress.

See here for signing locations near you.

And check back often for updates - we're adding them everyday!

"There is a concerted effort across this country to limit, to suppress and to undo our right to vote.

From Ohio to Wisconsin, down to Florida, and across Texas, voting is under attack. Ohio's Republican-led legislature voted to reduce Sunday voting. In 2008, African-American voters accounted for 31% of Sunday voters. Latinos accounted for 22% of Sunday voters. Those orchestrating this suppression effort know full well the importance of Sunday voting."

Watch It:

Opponents of an elections reform bill have 10 days to collect another 9,578 valid signatures from Ohio voters to put the issue up for a referendum vote in November 2012.

Secretary of State Jon Husted on Monday announced that the petitioners seeking to block House Bill 194 collected 221,572 valid signatures so far. They need 231,150 and now have until Thanksgiving day to collect and submit the remaining signatures.

Former Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner issued the following statement:  

"Today's certification announcement from the SOS's office that over 221,000 voters from at least 52 counties have successfully petitioned their state and moved us one step closer to repealing HB 194, the voter suppression bill passed last spring by the Ohio Generally Assembly.  

In keeping with our constitutional rights to continue circulating petitions while the September 29th submission was being validated, we have been inspired by the tens of thousands of voters from all 88 counties across the state who have continued to sign the petition to prevent HB 194 from ever becoming law in Ohio.  Thanks to these efforts, Fair Elections Ohio currently has more than enough signatures on hand to overcome this small deficit.   

We thank the voters of Ohio for their steel determination in continuing to say no legislation that seeks to weaken their voices at the ballot box. And we thank the hundreds of volunteer friends, allies and coalition partners who have stood with Fair Elections Ohio in this effort.  

Jennifer Brunner also urged all supporters who have continued to collect signatures to submit all remaining part petition booklets in preparation for a subsequent filling to take place within the next ten days.  

The total number of petitions signed since September will be announced next week at a press conference being planned by FEO and its coalition partners.

Petitioners only met portion of requirements to place issue on November 2012 ballot and will have 10 additional days to fulfill constitutional obligations.

COLUMBUS -Secretary of State Jon Husted today certified that petitioners seeking a referendum on House Bill 194 have collected 221,572 valid signatures statewide, falling to meet the necessary requirements to place the issue on the 2012 November ballot. Petitioners submitted 333,063 total signatures and needed 231,150 valid signatures, or six percent of the total vote cast for Governor in 2010.

Limits General Assembly's ability to undo the will of the people

Columbus - Senate Democratic Leader Capri S. Cafaro (D-Hubbard) and members of the Senate Democratic Caucus today announced legislation that would require the General Assembly to respect the will of the people after a statewide referendum or initiative.  The legislation is a joint resolution to amend Ohio's constitution to prevent state legislators from circumventing the referendum or initiative process.

"The General Assembly should not defy the will of the people by enacting legislation after voters have had their say at the ballot box," said Senator Cafaro.  "We need consensus and cooperation to tackle the challenges facing Ohio--not more partisan attacks."

The joint resolution calling for a constitutional amendment would protect the people's voice in five ways:

Proposed map gives GOP edge but let's voters decide outcome in 6 competitive seats

COLUMBUS - Today, Republicans rejected a compromise proposal for new congressional districts that would end a redistricting standoff and give voters the ultimate say in the makeup of Ohio's congressional delegation. The proposal was submitted in an effort to reach an acceptable agreement that would make 6 of the current districts more competitive for voters.  A comparison of the Democratic Partisan Index of the original map, HB 319, the GOP proposed map and the Democratic counter offer can be seen here.

"We've put forth a reasonable proposal that recognizes the current political makeup, but gives voters the ultimate say in who represents them in Congress," said House Minority Leader Armond Budish (D-Beachwood).  "Additionally, this is a fair proposal that avoids significantly breaking apart communities, strengthens the voice of Ohio voters and improves accountability through an increased number of competitive elections."

The proposal was put forth by Budish and Ohio Legislative Black Caucus President, State Rep. Sandra Williams (D-Cleveland).  In addition, the proposal maintains the constitutionally required majority-minority district in Cleveland, improves the minority influence district in Franklin County, and creates minority influence districts in Cincinnati and Dayton.

Chris Redfern, Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern Announces Campaign to Stop Republicans' Unfair, Gerrymandered Congressional Map

COLUMBUS - Today, Ohioans for Fair Districts officially launched its statewide petition effort to repeal House Bill 319, the Republicans' unfair, gerrymandered Congressional map.

COLUMBUS - State Representative and Ohio Legislative Black Caucus President Sandra Williams (D-Cleveland) this morning dismissed published reports that a deal is close on new congressional district maps.

"There has been no agreement between members of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus and anyone on the Republican side on new congressional district lines," said Rep. Williams.

"The GOP so far is only offering minor tweaks to district lines without fundamentally changing the huge disparity between Republican and Democratic majority seats.

This status quo is unacceptable to us, House Democrats and the Democratic Party as a whole. However, discussions are ongoing to achieve a workable map."

COLUMBUS- Ohio House Democratic Leader Armond Budish (D-Beachwood) released the following statement after the Ohio House concurred with the Senate and voted to create two primaries in 2012.  The March primary will be for local and state races, as well as the U.S. Senate race, while the June primary will be for congressional and presidential candidates.

"Once again the Republicans have done what is in their best interest and not that of Ohioans.  This is fiscally irresponsible and will cost the state millions in precious funds.  Not to mention the voter confusion this will cause," Leader Budish said.  "Just a few months ago Republicans claimed we didn't have the funds to mail absentee ballots, a measure that has saved county Boards of Elections money and diminished long lines at the polls on Election Day in large counties.  Yet today they have essentially handed over a blank check to Secretary Husted to hold two primaries.  This defies common sense."
 
Leader Budish continued by saying, "This extreme partisanship must stop now.  Yesterday, Sen. Minority Leader Cafaro offered an amendment that would have created one primary in June and it was immediately rejected by her Republican colleagues.  This is absurd.  Senator Cafaro's amendment would have saved the state an estimated $15 million and simplified next spring's primary."

Secretary of State Jon Husted has now certified the HB 319 referendum petition on redistricting. Petitioners (Ohioans for Fair Districts) may begin collecting the required 231,150 valid signatures to place the measure on the ballot. Petitioners have until December 25, 2011, (Yes, Christmas Day) to collect the required signatures.

COLUMBUS - Secretary of State Jon Husted today certified that "Ohioans for Fair Districts," the group seeking a referendum on House Bill 319, has met the initial 1,000-signature requirement needed to begin circulating petitions for the November 2012 ballot.

Ohio law requires petitioners seeking to place a referendum on the ballot to first submit 1,000 valid signatures and the full text of the law, or section of the law, to the Secretary of State's office for certification. Petitioners collected 2,451 signatures, of which 1,444 were deemed valid.

The Secretary also approved the full text of the law submitted with the signatures.

Once the signatures and text have been certified by the Secretary of State, and the petition summary has been certified by the Attorney General, petitioners may begin collecting the required 231,150 valid signatures to place the measure on the ballot. In this case, petitioners would have until December 25, 2011, to collect the required signatures.

Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine has now certified the HB 319 referendum petition on redistricting. This allows petitioning to proceed.

Certification Letter HB 319

Columbus - Senate Democratic Leader Capri S. Cafaro (D-Hubbard) issued the following statement today after the Ohio Senate voted along party lines to create two primaries in 2012--a change that will cost taxpayers an estimated $15 million:

"It is the height of hypocrisy for Republicans, who claim to be fiscal conservatives, to pass a bill that needlessly spends $15 million of taxpayers' money.  Substitute House Bill 318 is fiscally irresponsible and will only add cost and confusion to our elections.  Furthermore, the rationale behind the legislation simply defies logic

"I offered an amendment to create one primary in June for state, local and federal elections.  It would have saved money and simplified our elections by asking voters to make only one trip to the polls next spring instead of two.  But, this common sense alternative was swiftly rejected by Republicans.

"Instead of making it easier for Ohioans to vote, Republicans seem intent on causing confusion, suppressing voter turnout and needlessly spending scarce resources."

 

Lawmaker believes time is right for a solution

COLUMBUS - State Representative Ted Celeste (D-Columbus) today said he believes now is the time for a compromise to resolve the current stalemate surrounding redistricting. Rep. Celeste believes the ultimate solution will involve a proposed state constitutional amendment.

"We go through the redistricting process every ten years.  If we don't make meaningful reforms, we will continue to have these same problems each time," said Rep. Celeste. "It's clear that the legislature is having difficulty agreeing on the best course of action. I say, let the people decide."

The concept of redistricting reform has bipartisan support. Last year, the Republican-controlled Senate passed Senate Joint Resolution 5, proposing to make revisions to the way district lines are redrawn in Ohio.  The Democratic-controlled House passed its own version, House Joint Resolution 15, addressing similar issues.  However, neither side was able to iron out differences and agree to a final version.

In Unanimous Decision, Court Says Republicans Can't Stop People's Voice

COLUMBUS - Today, Ohioans for Fair Districts, the committee challenging the Republican-drawn unfair Congressional maps, praised the Ohio Supreme Court's 7-0 decision that House Bill 319 is subject to a potential referendum by the people of Ohio.

"We applaud this unanimous ruling that makes clear that the people of Ohio can exercise their right to stop these unfair Congressional maps," said State Representative Kathleen Clyde of Kent, a member of the committee. "Statehouse Republicans now have a choice: They can come back to the drawing board and produce fair maps with bipartisan support, or they can create widespread uncertainty in our next election. We are prepared to take whatever steps are necessary to make sure that the people's voice is heard."

"Statehouse Republicans now have a choice: They can come back to the drawing board and produce fair maps with bipartisan support, or they can create widespread uncertainty in our next election," she said.

The map, which Republican Gov. John Kasich signed into law last month, has been widely derided by Democrats and voter groups who say the GOP gerrymandered the lines to protect their control of Ohio's congressional delegation.

Criticize Latest Attempt to Thwart Referendum

COLUMBUS - Democratic State Representatives raised concerns today over some counties' plans to cut off early voting on the Friday before Election Day.  The members sent a letter to Secretary Husted asking him to bring much needed clarity to the situation.  Secretary Husted indicated in a letter to legislative leaders that in light of the stay of HB 194's provisions, there is confusion over how to implement provisions of the later-passed HB 224 which includes language that would cut off early voting on the Friday before the election.  Similar Friday cut-off language was included in HB 194, but that bill is on hold until voters approve or reject it in 2012.

"The voters of Ohio have spoken - they want a chance to vote on how Ohio conducts early voting and Secretary Husted should not take that choice away from them," said Rep. Gerberry, Ranking Member on the State Government and Elections committee.

Election law in response to recent ad controversy

COLUMBUS -State Representatives Tracy Maxwell Heard (D-Columbus) held a press conference today announcing she will soon be introducing legislation to prevent the misuse of campaign materials, as we have seen this week when Great-Grandmother Marlene Quinn's message was taken out of context and used against its original intent.

"I cannot write this off as ignorant or careless because they have willfully and deliberately decided to perpetrate a hoax on the voters of this state," Rep. Heard said.  "That is why I will be introducing the 'Zoey Protection Act.'  This bill would prohibit campaign materials for a candidate or ballot issue from using an image, audio clip, or video that was originally used by another candidate or issue campaign without crediting the original source of the material."

COLUMBUS - Today, the committee representing Ohioans pursuing a referendum on HB 319 responded to the decision by Secretary of State Jon Husted and Attorney General Mike DeWine to deny the filing of petitions to challenge the law. State Representative Kathleen Clyde of Kent issued the following statement:

COLUMBUS - Today over 2,000 petitions collected by ProgressOhio, The Ohio Democratic Party and grassroots activists groups across the state, seeking a referendum on House Bill 319 were submitted to the Ohio Secretary of State's office, but Secretary Jon Husted has refused to accept them saying:

"House Bill 319, as passed by the Ohio General Assembly and signed by the Governor, contained an appropriation and took effect immediately. It is therefore not subject to referendum."

The maneuver of adding an appropriation to the bill to protect the Republican-drawn congressional map from the possibility of a repeal by voters is likely unconstitutional, but it would take the state's highest court to answer the question definitively.

Ohio's Constitution states that bills appropriating money take effect immediately and are not subject to repeal by voters.

However, legal experts point to Ohio Supreme Court decisions that indicate that adding appropriations to such measures doesn't always mean they can't be repealed.

"It seems to me that the bottom line is the redistricting plan is subject to referendum (voter repeal)," said Prof. Daniel Tokaji, an election law expert at the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University.

"I would expect in pretty short order litigation to that precise questions, specifically litigation to force Secretary (of State Jon) Husted to allow a referendum on the redistricting plan. I'd be really surprised if that didn't happen."

The map has been widely derided by Democrats and voter groups who say the GOP gerrymandered it to protect the Republican majority in Ohio's congressional delegation.

Read More > > >

In response to today's announcement that opponents of House Bill 194 had filed 318,460 signatures to place the Republican voter suppression initiative on the 2012 ballot for repeal, Congressman Tim Ryan released the following statement:

Columbus, OH - Today representatives from Fair Elections Ohio, a coalition of state legislators, voting rights advocates, labor unions, progressive organizations, and concerned citizens across Ohio, announced reaching the 231,000 signatures required for a "citizens' veto" of HB 194. The legislation, which was passed by the Ohio legislature this summer, suppresses the vote in Ohio by drastically shortening the time period for voting early and absentee, and bans in person voting on Saturday afternoons and all day Sunday.

Immediately following the press conference volunteers from the Ohio Democratic Party and Obama For America delivered 318,460 signatures to the Secretary of State's office for validation. The coalition exceeded the amount of signatures needed by the September 29 deadline, and will utilize the strength of its grassroots network by continuing to gather additional signatures throughout the validation process.

Since the passage of HB 194 the Fair Elections Ohio coalition has organized a statewide grassroots and volunteer effort that has produced hundreds of thousands of signatures to protect the vote of Ohioans by placing the issue on the fall 2012 ballot for repeal. The legislation will inevitably create longer lines at the polls and make it more difficult for the 1.7 million people in Ohio who voted early in 2008 to do it again in 2012.

COLUMBUS - Opponents of Ohio's new elections law planned Thursday to submit enough signatures to the state's top election official to put the measure on temporary hold while they continue to try to get a repeal question on 2012 ballots.

Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director of ProgressOhio and spokesman for Fair Elections Ohio said the coalition will continue collecting signatures while the county boards are counting to ensure there ultimately will be enough for the November 2012 referendum on the election law.

Today's submission to the Ohio Secretary of State doesn't mean we've stopped collecting signatures," he said, adding that it took a remarkable effort to gather the more than 230,000 signatures needed in less than six weeks.

Gerrymandered maps will only further political extremes

COLUMBUS- Ohio House Democratic Leader Armond Budish (D- Beachwood) and Ohio Senate Democratic Leader Capri Cafaro (D- Hubbard) released the following statement upon the adoption of new state legislative districts by the Apportionment Board. 

The maps passed along party lines by a vote of 4-1, Leader Budish is the only Democrat on the five member board.  Last week, House and Senate Democrats submitted maps to the board for consideration.

SB 227 restores local control and encourages early voting

Columbus -State Senators Charleta Tavares (D-Columbus) and Nina Turner (D-Cleveland) have introduced legislation in the Ohio Senate to restore local control to Ohio's elections process.  If enacted, Senate Bill 227 would allow local boards of election to mail unsolicited applications for absentee ballots and require the Ohio Secretary of State to reimburse the cost of the mailings for elections in even numbered years.

"SB 227 provides a pro-democracy, pro-voter approach to our elections process," said Senator Tavares.  "This is a fundamental form of outreach to the citizen-taxpayers to remind them of the election, encourage their participation and provide a tool for them to easily, efficiently and effectively cast their ballots."

During recent elections, Franklin and Cuyahoga counties have mailed unsolicited absentee ballot applications to encourage early voting and the result has been shorter lines on election day.  However, a controversial provision of House Bill 194, recently passed by the General Assembly, would prohibit these unsolicited mailings.  While HB 194 may be subject to a referendum, Senators Tavares and Turner have taken the proactive step of seeking to restore- the rights of local boards of election to better serve the needs of their counties.

Democrats asking voters to block GOP actions

Out numbered in the General Assembly and statewide offices, Democrats are asking to voters to overturn key reforms pushed by the GOP.

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern said that this week Democrats will file petitions with more than 300,000 signatures from voters who want a referendum on a GOP-sponsored election reform package and the state Democratic party will appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court for the right to seek a voter referendum on new congressional maps that Republicans put in place.

Led by former Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, the campaign to repeal House Bill 194 faces a Sept. 29 deadline to turn in 231,154 valid signatures. Redfern said he expects that threshold will be met and exceeded.

House Bill 194 shortens the window for early voting, makes it more difficult for local boards of elections to promote early voting, and restricts poll workers from assisting voters find the right polling place or fill out forms.

2 more days left. Have you signed the petition yet?

Let's show these Columbus politicians that we the citizens of Ohio want our voices heard!

Ohio's new congressional district map is now law. Gov. John Kasich signed the legislation Monday after the GOP-drawn boundaries cleared both the state House and Senate last week.

As expected, the Ohio House re-voted to approve the state's new congressional map, a move necessitated by a $2.75 million appropriation added to the bill by the state Senate. Republicans added this provision to prevent the bill from being repealed at the ballot box in a so-called "people's veto" -- appropriations bills cannot be subject to referenda or Citizen's Veto.

Republicans put their plan on the table last week without any input from the minority party. Votes were then called with no time for discussion.

Columbus - Senate Democratic Leader Capri S. Cafaro (D-Hubbard) issued the following statement today after Republicans unveiled a new map for Ohio's legislative districts:

"There are serious questions whether the new legislative map violates the state constitution and the Voting Rights Act.  Specifically, the number of majority-minority Senate districts has dropped from two to just one.  And the number of times counties and cities have been split across the state appears to exceed constitutional limits.

"Most Ohioans think Washington and Columbus are broken because of hyper-partisanship.  That's why we should have a map that properly reflects Ohio's history as a 50-50 battleground state.  Ohio needs more bipartisanship, not less, and the best way to accomplish that is with a map that promotes cooperation instead of partisanship.  Unfortunately, the map unveiled today falls well short of that goal."

Ohio House Minority Leader Armond Budish released the following statement in response to the Republican proposed re-apportionment maps:

"The new state legislative districts turn the Ohio Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act on their heads and take partisan gerrymandering to a new extreme. 

These new districts divide communities more than 250 times and disenfranchise voters throughout the state.  Democratic voters have been quarantined into a third of these new House districts, despite the fact that they represent 50 percent of Ohio's voters.  

Never before in Ohio's history have voters in state legislative districts been subjected to such a blatant, hyper-partisan gerrymander."

Registered voters can sign the HB 194 - STOP VOTER SUPPRESSION petition NEXT SUNDAY (September 25, 2011) after church.

Map from public contest creates fairer and more competitive districts
 
Columbus - State Senator Tom Sawyer (D-Akron) today introduced legislation (SB 225) calling for a more balanced approach to congressional redistricting that better maintains communities of interest and increases the number of competitive districts in Ohio.  The map was one of the top entries in a non-partisan competition sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Ohio and other citizen groups.
 
"The map drawn by Republicans (HB 319) represents a new extreme in gerrymandering for the state of Ohio," said Senator Sawyer.  "My legislation illustrates how it is possible to draw a fairer map that uses the same data and follows the law."

Registered voters can sign the HB 194 - STOP VOTER SUPPRESSION petition NEXT SUNDAY (September 25, 2011) after church.

All across Ohio, tens of thousands of concerned citizens just like you are protecting their right to vote by signing and circulating the HB194 Citizen Veto Petition.

Ohio was the laughingstock on the country in 2004 due to the long lines on election day, with some students waiting up to 15 hours just to vote. By 2008, we hard reformed our electoral system to be more open and more transparent, shining a good light on our state and making Ohio the envy of the country. Now leaders in the Statehouse want to bring us back to the darkness of the past. But they are not just settling with rolling us back to the lines of 2004, with their heavy handed tactics and nonsensical reforms, they are threatening to return us to 1904, when only those with wealth and privilege could vote. We will not stand for that. Not in Ohio.

The momentum behind this petition is growing every day. Although great progressive organizations and coalitions are coming out to help in the repeal effort, it is by no means just coming from the left. The Libertarian and Green parties are also helping on this repeal effort because they understand this is not about election reform, this is about surprising the votes of anyone who doesn't vote how Kasich wants.

Join Congressman Tim Ryan at the Short North Tavern in Columbus Thursday evening for a meet & greet and HB 194 petition signing event.

Just as we did with Senate Bill 5, we are now collecting signatures to repeal House Bill 194, the Republican voter suppression bill. Republicans are trying to rewrite the rules to steal the election from President Obama in 2012 and make it harder for us to repeal Senate Bill 5 in November. The only way we can stop them is to collect 231,147 signatures from across Ohio.

Details for this event are as follows:

Thursday, September 15, 2011
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Short North Tavern
674 N High Street in Columbus

Signatures will be gathered starting at 6:00 p.m. Congressman Tim Ryan will join and greet volunteers and signers at 7:00 p.m. All are welcome. Even if you have signed, come to show your support for the effort.

Dems Raise Concerns over speed of Process and Division of Communities

COLUMBUS- With little more than 24 hours before the proposed Redistricting map is to be placed in front of the full General Assembly for a vote, Ohio House Democratic Leader Armond Budish (D- Beachwood), and members of the State Government and Elections Committee, Reps. Kathleen Clyde (D- Kent), Teresa Fedor (D- Toledo), Ronald V. Gerberry (D-Austintown), and Matt Lundy (D- Elyria) held a press conference today. They re-iterated the need to slow down this process, now that a map has been made public, and allow for meaningful public input amongst the more than 200 county, city and township splits that make up this map.

"The new congressional districts revealed yesterday carve up and split apart communities all across this state. That is why we need more time for public input on this map," said Leader Budish. "Politicians drawing the map and picking their voters is what has created the hyper-partisan political environment we see in Washington today."

In light of the partisan, secretive method of redistricting that Republican House leadership has chosen, and previously promised to avoid, Leader Budish decided to withdraw Democratic support for HB 318 which would change the primary date from March to May.  The agreement to move the primary was reached to allow time for public input on Redistricting maps, which the Republicans are clearly trying to bypass - a leading election law expert called the proceedings "defective" and "little more than a farce." Worrisome aspects of the proposed map, such as more than 130 splits of Communities of Interest and the breakup of counties, reek of partisan gerrymandering.

Ohio House Democratic Leader Armond Budish and members of the State Government and Elections Subcommittee on Redistricting hold a press conference to discuss the huge disparities and community divisions in the Republican proposed Redistricting map.

Yesterday Ohio HB 319, a bill that will determine Ohio's Congressional district lines for the next 10 years, was introduced and had its first hearing at the Statehouse and is expected to be on the House floor for a vote tomorrow!

But this bill is moving way too quickly and the proposed maps weren't even revealed to the public until yesterday. The maps have wildly distorted district lines that will negatively impact the fair representation of Ohio voters into the next decade.

Call State Rep. Matt Huffman, Chair of the State Government and Elections Committee TODAY at 614-466-9624 to tell him to slow down.

Tell Rep. Huffman that we need time for more public input and that we need districts that are more compact and fair.

COLUMBUS- Today, State Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) sent a letter to Rep. Matt Huffman, Chairman of the State Government and Elections Subcommittee on Redistricting, calling for a slow down on the process to pass a new congressional redistricting map. 

In the letter Rep. Clyde states, "We need to step back and take the time to do this right with bipartisan support for whatever plan the legislature adopts.  We'll need an emergency clause to act no matter our course of action, so there is no reason why we cannot take additional time for hearings and discussion.  Failure to do so ensures protracted legal battles, public confusion and uncertainty for voters and candidates across the state."

A copy of the full letter appears below.

CLEVELAND - Today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio announced that it would support the referendum on Ohio House Bill 194, which drastically limits the time frame for early and mail in voting, makes it optional for poll workers to assist voters, and prevents county boards of elections from widely promoting absentee ballots to registered voters. Group such as the League of Women Voters Ohio, state legislators, labor unions, and other voting rights advocates have begun to collect 231,000 signatures to place the bill on the November 2012 ballot.

"Laws should expand the people's access to the ballot box, not restrict it," said ACLU of Ohio Executive Director Christine Link. "House Bill 194 does nothing to protect against voter fraud, makes it more difficult for voters to cast their ballots early, and may increase problems on Election Day. With no clear benefit, voters should repeal this legislation."

Coalition to Continue Citizen Veto Process Until all of HB 194 is Re-examined

COLUMBUS - Fair Elections Ohio put out the following release regarding the Absentee Ballot Request compromise announced this morning by Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald and Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted:

"Fair Elections Ohio applauds Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald's efforts to fight for the voters of Cuyahoga County and is very pleased that Secretary of State Jon Husted, Senate President Tom Niehaus, and House Speaker Bill Batchelder have seen the importance of sending absentee ballot requests to reduce lines and increase voter participation," said former Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

Greg Moore continued, "Still, this compromise leaves as many questions as answers.

Why the delay until 2012? If the voters in 2012 deserve an increased opportunity to participate in elections, why do 2011 voters not deserve the same opportunities to participate? The Legislature is returning from break and if they wanted, could pass legislation to implement statewide requests for the upcoming 2011 General Election.

If Husted believes absentee requests are important enough to send to every voter in 2012, why would he continue the restrictions on individual counties sending them out in 2011?  Husted's own statement admits increased absentee voters reduces lines and therefore confusion on Election Day."

News reports have indicated that the Legislature will take up this issue when they return to session. 

Former Secretary Brunner said, "Until all parts of HB 194 that make it harder to vote and to have votes counted are reexamined, we encourage every citizen to sign an HB194 Citizen Veto petition and and make their voice heard."

The battle over sending out absentee ballot requests in Cuyahoga County has come to a conclusion.

Basically the battle has gone down like this (More background here, here, here, and here):

1. Secretary of State Jon Husted issed a directive that local Boards of Elections could not send out unsolicited absentee requests.
2. Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald said that since 47% of voters in Cuyahoga County vote absentee, if the Board of Elections was not allowed to send requests, the County Government would send them out.
3. Husted threatened to make the Board of Elections not send ballots to any of the requests send out by the County Government.
4. FitzGerald and Cuyahoga County Leaders requested an investigation from the US Department of Justice into Husted's comments about only counting certain absentee requests.
5. Husted backed down and said he would NOT tell the Cuyahoga Board of Elections to only count certain requests, essentially freeing the Cuayhoga County Government to send out the absentee requests.

Which bring us up to the "Cuyahoga Compromise" announced today between FitzGerald and Husted.

From the Columbus Dispatch:

With Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald threatening to sidestep Secretary of State Jon Husted's directive prohibiting county boards of elections from automatically mailing absentee applications to all registered voters, Husted agreed to mail the applications to all 88 counties for next year's presidential election in return for FitzGerald's agreement not to mail them this year.

Husted and FitzGerald are happy but what about everyone ese?  Read the full statements and leave your opinion after the jump.

Cuyahoga County lawmakers sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder bringing attention to certain recent comments from top state elected officials which could impact upcoming elections. In the letter the lawmakers said, "We want to make sure that every voter is allowed to participate and their vote counted.  We believe Husted and Yost's comments and actions raise questions and create controversy where none exists.  We are concerned that these comments by state elected officials may have an adverse impact on voter confidence in the elections."

State Sen. Turner and Reps. Antonio and Foley held a press conference at the Cuyahoga County Administration Building to respond to continued attempts to make voting more difficult in Cuyahoga County and across the state, by creating voter confusion, restricting voting opportunities and thwarting a possible House Bill 194 referendum.

"This latest incident is just another example of the toxic environment of voter suppression that has taken hold in Ohio.  The fact that Secretary of State Husted - Ohio's chief elections officer - would threaten to ban the processing of valid and legal absentee ballot applications is disturbing.  Though he has since toned-down his comments, his previous statements - combined with those of Auditor Yost - have the potential to confuse voters, dissuade participation at the polls and give rise to the need for vigilance in upcoming elections," said Sen. Turner. "We are simply taking action to ensure that the voting rights of Cuyahoga County's citizens are protected."

It looks like there may be a lull in the Absentee Wars of Cuyahoga County, with Cuyahoga Executive Ed FitzGerald coming out ahead for now.

If you are not caught up on this story you can read the background here, and the update here.  Basically, Secretary of State Jon Husted is trying to keep large counties from sending out absentee ballot requests to every voter but he only has control over the local Board of Elections.  FitzGerald then decided since voting is so important that if the Board of Elections was prohibited from sending out applications, the County government would do it.  Husted called him a "rogue actor" and threatened to not have the Board count any application not directly from them.  FitzGerald responded by requesting a Department of Justice investigation into Husted's plan to not count certain ballots.

Which brings us up to today.

The battle around mailing out absentee ballot requests is heating up.  Last week, Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald announced that he was going to have Cuyahoga County send out absentee requests if Secretary of State Jon Husted continued to ban the Board of Elections from sending out absentee ballot requests. (You can read the full story here)

On Friday, Husted came back swinging against Executive FitzGerald in an interview with Ohio Public Radio.

From the Plain Dealer:

Asked on Friday what legal power he has to keep Cuyahoga County from continuing with its mailing plans, Husted told Ohio Public Radio Friday his office is looking at "prohibiting the board from processing the applications because they're not consistent with the law."

"There are lots of things that could be done that we're exploring, but we don't need a controversy over this. It seems like we can all agree on a set of uniform standards and live by them, and that's what I hope Cuyahoga County will do in the end."

FitzGerald's reponse and Husted's counter after the jump.

There are times when a public official can do something that is out of the box and yet the most obvious course of action that you slap yourself when you hear it.

Right now, a coalition of groups called Fair Elections Ohio is collecting signatures to put HB194, the extreme voter surpression bill, on the ballot in 2012.

Part of what HB194 did was outlaw county Boards of Elections from sending out unsolicited absentee ballot requests to every voter.  In the past few election cycles, larger counties like Franklin and Cuyahoga have sent out absentee requests to every voter, successfully driving more people to vote by mail and reducing lines on Election Day.  Conservatives in the Statehouse, who claim to have "never seen a line" at a polling place put this provision in HB194 to help drive down turnout from these large urban areas. 

Instead of trying to find a way to send absentee requests to EVERY Ohio voter, Secretary of State Jon Husted and Statehouse Leaders are banning counties from sending out ANY.

But there is loophole.  HB194 and Husted's recent directives are only binding upon the Boards of Elections.  Husted does not have the ability to keep the governing board of counties and cities from doing whatever mailing they may want to their constituents.  Including absentee ballot requests.

COLUMBUS - Ohio House Democratic Leader Armond Budish (D- Beachwood) and Ohio Senate Democratic Leader Carpi Cafaro (D-Hubbard) announced today that they will be introducing companion legislation that would require the Apportionment Board to make new state legislative district maps available for public and board input in advance of the required approval deadline.

"Public input should not be ignored in the important process of drawing new state legislative districts," said Budish.  "If the process continues as it currently is, the public will have almost no opportunity to provide input about how their communities might be carved up and who their representative might be."

This week, the Apportionment Board is conducting field hearings throughout the state, but no maps are available for discussion and public participation has been limited.  Hearings in Toledo, Lima, Cleveland and Akron produced few witnesses and no one showed up to testify in yesterday's Canton hearing.

Dems push referendum to end Republican voter law

Several Democratic candidates and officeholders gathered in front of the Hamilton County Board of Election Tuesday morning to decry House Bill 194, a Republican bill reforming Ohio election law that Democrats say is nothing more  than "voter supression."

The Democrats said they are part of a statewide push to gather about 232,000 valid voter signatures to place a referendum on the Nov. 2012 ballot. If they succeed by Sept. 29, the law - scheduled to go into effect Sept. 30 - would be put on hold for this election and next year's presidential election, when Ohio voters would decide whether or not they want to keep the law, which significantly shortens the period of early voting and tells inside poll workers that they are not required to direct voters to the right tables in multi-recinct polling places, among other things.

"This is just a very cynical effort to limit voting in Ohio," said Don Mooney, a Democratic lawyer who is helping cooredinate the petition drive in southwest Ohio.

Mooney was joined by State Sen. Eric Kearney, State Rep. Denise Driehaus, Cincinnati council member Wendell Young, Democratic city council candidate P.G. Sittenfeld and Pastor Rousseau O'Neal at the press conference.

Read More at Cincinnati.com

Secretary of State's directive could create chaos and long lines on Election Day

COLUMBUS- State Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D- Kent) raised concerns today over Secretary of State Husted's directive to prohibit county boards of elections from mailing out absentee ballot request forms to all registered voters.

 "This is yet another overreach that has become common practice of the Ohio Republican leadership.  Secretary Husted's directive is a blatant attack on the citizens' right of referendum clearly outlined by the Ohio constitution.  Secretary Husted supported an ill-conceived elections law that passed without any bipartisan support and is now trying to rescue some of its provisions from a referendum effort by concerned citizens around the state."

Sends letter to Secretary Husted raising concerns, requesting clarity

COLUMBUS- State Rep. Teresa Fedor (D- Toledo) sent a letter to Secretary of State Husted today raising concerns over his directive for absentee ballots for Military personnel. She requested Secretary Husted clarify what is required for absentee ballots to be counted. A copy of the letter and a statement from Rep. Fedor are below.

"Following Secretary Husted's directive, Ohio's election laws are now even more muddled than before," Rep. Fedor said. "Voting by absentee ballot has been a highly effective and successful program in Ohio, and voters deserve to know how to make sure their ballot is counted. This is especially important for Ohioans in the military or overseas who face conflicting information on what exactly is required of them."

A copy of the letter sent to Secretary Husted is provided below.

Jennifer Brunner, co-chair of Fair Elections Ohio, and former Ohio Secretary of State, made the following statement regarding the approval of language for the HB194 petition effort:

"We are pleased to have successfully crossed this hurdle. We look forward to a spirited, massive citizen-led effort that reflects the kind of voting system Ohio should be known for: equal and fair access to elections with robust participation, while protecting and respecting the integrity of our vote.

We now move forward with just under 6 weeks to obtain well over 200,000 signatures, our supporters having waited patiently while state officials subjected them to a challenging obstacle course. Despite this, our corps of volunteers and supporters remains eager to successfully circulate petitions statewide to put this issue before Ohio voters next fall."

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today issued certification of the summary language for the referendum seeking the repeal of HB 194. The certification was issued today in a letter sent to Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted.

On August 5th, initial referendum petitions were filed with the Attorney General and the Secretary of State. After reviewing the summary, Attorney General DeWine issued a letter certifying the summary language.

"Pursuant to R.C. 3519.01(B)(3), I must examine the summary and determine whether it is a fair and truthful statement of the measure to be referred." DeWine stated in his letter certifying the language. "Without passing upon the advisability of the approval or rejection of the measure to be referred,...I hereby certify that the summary is a fair and truthful statement of the proposed referendum concerning Am. Sub. H.B. 194 of the 129th General Assembly."

The full text of today's letter and of the referendum petition submitted can be found at www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/BallotInitiatives.

Justices released a 7-0 opinion that denied a request from ProgressOhio to disqualify about 69,000 of the 426,998 petition signatures submitted on behalf of the Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment.

The measure will appear as Issue 3 on the general election ballot.

Related:

ProgressOhio Leads Challenge To Have Issue 3 Removed From Ballot

If you oppose the following measures:

• Making it easier to purge to voter rolls.
• Eliminating early voting on Sunday and reducing Saturday access, making it harder for working people to get to the polls.
• Banning the addition of more easily accessible early voting locations.
• Stopping the mailing of absentee ballot request to voters.
• Not providing return postage on absentee ballots.

- we need a moment of your time.

A bill recently passed in Ohio will do all this and more to restrict our right to vote. Last month, over 1,000 signatures were collected to start the process of letting voters decide the matter. However, the movement was almost ended before it started when Attorney General Mike DeWine sat on our request for the maximum amount of time before denying it.

Thanks to help of activist like you, we were able to come back and get the required signatures once again. However, if the Attorney General and Secretary of State once again take all 10 days to deny our petition, then the bill may take effect before voters have a chance to decide.

Please contact Attorney General Mike DeWine and Secretary of State Jon Husted and ask them to make a fair, prompt decision on Fair Elections Ohio.

• First contact the attorney general here
• Then email the secretary of state's office by clicking here

Ask them to make a quick and fair decision on the Fair Elections Ohio petition.

The Ohio Apportionment Board has scheduled 11 hearings across Ohio for Aug. 22-26 to allow the public to testify about the state legislative redistricting process. 

This is your opportunity to demand a fair and nonpartisan redistricting process, that maps should be published two weeks before they are voted on, and that maps generated by the public should be seroiusly considered.
 
Click here for the schedule

This afternoon, Fair Elections Ohio filed more than the necessary number of signatures with the Ohio Secretary of State and the Ohio Attorney General to continue the process of placing a citizens' repeal of HB194 on the ballot in November 2012.

In the last month, the Office of the Attorney General waited the entire 10 days before rejecting the first batch of signatures for a partial referendum on 194 on the basis of minor technicalities.

Since then, Fair Elections Ohio has taken the advice of Secretary of State Jon Husted and Attorney General Mike DeWine and has collected signatures for a citizen's referendum on the entirety of HB194, simplifying the petition summery and review process.

While the Secretary of State and Attorney General are legally allowed to take an additional 10 business days to review these petitions, Fair Elections Ohio is hopeful that these offices will not take an additional 10 days to review these petitions and therefore stealing precious days for petitioners to collect the remaining required signatures.

Despite these roadblocks in just a little over 48 hours, Ohioans have once again come out to support open and fair elections where everyone's voice in heard. Residents have stepped up to bring HB 194 directly to the voters so they can decide if their voting rights should be restricted or reduced.

The following statement may be attributed in whole or in part to Jennifer Brunner, co-chair, Fair Elections Ohio and former Ohio Secretary of State:

The ramifications of the failure of the Attorney General to certify this initial referendum petition are severe. The actions in question do not follow the law or the constitution. As recently as 2009, the all-Republican Ohio Supreme Court has strongly upheld the right of referendum. (See: State ex rel. Ohio Gen. Assembly v. Brunner, 115 Ohio St.3d 103, 2007-Ohio-4460, 873 N.E.2d 1232.) In that decision the Court said that the power of referendum is a power reserved to the people of this state that is to be "liberally" construed and should not be denied to the people. The court called the right of referendum "of paramount importance" and a means for "direct political participation, allowing the people the final decision, amounting to a veto power" over the general assembly and the governor.

The saddest part of this decision is that people's voting rights are now put at greater risk as the initial petition effort is reworked to address phantom requirements inserted by state bureaucrats. Today's decision impedes the free exchange of ideas and direct political participation by the people in a referendum process, but then again, it's those parts of the bill we have sought to bring to the people in the first place that carry these same traits.

Secretary of State Husted Certifies Referendum Signatures

View a copy of the letter that Attorney General DeWine sent to Secretary Husted

At the Ohio Republican Party State Dinner on July 22, Secretary of State Jon Husted announces that he has found ONE case of voter fraud during the 2010 elections.

Watch It:

3,956,045 people voted in 2010. Therefore 1 case of fraud = a fraud rate of 0.0000002%

Despite his story actually showing how well the current Elections system works to minimize fraud, Jon Husted and the Ohio GOP have used "Voter Fraud" allegations to force through House Bill 194, which will severely suppress eligible votes.

1 case of fraud out of 4 million votes is no reason to:

Reduce early voting time period by 3 weeks
Ban early voting on Sundays and Saturday afternoons
Ban early voting the last weekend before the Election
Ban Boards from sending out absentee request forms and paying for return postage
And many other steps backward in electoral reform.

Don't let them cheat the system.

Help repeal HB 194!

Columbus, Ohio - The League of Women Voters of Ohio Education Fund, the Midwest Democracy Network and Ohio Citizen Action officially launched the 2011 Ohio Redistricting Competition today.  

The Redistricting Competition provides the public with the opportunity to draw district lines for the Ohio House and Senate, as well as the U.S. House of Representatives, using publicly available software and the same population and voting data that will be used by Ohio public officials.  It is designed to encourage Ohioans to redraw state legislative and congressional districts that:

      • Represent the interests of all Ohioans, not just the interests of political parties;

      • Make determinations based on fair, objective, measurable criteria; and

      • Use a process that is open and transparent. 

"We challenge the Apportionment Board and the legislature to take a leadership role by doing away with politics as usual and giving serious consideration to the maps which will be generated by this competition," urged Meg Flack, Co-President of the League of Women Voters of Ohio/Education Fund.

Winning plans will be submitted to the Ohio Apportionment Board and Ohio legislature for their consideration before they establish new districts which will remain in effect for the next decade.

Preparing For Collection Of The Next 231,000+ Petition Signatures

COLUMBUS - Representatives of Fair Elections Ohio, a coalition of state legislators, voting rights advocates, labor unions, progressive organizations, and concerned citizens across the State of Ohio, today turned in the first 1,000 valid signatures for a HB194 referendum to the Ohio Attorney General.

"In just five days, concerned citizens from across the state have stepped up to bring HB194 directly to the voters so they can decide if their voting rights should be diminished or curtailed. Because of the nature of the rights at stake, thoughtful, serious volunteers who believe in keeping access to voting available to all eligible Ohioans have done a great job in the gathering the signatures that will allow this process to move forward," said former Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

Fair Elections Ohio had dozens of volunteers across the state collect this first round of signatures from over a dozen counties.

The Secretary of State and the Attorney General's office have 10 business days, or until August 1st, to certify the first 1,000 valid signatures and review the summary of the partial referendum on HB194 contained in the petition. When the petition is certified by both state officers, Fair Elections Ohio will begin the process to collect 231,154 valid signatures by September 29, 2011, to qualify for the next available general election ballot in 2012.

Group effort called, "Fair Elections Ohio" is currently collecting signatures to put referendum on the ballot in 2012

COLUMBUS - Legislators, voting rights advocates, labor unions, progressive organizations, and concerned citizens across the state of Ohio have begun a referendum petition drive to overturn parts of a measure passed by the Republican-controlled Ohio legislature that would limit access to voting and make less votes count.

"Ohioans worked hard the last four years to shake off the state's national reputation for poorly held elections," said Jennifer Brunner, Ohio's former Secretary of State. She continued, "This bill doesn't take us forward; it's a giant leap backward."

Brunner's successor, Republican Jon Husted, has publicly stated he does not support limited voter identification, which was stripped from the bill at the last minute but is referenced in the bill as another imminent change to supersede it. H.B. 194 was forced through the legislature, with gestures of bipartisan cooperation rejected. The bill's opponents say the bill was drafted, adopted and signed to benefit one party's voters over others. Brian Rothenberg, executive director of ProgressOhio said, "In any competition, changing the rules to benefit one team over another is tantamount to cheating, which in elections, is the most egregious form of voter fraud."

WASHINGTON, DC-- Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11) made the following statement today:

"[In Ohio] We have one of the most draconian voter suppression bills in the United States. If we are going to have a society that involves all of its citizens, we cannot allow for these kinds of bills to be passed by legislature after legislature... Across this country, 11% of all people who are eligible to vote do not have a government issued ID. That's 21 million people. Every time we take one step forward, we take two steps back. And we're not going to allow it to happen. "

Watch It:

Remember when Speaker Batchelder and a bunch his best buddy in the House, the now disgraced Rep Mecklenborg,  wanted to pass the most restrictive and unconstitutional ID bill in the nation that would cost Ohio millions of dollars, disenfranchise huge numbers of eligible voters, and do nothing to combat voter fraud?

Well when they finally put down the beer and dropped off the strippers, they succeeded in pushing the bill, HB159, through the house but it stalled in the Senate.  How come?  Did they finally listen to their residents and constituents who are overwhelming against this bill?  Or to the numerous newspaper editorials and letters to the editors against this misguided bill?   

Nope.  In the end, Republican Secretary of State and Former Speaker of the House Jon Husted broke ranks with his own party and stepped in front of the bus for the residents of Ohio.   

Husted said this:

"I want to be perfectly clear, when I began working with the General Assembly to improve Ohio's elections system it was never my intent to reject valid votes. I would rather have no bill than one with a rigid photo identification provision that does little to protect against fraud and excludes legally registered voters' ballots from counting.

"It is in the hands of the General Assembly."

Now we have not always seen eye-to-eye with Jon Husted, especially in many of the misguided reforms in HB194 (more info on the petition to repeal it here), but on the restrictive ID issue Jon Husted stood up and made a difference.

Turns out Speaker Batchelder never forgot.

State Legislators, voting rights advocates, labor unions, progressive organizations, and concerned citizens across the State of Ohio have begun a referendum petition drive to overturn parts of a measure passed by the Republican-controlled Ohio legislature. HB 194 would limit access to voting and make less votes count. 

A statewide referendum on HB 194 would allow Ohio voters to vote "yes" or "no" on the harmful parts of this law and to stop it from becoming law until a vote can be taken at the November 2012 presidential election.

Following is a preview of the changes that would be imposed beginning in this fall's election unless we succeed in this referendum effort -

Everyone knows what's at stake in 2012: SB 5--a bill that eliminates the collective bargaining rights of more than 350,000 public employees--will be on the ballot. Some politicians are willing to go to extreme measures to influence the outcome of the citizens' veto.

Last week the legislature passed HB 194--a voter suppression bill that cuts down on early voting and makes it harder for Ohio voters to cast their ballots. Not satisfied with making it more difficult to vote, some senators are saying they will take up HB 159--a voter ID bill that would disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Ohioans--as soon as this week. Previously, they'd said it would not be voted on until the fall.

Call your senator at 1-888-218-5931 and tell him or her you oppose HB 159 because it will disenfranchise nearly 900,000 Ohioans.

"Voting in the wrong precinct led to over 14,000 registered voters statewide to lose their vote in 2008."

An elections reform bill approved in June by the Ohio Senate had plenty of troubling new provisions for critics of the proposal, namely Democrats.

The bill contained a number of changes to Ohio's voting and election procedures, some of which may lead to voter suppression, opponents of House Bill 194 argued before the Republican-controlled Senate passed the bill along party lines.

For example, one provision added by the Ohio House barred poll workers from helping voters find their correct precinct for voting if they end up in the wrong place.

Current law mandates that poll workers direct voters to their correct voting location. That's important because casting a ballot in the wrong place means your vote doesn't count.

"Voting in the wrong precinct led to over 14,000 registered voters statewide to lose their vote in 2008,"  state Sen Nina Turner, a Cleveland Democrat, said during a floor speech on June 22.

"But I guess the loss of votes for some doesn't matter," she sarcastically concluded, suggesting that Republicans were deliberately trying to suppress valid ballots in urban and impoverished areas of the state where mixing up precincts most often occurs.

Watch It:

COLUMBUS - The Ohio Senate Government Oversight and Reform Committee today included into HB 194 a provision that would require all voters must possess government issued photo identification in order to cast a ballot.  It would the most restrictive voter ID law in the country. 

State Representative Michael Stinziano (D-Columbus) issued the following statement:

"I am disappointed by the Senate Oversight Committee's reversed decision to include controversial Photo ID provisions into pending election administration reform.

Proponents of Photo ID have repeatedly failed to provide a demonstrative need for changes from current law. Current law already provides that photo identification along with other forms of identification be accepted. The ID provisions do nothing that the current law doesn't already do except limit options for voters and increase votes cast provisionally.

Also, I believe that these unproductive ID provisions might have the unintended effect of increasing the likelihood of voter fraud as new forms of photo identification don't allow for appropriate checks and balance with a voter's address.

As a former elections official, one major concern that I have is that in these dire fiscal times for the hard working taxpayers of our state is that this bill will undoubtedly cost counties money in the need for additional education of voters during the upcoming important this fall and in 2012.

Letter to Jon Husted outlines concern over bills, urges bipartisan approach

COLUMBUS - Ohio House Democratic Leader Armond Budish (D-Beachwood) today called on Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted to oppose efforts in the Legislature to impose a modern-day poll tax by requiring a government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot. He outlined his objections to this bill and other legislation that would restrict the rights of Ohioans to vote in a letter delivered to the Secretary of State today. 

"Passage of these bills will deprive thousands of Ohioans of their right to vote and will drive the state into years of expensive litigation," said Leader Budish in his letter.  "As such, I ask that you rise above what is clearly a partisan-driven legislative agenda and work together with all parties to build a positive election law framework. I stand ready to work with you on a cooperative, bipartisan approach for the good of all Ohioans."

One of the elections bills, HB 194, may come to the House floor for a vote this week. The Senate has included the requirement for a government issued photo ID in order to be permitted to cast a ballot in HB 194.

The text of Leader Budish's letter is below:

Reps. Gerberry and Clyde call for open process to protect voter rights

COLUMBUS - Two Ohio House members today objected to the partisan way a pair of elections bills are being handled in the legislature, including a statement from the House Speaker that Democrats would be intentionally shut out of the process.  The Representatives both serve on the State Government and Elections committee. 

Ranking Member Rep. Ronald V. Gerberry (D-Austintown) and Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) today sent a letter to Secretary of State Jon Husted and sponsors of two elections bills pending in the legislature requesting open deliberations and outlining their concerns with the bills' provisions, including recommendations for improvement.

Speaker Batchelder said this week (Speaker's post-session gaggle 6/1/11) that sponsors of the House and Senate bills would probably "work out the bills' differences next week in a quiet room" to avoid a conference committee.

"We are trying to work our way into the 'quiet room' because we need the input of both parties on this elections bill so that all Ohio voters feel confident in their elections.  A bill that's written by one party will earn the suspicions of half of Ohioans.  This one-sided process must stop," said Rep. Gerberry.

There is nothing more important to the healthy functioning of a democracy than the free and equal right to vote.  If our government is truly by the people, every person's voice must be heard.  If our government is truly for the people, then this government must do everything within the power granted to it to ensure that this voice is amplified.

On Wednesday, our government found a muzzle.

The so-called election "reform" bill is not about protecting Ohio voters, it's about preventing them from voting at all.  It would reduce access to early voting, curb the use of absentee ballots and place us at greater risk of identity theft.  Moreover, it is a solution in search of a problem.  In the last election, out of 3 million votes cast only ONE was determined to be fraudulent.  That's 0.00000025 percent; hardly just cause for the sweeping and restrictive changes being made to Ohio's election law.

Columbus - All the members of the Ohio Senate Democratic Caucus today voted against SB 148--a deeply flawed election reform bill that will suppress voter turnout.   The partisan legislation slashes early voting from 35 days to just 11, puts Ohioan's personal information at risk and imposes new restrictions that will lead to voter confusion.
 
"There are provisions in this bill that turn back the hands of time by suppressing voting opportunities while at the same time eliminating the protection of voter's privacy," said Senator Shirley Smith (D-Cleveland), the Assistant Minority Leader.
 
SB 148 requires voters who use their Social Security numbers as identification on ballots and registration forms to use all nine digits rather than the last four digits, as required by current law.  During committee testimony, the League of Women Voters called this provision unnecessary, while the ACLU and other voter advocates criticized it for being an invasion of privacy that could lead to identity theft.

Law will restrict voter participation, needlessly disqualify eligible votes
 
COLUMBUS - House Republicans pulled a rare parliamentarian maneuver today to abruptly end the floor debate on legislation that significantly limits voting opportunities for Ohioans.  The move came on the heels of a contentious floor debate on House Bill 194, which restricts voting opportunities, limits voting rights and disqualifies votes that would count under today's laws.
 
"It is stunningly ironic that House Republicans would abruptly end floor debate over a bill that will severely limit voter participation," said House Minority Leader Armond Budish.  "This bill is a shameful attempt to suppress Ohio voters by reducing the early voting period and throwing out votes that would count under today's laws."
 
The changes in House Bill 194 that make it more difficult to participate in Ohio elections include reducing in-person early voting from 35 days to 6 and cutting mail voting from 35 days to 21.  The bill also prohibits in-person voting on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday before an election, which are the three busiest early voting days.
 
"Instead of working across the aisle to making common-sense improvements to Ohio's elections laws, House Republicans rammed through a partisan bill that will only encourage costly pre-election litigation," said Budish. "The House Republicans know that this bill will make harder for Ohioans to exercise their Constitutional right, which is probably why they moved to end the floor debate."
 
The legislation will also throw out votes that are counted under today's laws by requiring that every single field on a provisional ballot be completed for it to count, as opposed to just name and signature. The bill also throws out ballots where voter intent is clear, such as when a voter fills in the oval by a candidate's name and also writes in the same name in the write in section. These votes are counted today and if this bill passes, these votes will not count.  In 2008, there were 12,207 of these votes.
 
The primary concerns with House Bill 194 are listed below:

GOP elections bill will take away voter's rights, reduce the number of ballots counted
 
COLUMBUS - Ohio House and Senate Democrats said today that if proposed changes to Ohio's election laws pass, voting in Ohio will become harder and more restrictive.  The concerns with House Bill 194 and Senate Bill 148 were raised today at a press conference with State Reps. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent), Alicia Reese (D-Cincinnati), and Senator Charleta Tavares (D - Columbus) along with several activists and election law experts, including Professor Daniel P. Tokaji of The Ohio State University's Election Law @ Moritz project.
 
"If these changes become law, Ohio voters will have fewer opportunities to participate and exercising our constitutional right to vote will become harder," said State Rep. Kathleen Clyde.  "Regrettably, this bill will make it harder to vote, fewer votes will be counted and local boards of elections will be prohibited from making voting more accessible in their individual counties."
 
The proposed changes that Democrats raised concerns over were provisions that severely limit the number of days that a person can vote at a designated polling location from 35 days to 5 ½ days; new requirements that make it more difficult to cast and count a provisional ballot; and changes that eliminate local control by county boards of elections.
 
"An elections law overhaul of this magnitude should have bipartisan input or it runs the risk of increased litigation at election time," said State Rep. Clyde.  "Our hope was to have a thoughtful and deliberative process but that has not yet occurred."

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Changes would be made to state election law that would improve access to voting for Ohio soldiers, under a bill set to be introduced Tuesday.

The bipartisan bill, to be introduced by state Rep. Mike Dovilla, (R-Berea), and state Rep. Michael Stinziano, (D-Columbus), would:

• Permit a uniformed services or overseas voter to apply for absent voter's ballots by electronic mail or, if offered by the board of elections, through Internet delivery;

• Require a board of elections to accept and process federal write-in absentee ballots for all elections for federal, state, or local office and for all ballot questions and issues;

• Establish an emergency process for uniformed services and overseas voters to cast a ballot, if an international, national, state, or local emergency or other situation arises that makes substantial compliance with the federal absent voting law impossible or impracticable; and

• Permit a uniformed services or overseas voter to use the declaration accompanying a federal write-in absentee ballot to apply to register to vote simultaneously with the submission of the federal write-in absentee ballot.

"We need greater accessibility and participation for military and overseas voting and this bill goes a long way towards achieving that," said Rep. Stinziano, the former director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, the second-largest voting jurisdiction in the state.

Jon Husted says under his plan Ohio would be among most aggressive on early voting time frame

Secretary of State Jon Husted says he's on a quest to balance "access and accuracy" when it comes to a package of election reforms he is hoping to get Ohio lawmakers to enact.

But that hasn't stopped critics of the Republican's plan from pointing out that Husted's proposal to change Ohio's election laws would narrow the time during which voters can cast ballots through in-person early voting as well as reduce the days in which to request absentee ballots.

<snip>

If Husted's plan were adopted, the absentee ballot request window would shrink to 21 days, which would make Ohio 39th among the eligible states. That means there would be only be eight states with a shorter time frame for absentee ballot requests if Husted's plan became law--excluding the trio of toss-out states.

So how does Husted fare on the Truth-O-Meter.

He said if his plan were put in place, the voting window "will be one of the most aggressive early voting time frames in America." But Husted isn't even close. Ohio would rank 21st among 34 states that offer early in-person voting and 39th among 47 states that offer absentee voting.

His assertion is so wrong, it's ridiculous. And as the top elections officer in the state of Ohio, he has a responsibility to get it right.

For that kind of statement, PolitiFact Ohio "aggressively" strikes a match to his well-tailored trousers. We rate Husted's claim Pants On Fire.

Read the full story at PolitiFact Ohio

Related:

The New Poll Tax: [Round 1] House GOP vs. The Voters

The New Poll Tax: [Round 2] House GOP vs. the Constitution

The New Poll Tax: [Round 3] House GOP vs. the Taxpayer

The Supreme Court has upheld United States District Court Judge Susan J. Dlott's order that some of the provisional ballots cast in wrong precincts due to poll worker error in a Cincinnati race for juvenile court judge should be counted, an order which overrules the Ohio Supreme Court and directives from Ohio's Secretary of State Jon Husted.

Ohio vote recount allowed

The Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon cleared the way for election officials in Hamilton County, Ohio, to do a partial recount of votes cast last November for the office of juvenile judge in that county.  The Court, without noted dissent, refused to block a Sixth Circuit Court decision ordering a new count of hundreds of "provisional" ballots, after finding a violation of the vote-equality principles of the Court's 2000 decision in Bush v. Gore.

A candidate for that judgeship, John Williams, who at one point was ahead in the vote-counting, and the county's Board of Elections had asked Justice Elena Kagan, as Circuit Justice, to delay the Sixth Circuit's recount order until they could challenge it in a coming appeal.   Kagan shared the issue with her eight colleagues, and the Court as a whole issued its order refusing to postpone the appeals court order.  The Justices' action contained no explanation for the refusal.

The Circuit Court had concluded that the local election board had counted 27 "provisional" ballots that had been cast in the wrong precinct but refused to count another 850 ballots also cast in error; the board had accepted that the 27 ballots it chose to count had been wrongly cast because of poll workers' error, but the same cause appeared to have been behind the 850 that the board decided not to count.

Read The Full Story Here

New bill will allow Ohioans to remove statewide officials and legislators not following the will of the people

COLUMBUS -State Reps. Mike Foley (D-Cleveland) and Robert F. Hagan (D-Youngstown) held a press conference today at the Statehouse to introduce legislation which would allow for Ohioans to recall statewide office holders and members of the Ohio General Assembly. Representatives Foley and Hagan decided to move forward with the recall legislation after a number of constituents expressed interest in the idea.

Rep. Foley stated that he has held over 10 Town Halls recently and this is one of the top issues he hears about. People are upset with the direction of the State, the Governor, the Budget and SB5.  Currently, the State provides no recourse to citizens who want to hold legislators accountable.

"Governor Kasich likes to talk about giving tools to people to make government work better," said Rep. Foley. "Well, this is just another tool we want to give Ohioans to make sure government is working how they want it to work.  This right is already available in cases of local elected officials; we're simply expanding it to General Assembly and statewide officials."

The bill will allow voters to recall non-judicial statewide office holders and members of the Ohio General Assembly when voters think the elected official is not representing the views of his or her constituents or is acting in a way that is harmful to the state of Ohio.

Rep. Hagan explained how this is a non-partisan piece of legislation since any voter can initiate the process on any state elected official, regardless of party.  Nevertheless, he was "not going to dance around this point, this is about what Republicans have done with one party rules in Ohio.  This gives the voters an opportunity to recall those elected officials."

The recall process will be similar to the provisions in Ohio law which allow for the recall of municipal officers

State Reps. Mike Foley (D-Cleveland) and Robert F. Hagan (D-Youngstown) will hold a press conference at the Statehouse  Wednesday, April 6, 2011 to introduce legislation which would allow for Ohioans to recall statewide office holders and members of the Ohio General Assembly.

Ohio Republicans want to turn voting from a right to a privilege.  HB 159, which restricts voting identification to certain types of government-issued Photo IDs, could disenfranchise almost a million Ohioans.  Worse, the effect is not fair or equal and will disenfranchise primarily minorities, students, seniors, the disabled and the poor. It is estimated that 25% of African Americans and 18% of seniors don't have a valid form of photo ID and over 600,000 students in Ohio would be prohibited from using their student IDs to vote. 

Michael Stinziano, State Representative from Columbus and former director of the Franklin County Board of Elections stated,"Ohio already has a voter identification system and I have yet to hear one demonstrable state interest that is not met under the current law. ... What is demonstrable is that this bill is unsound as a matter of policy and unsound in terms of appropriate support for the legislation." 

Stinziano noted that neither the Ohio Association of Election Officials, nor Secretary of State John Husted, Ohio's chief elections officer, has endorsed the bill.

"As a former elections official, one major concern that I have is that in these dire fiscal times for the hardworking taxpayers of our state is that this bill will cost counties money in the need for additional education of voters," Stinziano added.

The Ohio House has already passed this bill -- a mere eight days after it was introduced.  Supporters of HB159 know that Ohioans would be outraged if we knew what they were up to and have tried to push this through with minimal public input.  This afternoon, HB 159 was assigned to the Senate State Government Committee.  We must let them know that we will not be silent while they strip voting rights from eligible citizens.
 
Please sign the petition and send a message to the Senate: Stop this attack on voting rights!
 
Our voices and our votes do matter.  Please take action today to ensure our democracy is not challenged by an elite few.

Senate Bill 5, which strips collective bargaining rights from Teachers, Police, Firefighters, and other public employees, passed both the House and Senate late last night and will signed by the Governor today.

This isn't the end. The bill will appear on this November's ballot and its supporters know that public opinion is against them. They know they can't win a debate on the supposed "merits" of destroying the middle class, so they want to stack the deck by eliminating almost 1 million eligible voters in Ohio. We can't let them win and stopping this bill is even more important now. Please make your voice heard today!

Tell the Senate that voting is a right and not a privilege! Sign the petition and stand up against the 21st century poll tax!

Ohio Republicans want to turn voting from a right to a privilege. HB 159 would restrict voting identification to certain types of government-issued photo IDs, which could disenfranchise almost a million Ohioans. Worse, the effect is not fair or equal - it will disenfranchise primarily minorities, students, seniors, the disabled and the poor. It is estimated that 25% of African Americans and 18% of seniors don't have a valid form of photo ID and over 600,000 students in Ohio would be restricted from using their student IDs to vote.

Tell Senate Republicans that every citizen has a right to participate in our democracy. Voting is not just for those who can afford it!

The bill, which legal scholars consider unconstitutional, has been panned by newspaper editorials around the state:

• The Cleveland Plain Dealer called it "woefully out of balance and an invitation to litigation."

• The Toledo Blade called it a "21st century poll tax."

• The Canton Repository said "the [current voting identification] system won't work as well if this bill becomes law."

• The Dayton Daily News said "Everything about this bill, substance and process, makes House Republicans look bad."

• The Youngstown Vindicator stated the effect of the bill would "be to make it more difficult for many legal Ohio voters to cast ballots."

• The Columbus Dispatch editorial board asked the Senate to "take a step back" and "slow down."

Once again, our elected majority is telling the young, the old, the poor and the dark-skinned that we have lost confidence in their ability to vision the future of Ohio.

Two states have similar photo ID laws and split Supreme Court decisions have upheld them. But the Court only allowed those specific laws, where voter rolls were in worse shape than Ohio and where there are easily obtained free photo IDs available. Ohio, on the other hand, has heavily invested in improving our voter rolls. And this bill makes it more difficult to obtain a photo ID than those two other states while putting in place fewer protections for voters. Based on these key differences, costly law suits will no doubt follow passage of this bill. And they are likely to succeed.

But it shouldn't have to come to that. I am disappointed that this bill passed on a party-line vote. I'm disappointed that we are having this debate in 2011. This is not the legacy that traditional Republicans want. It is not the legacy Ohio wants. It is antithetical to our shared history -- and burden -- of preserving our democracy by expanding voter participation.

I hope the Ohio Senate and/or the governor agree that disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of voters is unacceptable in 21st Century Ohio.

The Citizens United decision last year, allowing unlimited corporate campaign spending, was a terrible blow to true democratic participation. What the public rightly takes away from that case is that while average voters out there still count, money counts more.

What House Bill 159 really says is that now some people don't count at all.

Related:

The New Poll Tax: House Bill 159 is Unnecessary, Expensive, and Unconstitutional

Charter school king David Brennan  might suddenly be held accountable by the Ohio Elections Commission at the same time state budget writers want to ship even more public money to his failing charter schools.

An Associated Press story in today's Washington Post explains the background:

A school choice group that pumped millions of dollars into helping get its candidates elected in Ohio, Wisconsin and other states has yet to pay a record $5.2 million fine imposed three years ago by Ohio election officials, according to the state attorney general.

The fine imposed on All Children Matter languishes even as Ohio Gov. John Kasich pushes a $55.5 billion budget proposal that would continue to expand school choice, doubling the number of school vouchers in the state and lifting a cap on community schools.

The Ohio Elections Commission unanimously ruled in 2008 that All Children Matter, headed by former Michigan Republican Chairwoman Betsy DeVos and run out of that state, illegally funneled $870,000 in contributions from its Virginia political action committee to its Ohio affiliate. That violated a $10,000 cap on what Ohio-based political-action committees could accept from any single entity.

Brennan appealed the fine and lost, but the Ohio Elections Commission added All Children Matter to its March 31 agenda.

Brennan runs White Hat Management, the nation's largest for-profit charter school operation.

ProgressOhio unearthed the campaign finance irregularities, prompting the usually timid election's panel to issue the record-setting $5.2 million fine. Although Brennan is a millionaire, the fine remains unpaid - despite efforts by former Democratic Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to collect the money and his successor, Mike DeWine, a Republican.

The Associated Press story provided a necessary reminder of the fine and made a national splash (but did not appear in one Ohio daily paper).

House Bill 159, the unnecessary, unconstitutional and expensive new disenfranchisement bill, has been speeding through the Ohio House this week and is headed to the Senate early next week.  We have been going through the bill and highlighting the many errors in the bill and the process used to pass it. 

You can go back and read a summary post, [Round 1} House GOP vs. The Voters, and [Round 2] House GOP vs. the Constitution.

HB159 WILL COST OHIO MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN REVENUE AND SPENDING

One of the most striking comments made by Speaker Batchelder was that House Bill 159 will add "no additional cost" to the budget because poll worker training and voter education "are covered by present law. That is people who are going to work at the polls are required to go to the class.  The class has gotten longer in recent years but that will be no different than it has been.  So far as educating voters, obviously we have all kinds of materials that go out to educate voters, where do you register, how do you take the right to vote by absentee, all that stuff is on brochures that are prepared and distributed by the Secretary of State. So I don't think there is any additional cost."

Wait, so according to the House GOP Leadership, the preparation of new voter education materials and lengthened poll worker trainings will all happen at no cost?  What world does Speaker Batchelder live in where there is a large amount of free labor and printing available?

In fact, due to constitutional requirements for free IDs and voter education, photo ID bills in other states have cost tens of millions of dollars while serving populations that are only a fraction of Ohio's.

The Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law released a report that examined every Supreme Court case around photo ID requirements. Based on Court precedent and interpretations of the Voting Rights Act and the Help America Vote Act, they found that the Supreme Court has consistently upheld certain rules and processes to ensure that no American is ever denied the right to vote.  The Court has laid out three specific requirements for laws that restrict voting:

1.    Photo IDs sufficient for voting must be available free of charge for all those who do not have them. States cannot limit free IDs to those who swear they are indigent.

    ◦    In addition, some courts may require states to ensure that all the documents required in order to obtain photo IDs are free and easily available to prospective voters.

2.    Second, photo IDs must be readily accessible to all voters, without undue burden. At a minimum, most states will likely have to expand the number of ID-issuing offices and extend their operating hours to meet this requirement.
 
3.    States must undertake substantial voter outreach and public education efforts to ensure that voters are apprised of the law's requirements and the procedures for obtaining the IDs they will need to vote. ...
 
    ◦    Failure to include these measures will make it likely that courts will find the law deficient.

Let's start at the top:

COST: FREE IDS AVAILABLE TO ALL

House Bill 159, the unnecessary, unconstitutional and expensive new disenfranchisement bill, has been speeding through the Ohio House this week and is headed to the Senate early next week. We have been going through the bill and highlighting the many errors in the bill and the process used to pass it. 

You can read a summary post here and the next post, House GOP vs. The Voters, here.

During the (very limited) debate and press conference around House Bill 159 yesterday, House GOP leaders kept bringing up Georgia and Indiana as examples of restrictive photo ID requirements that passed constitutional scrutiny from the United States Supreme Court.  Once again, this is not exactly the whole truth.

The Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, a non-partisan think tank on Election law and reform, has done extensive studies of every photo ID case to come before the United State Supreme Court.  

Based on Court precedent and interpretations of the Voting Rights Act and the Help America Vote Act, the Supreme Court has consistently upheld complex rules and processes to ensure that no American is ever denied the right to vote.  The Court has laid out three requirements for laws that restrict voting:

1. Photo IDs sufficient for voting must be available free of charge for all those who do not have them. States cannot limit free IDs to those who swear they are indigent. In addition, some courts may require states to ensure that all the documents required in order to obtain photo IDs are free and easily available to prospective voters.
2. Second, photo IDs must be readily accessible to all voters, without undue burden. At a minimum, most states will likely have to expand the number of ID-issuing offices and extend their operating hours to meet this requirement.
3. States must undertake substantial voter outreach and public education efforts to ensure that voters are apprised of the law's requirements and the procedures for obtaining the IDs they will need to vote.

While these measures will not guarantee that a state's voter ID law will be upheld in court (there are a number of constitutional problems with voter ID requirements, as discussed below), failure to include these measures will make it likely that courts will find the law deficient.

We will get into #2 and #3 in the next post on the cost of this bill, so for now, let's see how House Bill 159 stacks up to the first Constitutional requirement:

FREE IDS TO ALL: #MAJOR FAIL

The Ohio House Democratic Women's Caucus is criticizing House passage of legislation which will disenfranchise thousands of qualified voters by requiring all Ohioans to show government photo identification to cast a ballot.

"This legislation will significantly disenfranchise thousands of Ohio voters," said Women's Caucus Chair Rep. Nancy Garland (D-Columbus). "It will especially prevent minorities, the poor and students from being able to exercise their right to vote, it will also have a significant impact on women."

The Caucus noted that women are more likely to change their name, often through marriage or divorce, and as a result are more likely to have a government identification that does not reflect their legal name.

Members also pointed out older women are less likely to have government documentation. This can especially be a problem for women who were born in an era when home births often precluded the legal birth certificate needed to secure a government ID. Older Ohioans are also less likely to have a driver's license.

"Over 90 years after women won a hard-fought battle for the right to vote, the Ohio House sends a message to Ohio women: tough luck. This bill disproportionately disenfranchises women due to the number of women who change their names upon marriage and the many older women who have no state ID, nor any means to obtain one. The costs to comply with HB 159 amount to nothing more than a poll tax," said Women's Caucus Secretary Rep. Connie Pillich (D-Montgomery).

HB 159 changes current election law and allows for only certain forms of government issued photo ID's to be accepted for voting. Those are an Ohio's driver's license, Ohio state ID, Military ID and US Passport. Currently, state law allows for other forms of ID such as voter registration cards, utility bills and bank statements. It is estimated that as many as 887,000 Ohioans may lack the government issued ID required by this legislation.

The bill is now in the Ohio Senate for consideration.

House Bill 159, the unnecessary, unconstitutional and expensive new disenfranchisement bill, has been speeding through the Ohio House this week and is headed to the Senate early next week.  

Basically House Bill 159 would require every voter to present one of four approved Government IDs to vote: an Ohio Driver's license, an Ohio ID Card, a Military ID, or a US Passport.  

The sponsors are claiming its to fight voter impersonation at the polls despite not being able to bring forward one single case of an individual being convicted for voter impersonation.  

In reality, this bill is about disenfranchising students, the poor, the elderly, and anyone else the Republican Party assumes will not support them in the next election.  Instead of working for policies that help people and earning their vote through actions and accomplishments, they would rather stop almost a million eligible residents from voting.   To put this in perspective, Governor Kasich only won in 2010 by less than 100,000 votes Statewide so stripping the right to vote from close to a million eligible Ohioans will go a long way towards cementing their monolithic control of the Statehouse, the Supreme Court, and the Governor's office for decades to come.

MASSIVE NUMBERS OF OHIOANS WILL BE DISENFRANCHISED

HB 159 by the numbers (H/T House Democratic Caucus):

• 887,000 voting-age Ohioans likely do not have Government-issued photo ID
• 25% of African Americans nationwide do not have government-issued photo ID
• 18% of voters over age 65 nationwide do not have government-issued photo ID
• 15% of voters with income lower than $35,000/year don't have government- issued photo ID
• 0 evidence of voter impersonation fraud

The total number of registered voters in the state, even in a large presidential election year like 2008, is a little over 8.2 million voters.  Therefore it's possible that HB159 could remove OVER 10% of the electorate.

According to the Ohio Board of Regents, over 610,000 students attend Ohio Colleges and Universities.  Under current law, these Students are residents of the where they live, whether on campus or off, and are allowed to vote in Ohio.  Under HB159, college and university students would not be allowed to use an out of state ID or even their student ID issued from a State University.  Even Georgia and Indiana, the other two stated to require a photo ID, allow Student IDs.  If this bill is truly about fighting voter impersonation and not disenfranchising massive amount of voters, then why would a photo ID from a state university not confirm their identity?  Why would an out of state ID not confirm their identity?  This is not about voter fraud, this is about keeping students, low income residents, low education residents, and minorities from voting.

SLAMMED THROUGH THE HOUSE WITH EXTREMELY LIMITED DISCUSSION

Speaker Batchelder, Rep. Huffman, Rep. Mecklengorg, Rep. Grossman, Rep. Blessing Try to defend disenfranchising 887.000 Ohioans from their right to vote

The battle against civil rights is in full swing at the Ohio Statehouse.  First it was taking away the right to collectively bargain, but since SB5 may be going to the ballot and polling has shown it to be extremely unpopular with Ohioans, the field of battle has shifted.   

How do the SB5 supporters propose to overcome the opposition of a majority of Ohio voters? Take away their right to vote.

House Bill 159 would require every voter to present one of four approved Government IDs to vote: an Ohio Driver's license, an Ohio ID Card, a Military ID, or a US Passport.  The stated purpose is to combat voter impersonation at the polls.  The only problem? No one, including the bill sponsors, can point to an actual case of someone being convicted for voter impersonation.  This is a "solution" in search of a problem.

The Columbus Dispatch pointed to State Representative Michael Stinziano, the former Executive Director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, saying any fraud issues that have arisen in Franklin County have come from absentee ballots, not at the polls.

So why are they doing it?

• If SB5 passes, it's probably going to a statewide referendum

• Polling has consistently shown that a majority of Ohioans oppose SB5 and the only way to win is to drive down turnout in the election

• 887,000 voting age Ohioans do not currently have the required Government issued photo ID

• The majority of those 887,000 individuals are students, low income, minority, or elderly individuals who tend to not support Republican Ideas

Only 2 other states have the same restrictive requirements, Georgia and Indiana, but even they are not as extreme as the Ohio House Bill 159.  (They allow Student IDs and have massive outlays for voter education efforts - more on that in the next post)

At yesterday's GOP press conference, Speaker Batchelder and Representative Mecklenborg stated that the bill would increase voter turnout, would not cost any additional funds, and would survive a constitutional challenge in the United States Supreme Court.   They could not be farther from the truth and the facts on the ground from other states that have implemented photo ID laws have shown their arguments to be false.  The Supreme Court has laid out standards for what meets constitutional muster and this bill calls for none of those steps.  Costs in these states have been millions of dollars per year, and studies have shown that turnout is depressed, especially among low income and low education individuals.

We are going to be posting more analysis during the day on the individual ways this bill is bad for the voter, bad for the budget, and blatantly unconstitutional but for now, suffice it to say that HB159 = monumental #FAIL for Ohio.

Related:

The New Poll Tax: [Round 1] House GOP vs. The Voters

The New Poll Tax: [Round 2] House GOP vs. the Constitution

Rushed legislative process will leave thousands without the right to vote

COLUMBUS - Ohio House Democratic Leader Armond Budish (D-Beachwood), State Reps. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent), Sandra Williams (D-Cleveland), Dan Ramos (D-Lorain), Tracy Maxwell Heard (D-Columbus), as well as  Peg Rosenfield from the League of Women Voters of Ohio and members of the Ohio House Democratic Caucus held a press conference today expressing grave concerns over House Bill 59, which could take away the rights of thousands of Ohio voters.  The bill would make Ohio 1 of only 3 states that requires a government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot and its provisions would make it stricter than Georgia's photo ID law.

"Voting is a constitutional right which we have a responsibility to uphold, not make more difficult," said Leader Budish. "This bill will negatively impact the elderly, college students, the poor and minorities. After years of reform and encouraging citizens to more actively participate in their democracy, this legislation will stop and reverse that progress. Are we returning to the embarrassing days when white male property owners were the only legal voters?"

HB 159 changes current election law and allows for only certain forms of government issued photo ID's to be accepted for voting. Those are an Ohio's driver's license, Ohio state ID, Military ID and US Passport. Currently, state law allows for other forms of ID such as voter registration cards, utility bills and bank statements. It is estimated that as many as 887,000 Ohioans may lack the government issued ID required by this legislation.

"The majority continues to ram its agenda through without discussion," said Rep. Clyde. "Yesterday I offered an amendment that would have helped students who have decided to make Ohio their permanent home be able to vote with the rest of their community by showing their student ID cards. Sadly, this was tabled with no discussion. This is not how the legislative process was designed to work."

HB 159 was introduced last week, voted out of committee yesterday and placed on the House floor today. With only two hearings, limited testimony and no real evidence of voter fraud, HB 159 raises serious questions about why it is on a fast track for approval.

"Once again Republicans are trying to suppress the poor and minority vote by requiring photo identification, which would place an undue burden on those who cannot afford to pay these costs," said Rep. Williams. "It's nothing more than a modern day poll tax."

Only a week after being introduced, a sponsor hearing, and no opportunity for public input, members of the House Committee on State Government and Elections yesterday passed House Bill 159, a restrictive photo ID bill that could disenfranchise thousands of Ohioans.

H.B. 159  is sponsored by Rep. Robert Mecklenborg (R-Green Township) and Rep. Louis Blessing, Jr. (R-Cincinnati). 

This bill was introduced under the cover of Governor Kasich's highly anticipated budget announcement, and may be voted on only a week later. A week is simply not enough time for the public or the committee to adequately discuss the many challenges such a law presents."

A section of the bill requires the state to create a process for indigent Ohioans to obtain free state photo IDs, but does not make clear how this would be paid for and who would qualify for a free ID. A short fiscal analysis was released on March 21, but did not adequately address how many Ohioans would be impacted by the legislation.

H.B. 159 would require all Ohioans to show a photo ID when casting a ballot in person. The bill provides vague language for those who cannot afford an ID to obtain a free one, but provides no process or funding for this.

"Requiring photo identification will place another unnecessary hurdle before Ohioans who wish to cast ballots but do not have access to a photo ID. The legislation only provides a vague promise that free IDs will be provided to those who cannot pay, but does not say how someone would qualify for one," said ACLU of Ohio Staff Counsel Carrie Davis. "In addition, it may cost millions of dollars to implement this bill. Given Ohio's current budget crisis, it is reckless to pass this legislation without fully considering the financial implications."

Cost analyses of similar laws in states with smaller populations have ranged from $18-$25 million to implement over three years.

H.B. 159 is scheduled for a floor vote in the House today.

SEIU1199 WVKYOH, The Ohio AFL-CIO and AARP all registered their issues with Rep. Robert Mecklenborg the bills sponsor as well as the Chairman of the House Committee on State Government and Elections.

COLUMBUS - Ohio House Democratic Leader Armond Budish (D-Beachwood) today sent the following letter to Speaker Batchelder in regards to House Bill 159 (HB 159), the voter ID bill. Unexpectedly, HB 159, which requires all Ohio voters to show proper photo identification to cast a ballot, is scheduled for a vote in State Government and Elections Committee today, March 22nd.

This follows only one hearing on sponsor testimony held last week and limited public input. Leader Budish urges Speaker Batchelder to stop this dangerous bill that will disenfranchise thousands of eligible Ohio voters.

Leader Budish Letter to Speaker on SB 159

In response to ProgressOhio's lawsuit, Gov. Kasich has announced this afternoon he is removing Mark Kvamme from his position as director at the Department of Development:

Today Governor John R. Kasich announced that he has appointed Mark Kvamme to serve as Director of Job Creation in the Office of the Governor.  Kvamme will help oversee job creation policy statewide, work with regional economic development partners to enhance job creation strategies and help state agencies maximize the economic benefit of their operations.  Kvamme previously served as director of the Department of Development.

Kvamme is barred by the state constitution from serving in his previous role. The Ohio Constitution and Revised Code require that State Directors must be a resident and registered to vote in Ohio for 30 days prior to an appointment or else it is illegal and nullified. Mr. Kvamme is not a resident of Ohio, is not eligible to vote in Ohio, and therefore was not legally appointed to his position.

In response to this development, Brian Rothenberg, executive director at ProgressOhio said, "We were confident all along that we would prevail in our lawsuit. It would have been preferable if the Governor had chosen to do this weeks ago. A constitutional law is a constitutional law, period."

At a Statehouse press conference today, Secretary of State Jon Husted outlined his priorities for improving the overall administration of Ohio elections. With the 2012 Presidential Election on the horizon, Husted will work closely with legislative leaders and the Governor to see these changes passed into law and implemented as soon as possible.

"The 2012 Presidential Election will have a tremendous impact on our state and nation. My goal is to ensure that the focus is on candidates, not on the process for electing them," Secretary Husted said. "For the vast majority of Ohioans, our elections system works very well, but there are changes we can make to improve overall access and accuracy and thereby, build more confidence in the results."

On-line Voter Registration and Change of Address
Secretary Husted is calling for on-line voter registration and for giving registered voters the opportunity to change their address electronically. This convenience to voters would also assist boards of elections and potentially reduce errors by cutting back on data entry. To protect against fraudulent registrations, the on-line system would require a valid Ohio driver's license or state identification card to participate. Husted noted that according to an informal survey of the 88 county boards of elections, nearly half of voters were required to cast provisional ballots in the last general election because they moved or changed their name and did not notify their board of elections prior to Election Day. This on-line system would make it easier for Ohioans to keep their information up-to-date so they can vote a regular ballot on Election Day.

Improving Casting and Counting of Provisional Ballots
Provisional ballots are required under federal law and are an important safeguard for verifying the validity of ballots cast. Provisional ballots commonly are given to those who have not updated their voting information, failed to provide identification at the polls or to those who may have already voted absentee or in another precinct. It is important to note that in the 2010 election, of the 105,000 provisional ballots cast, 90 percent were counted. Nearly half of the remaining 10 percent were not counted because these individuals were not eligible Ohio voters - just what the system is designed to catch. It's the remaining small but important five percent that have caused confusion and controversy. While recognizing that there will always be a need for provisional ballots and that in high-turnout elections, the provisional ballot count will inevitably increase, Secretary Husted is proposing changes for now and in the future to reduce errors on the front-end and help ensure more valid provisional ballots are counted.

Ohio law provides that ballots cast in the wrong precinct are not eligible to be counted. Husted wants to deploy new technology that could help get voters to the correct precinct. In addition to making it easier for voters to keep their information up-to-date through on-line registration, Secretary Husted also wants the authority to certify electronic poll books, technology which would allow poll workers access to county-wide voter information rather than relying up on the printed, precinct-based paper poll books and maps. This additional information would assist them in helping voters on Election Day, including directing them to the correct precinct and ensuring they use the appropriate ballot style.

On the counting front, Secretary Husted would require absentee voters and those voting provisionally to provide all nine digits of their Social Security numbers rather than the last four under existing law (or an Ohio drivers' license or state identification number). The complete number provides boards of elections a much better chance of verifying the validity of the ballot.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of Citizens United, a Supreme Court case that dramatically accelerates the corruptive force of money in U.S. politics.

So what's happening on this anniversary?

1) There's a protest rally in Columbus to argue for a federal constitutional amendment in response to the ruling.

and

2) State Rep. Jay Goyal, D-Mansfield, plans to introduce legislation to ban businesses that get state contracts from making campaign contributions with corporate cash.

As she prepared to leave office former Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner announced permanent rules recently approved by the Ohio Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review that address the impact of the "Citizens United" case in Ohio.

The Citizens United case now allows corporations to make independent expenditures for and against candidates in state and federal campaigns," said Secretary Brunner. "I am pleased that Ohio has in place new rules so Ohioans will know who is trying to influence their votes in Ohio elections."
 
The new rules will impact campaign expenditures by corporations, nonprofit corporations and labor organizations in several ways:

• Corporations, nonprofit corporations and labor organizations will have to disclose the amounts they spend and to whom for independent campaign ads for or against a candidate or committee.

• Corporations, nonprofit corporations and labor organizations will have to include their Internet web addresses in their ads so voters can learn more about them.

• Corporations, nonprofit corporations and labor organizations must disclose the fact that their independent campaign ads have not been authorized by a candidate or committee.

• Independent campaign expenditures by corporations and businesses owned 20 percent or more by foreign citizens are prohibited.

• Corporations and businesses that have been awarded state or federal money through Ohio will not be allowed to influence Ohio elections with independent expenditures within a year of the award.

• When the rules are violated, the Secretary of State will be able to pursue violations through means such as subpoenas, investigations and referral of complaints to the Ohio Elections Commission.

For information about the new rules approved by the Ohio Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review, click here.

Did these two men, Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, have a shocking and undisclosed conflict of interest when they ruled on the Citizens United case -- which opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate political spending?

Common Cause is asking the Justice Department to investigate the apparent involvement of Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas in political strategy sessions hosted by Koch Industries, the nation's second largest privately held company. Common Cause contends that these activities, if substantiated, constitute a conflict of interests that would require the Court to vacate its judgment in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a landmark ruling that ended restrictions on corporate and union political spending.

Decided one year ago tomorrow on a 5-4 vote, Citizens United provided a political advantage to Koch Industries and its corporate allies, many of whom helped pump nearly $300 million into the 2010 elections. Common Cause believes that if sufficient grounds for disqualification of either Justice exist, the Solicitor General should seek to vacate the Citizens United judgment.

Read their petition to the Justice Department.

COLUMBUS, OH: End Corporate Rule Rally and March
Date: Fri, 01/21/2011 - 12:00pm - 1:30pm
Location: Start at First Congregational Church, march to Ohio State Capitol and Corporate Offices 444 East Broad Street Columbus, OH
See map: Google Maps

Knowledgeable speakers will address participants at the First Church, with liberation music. A short march, stopping at Chase Bank local HQ, and on to the state capitol for additional speeches, demonstrations, and visibility. Distribution of information to the general public.

Bring posters and signs!

Sponsored by Move to Amend Ohio - http://www.movetoamendohio.org

United States District Court Judge Susan J. Dlott today ordered that some of the provisional ballots cast in wrong precincts due to poll worker error in a Cincinnati race for juvenile court judge should be counted, an order which conflicts with last week's Ohio Supreme Court ruling and directives from Ohio's new Secretary of State Jon Husted.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott was a victory for Democratic candidate Tracie Hunter and a blow to John Williams, the Republican who leads her by just 23 votes.

The Cincinnati Enquirer Reports:

Republicans have argued that Williams should be declared the winner and that the excluded ballots were not counted because they were cast in violation of Ohio election rules.

Democrats want to count as many of the disputed ballots as possible and say failing to do so would disenfranchise voters.

The dispute centers on 849 provisional ballots that were not counted on Election Day because poll workers believed they were cast at the wrong precinct.

But Dlott, who was appointed to the bench by President Clinton, said 149 of those ballots were cast at the wrong precinct because of poll worker error. Many may have been cast at the wrong table, even though the voters were casting ballots at the right building.

"There is no way of knowing at this moment whether counting additional provisional ballots will alter that outcome," Dlott wrote. "What is certain is that allowing the Board to ignore evidence of poll worker error and not count provisional ballots that were improperly cast through no fault of the voter will seriously undermine citizens' confidence in the outcome of this election."

Read the Full Story at Cincinnati.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Outgoing Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner reflected on the achievements of her administration and announced Friday the adoption of permanent rules to create the Secretary of State Advisory Board for the next administration. /p>

"We've come very far in the four years I've been given to serve Ohio. It's  important to leave what we do in a form that can grow and further benefit Ohioans from every walk of life, especially when it comes to fair voting in a responsive and accountable state government," Secretary Brunner said.

Among the Secretary's marquee accomplishments: running a smooth 2008 election, which required careful guidance via directives on a multitude of issues; enhancing the statewide voter registration database to reduce the number of non-matches because of minor clerical issues; hosting a redistricting competition that showed redistricting could be accomplished via a transparent and nonpartisan process; creating a new web resource called Better Lives Better Ohio that has information and statistics about social conditions affecting life in Ohio; and enhancing the office's business services division by bringing the work in house, opening a Cleveland office for businesses and improving the turnaround time on filings.  

In addition, the Secretary leaves office having just established via rules a new Advisory Board within the Secretary of State's office whose function will be to provide advice about any controversies the office may encounter in conducting elections. Its role will be to minimize partisan disputes and instill a high level of confidence in the election system by giving the Secretary nonpartisan and multipartisan advice.

Information about the new rules can be found here (PDF)

• Individuals associated with LetOhioVote.org have been referred to the Attorney General's office for failing to comply with subpoenas issued by the Secretary of State's office. The subpoenas sought documents and deposition testimony related to the Secretary of State's ongoing investigation into the source of the group's financing.

• The case of a Stark County McDonald's franchisee who is alleged to have violated election law has been referred for prosecution. This matter is also being referred to the Stark County Prosecutor.

• The case of a first-time voter who voted by absentee ballot in two counties has been referred to the Attorney General. A report has concluded that the voter made a mistake, and Secretary Brunner recommends that the matter not be prosecuted.

• LetOhioVote.org letter

•  Stark County letter

• First-time voter letter

COLUMBUS, Ohio - As she prepares to leave office at the end of next week, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner announced permanent rules recently approved by the Ohio Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review that address the impact of the "Citizens United" case in Ohio.

The Citizens United case now allows corporations to make independent expenditures for and against candidates in state and federal campaigns," said Secretary Brunner. "I am pleased that Ohio has in place new rules so Ohioans will know who is trying to influence their votes in Ohio elections."
 
The new rules will impact campaign expenditures by corporations, nonprofit corporations and labor organizations in several ways:

• Corporations, nonprofit corporations and labor organizations will have to disclose the amounts they spend and to whom for independent campaign ads for or against a candidate or committee.

• Corporations, nonprofit corporations and labor organizations will have to include their Internet web addresses in their ads so voters can learn more about them.

• Corporations, nonprofit corporations and labor organizations must disclose the fact that their independent campaign ads have not been authorized by a candidate or committee.

• Independent campaign expenditures by corporations and businesses owned 20 percent or more by foreign citizens are prohibited.

• Corporations and businesses that have been awarded state or federal money through Ohio will not be allowed to influence Ohio elections with independent expenditures within a year of the award.

• When the rules are violated, the Secretary of State will be able to pursue violations through means such as subpoenas, investigations and referral of complaints to the Ohio Elections Commission.

Akron student captures voting booth problem on his iPhone

JACKSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio - Ian Sanderson is an University of Akron freshman, who was genuinely excited to cast his ballot during the November election.  

Sanderson traveled to John Knox Church in Jackson Township, where he was greeted by four poll workers, who were on the scene. Ian said running through the ballot was going smoothly until he tried to cast his vote for Democrat John Boccieri, in the 16th District Congressional race.

"Everytime I hit the Boccieri button on the touch screen, it activated the button for Boccieri's opponent listed above his name on the ballot," Sanderson said.  "I couldn't believe this was happening, so I decided to record the incident on my iPhone."

Sanderson said he was unable to vote for Boccieri, so he reported the problem to a poll worker. Sanderson said the poll worker was already aware of the problem, but claims the voting booth was not immediately shut down.

"I decided to post video of my voting experience on YouTube," Sanderson said. "I just thought more people should know that these voting machines can go bad."

Watch It:

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court has refused to block a Minnesota law requiring disclosure of corporate political spending.

The high court without comment turned away a request for an injunction from Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life.

The Supreme Court earlier this year freed businesses to spend company money on elections, overturning state restrictions on corporate political spending. Minnesota lawmakers responded by enacting disclosure requirements so that corporate campaign spending would be public.

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the Taxpayers League of Minnesota and a travel agency sued, saying the reporting requirements amounted to a ban on free speech. They want the law stopped while they appeal.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) responded to the latest revelations about the millions of dollars behind the Chamber political attack ads. "They give new meaning to the term 'Buy American'...they want to buy these elections," she said on MSNBC. "[I]f they were to win, it would mean that we are now...a plutocracy and oligarchy. Whatever these few wealthy, secret, unlimited sources of money are can control our entire agenda."

NBC's Michael Isikoff reported last night that Karl Rove's coalition of right-wing groups is "expected to raise as much as $250 million." Most of this money "is coming from big fat cat donor" and undisclosed "secret money pouring into American elections," Isikoff said, adding that "many $20 million-plus checks have come in from hedge fund moguls and other big business executives."

As millions of Americans struggle in this economy, the rich and powerful special interests should not be able to drown out the voices of citizens.

Today, Common Cause, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to transparency and accountability in the political process, underscored the dangerous impact GOP's obstruction of the DISCLOSE Act is having on our democracy, writing:

...this year, thanks to the US Supreme Court, a few "citizens" have decided to hedge their bets and exploit our political rules; they're trying to tell the rest of us how to vote without revealing who they are or what they have at stake in our elections.

...Americans shouldn't have to endure another election year in which we can't know who is spending mystery money, foreign or domestic, by the millions to affect who gets chosen in our own elections.

The DISCLOSE Act would require disclosure of donations in the wake of the Supreme Court Citizens United decision earlier this year that opened up American elections to unlimited corporate, and possibly foreign, funding. The House passed the DISCLOSE Act in June, despite 99% of Republicans voting against it. Since then, Republicans in the Senate and their allies worked to defeat it - and the transparency and accountability the American people deserve.

Common Cause:

Our Democracy is Not Based on Secrecy

Tens of thousands of Americans are engaged this October in the good work of citizenship: running for office, contributing their money, time and talents on behalf of candidates and causes.

These Americans are justifiably proud of their activities. They join in civic life with pride, signing their names to letters-to-the-editor, identifying themselves when they go door-to-door to distribute campaign literature, openly contributing money to candidates and political action groups. They understand that transparency is fundamental to fair play in politics.

But this year, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, a few "citizens" have decided to hedge their bets and exploit our political rules; they're trying to tell the rest of us how to vote without revealing who they are or what they have at stake in our elections.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is merely the most visible player in this game. The Chamber and some other trade groups and corporations are pouring millions of dollars into our political system in secret, using the tax laws to hide their own involvement, as well as their donors.

Even worse, questions are being raised about whether the Chamber, which has pledged to invest up to $75 million in this campaign cycle, is providing a conduit for foreign businesses to influence the elections. The Chamber denies it, but so far has declined to open its books for inspection.

Our democracy is not based on secrecy. If disclosure is what we deserve from the people who run for office and the people who contribute to candidates, surely it's what we deserve from EVERYONE who invests in our political system, especially those investing millions of dollars.

Even if every penny of the Chamber's political spending comes from domestic sources, the money - and all the rest of what's being spent under the cloak of secrecy - is tainted.

And the sad fact is this all could have been avoided. The DISCLOSE Act, twice blocked from even coming up for a vote in the Senate by a minority of senators through the filibuster, would have imposed reasonable disclosure requirements on the Chamber and other groups now exploiting campaign finance laws.

And the Fair Elections Now Act, ready for passage in the House when it comes to a vote, would let candidates run competitive races without having to rely on big donors, foreign or domestic.

When Congress returns to Washington after the election, it must get busy and pass both DISCLOSE and the Fair Elections Now Act. Americans shouldn't have to endure another election year in which we can't know who is spending mystery money, foreign or domestic, by the millions to affect who gets chosen in our own elections.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner today announced the launch of the online Judicial and Candidate Voter Guide for Ohio. The online guide will enable Ohio voters to educate themselves about candidates in Ohio running for (in alphabetical order) Attorney General, Auditor of State, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Governor and Lieutenant Governor, Judge of Court of Appeals, Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, Secretary of State, State Board of Education, State Representative, State Senator, Treasurer of State, U.S. Representative to Congress, and U.S. Senator.

"Today is the first day of early voting," said Brunner.  With ever-increasing numbers of Ohioans voting by mail from home and in person at boards of elections, the Online Judicial and Candidate Voter Guide for Ohio puts critical information about state and judicial candidates in their hands using a single format for easy comparison of all of the candidates for an office," she continued. "Voters need just click on their county on a map of Ohio to learn about candidates on the ballot where they live," said Brunner.  The guide also features links to candidate websites for voters to access more in depth information about a candidate.  

"Ohio has more citizens registered to vote than ever before," said Secretary Brunner.  "Now is the time to educate voters about their choices in choosing tomorrow's elected leaders," she continued. "We owe it to Ohioans of all walks of life to get information to them in a nonpartisan format so they can make informed decisions when voting.  Many people skip a race, especially judicial races, when they don't have information about a candidate.  We believe this online guide is an important step to help eliminate the 'fall off' or failure to vote all the way down the ballot that typically occurs with a lengthy ballot," said Brunner.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner today announced the approval of funding from the state's controlling board to reimburse four Ohio county boards of elections for costs associated with the July 13, 2010 special Congressional election. 

The special election also provided an opportunity to pilot a "vote center" concept authorized by a temporary state law change, resulting in substantial cost savings for the state in reimbursing the four county boards of elections involved.  Total funding for this year's special Congressional primary came in at $272,236.68. The cost for a special Congressional election in the same district in 2006 was $578,474.90, using traditional election procedures. 

The withdrawal of the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Representative in the 3rd Congressional District required a special election in all of Clinton and Highland counties and parts of Montgomery (most populous) and Warren counties.  Ohio law (R.C. 3513.312) requires that, when a vacancy in party nomination for the office of representative to congress occurs more than eighty days before the general election, a special election must be held to fill the vacancy in nomination.

In an effort to reduce costs associated with the special election, a temporary change in Ohio law was secured to permit boards to use "vote centers," that is, a limited number of polling locations in the county (not more than four), at a county board of elections' option.  Bipartisan support of a recent amendment to a bill addressing campaign transition accounts legislation, allowed the state to establish a pilot of the "vote center" concept.

• The Secretary has authority to investigate potential campaign finance law violations before making a referral to the Ohio Elections Commission - OEC (and as part of determining whether a referral to the OEC is warranted),

• This authority to investigate includes the power to issue subpoenas, and

• Failure to comply with a subpoena from the Secretary is punishable by criminal (misdemeanor) sanctions.

"He [Timothy Crawford] is currently being investigated by the Ohio secretary of state for his role in Let Ohio Vote, a state-referendum campaign bankrolled in its entirety by New Models, a Virginia organization Crawford owns, which calls itself a nonprofit. Earlier this year, he refused to respond to a subpoena--issued under state laws that prohibit concealment of campaign money--that sought to discover where New Models had gotten the $1.6 million to fund Let Ohio Vote. Ohio secretary of state Jennifer Brunner has called New Models "a 'straw-person' out of state corporation."  - Vanity Fair, October 2010 issue

Columbus, Ohio – Tuesday, September 7 voters in Cuyahoga County will go to the polls for a historic special primary election, one that will begin to shape a new form of county government. At Tuesday’s primary election, Cuyahoga County voters may notice several changes at the polls.  As with all primary elections, voters who choose to affiliate with a political party, will vote only for candidates in their party for nomination for the general election on November 2nd.  Voters who are independent of any party may still vote an “issues only” ballot.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich delivers his message concerning Afghanistan, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and the influence of corporate money on federal elections.

Watch It:

COLUMBUS, Ohio – With the close of the 2010 Summer Conference for Ohio’s county election officials, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, the state’s chief election official, commended county boards of elections for the groundbreaking progress they have made since Secretary Brunner took office in 2007.

“You are to be commended for your accomplishments in tackling technological and legal changes over these last 3 ½ years, to make voting in Ohio more uniform in providing equal voting rights no matter where a voter lives,” said Secretary Brunner in her closing remarks to Ohio Elections Officials.

“With a new secretary of state to be elected in November, many of you have shared your anxieties about what the future holds, but I assure you that it is you who have done the work, and you have handled the changes well,” said Secretary Brunner.  She reminded them of the existence of a six-year consent decree signed last year in settling extensive litigation with the Ohio League of Women Voters and others that mandates specific best election practices for the next six years, many of which were implemented voluntarily by Secretary Brunner’s administration.

“Regardless of who is elected secretary of state this fall, the practices you have implemented to improve Ohio’s voting system will remain secure for Ohio voters,” Secretary Brunner told the state’s election officials gathered for the last time during her administration.

Despite the challenges of managing what are essentially “citizen-run elections” in an elections system of approximately 10,200 precincts, more than 41,000 poll workers, and more than 8 million voters, boards of elections in partnership with the Secretary of State’s office have now been recognized nationally for their success in running fair, efficient and transparent elections for the State of Ohio.  The controversies that plagued Ohio’s 2004 presidential election were nonexistent for the 2008 presidential election that saw a record number of voters in Ohio history participating in the election. 

Among the landmark accomplishments of Ohio’s elections officials cited by Secretary Brunner and her staff are:

Gongwer is reporting that the Ohio Supreme Court will not hear All Children Matter's appeal of the record $5.2 million fine they received.

For the full story of David Brennan and All Children Matter's political donation laundering scheme read this 2007 Shadows on High column. In short, donations were being made in Virginia, where Ohio contribution limits and transperancy laws don't apply. The $870,000 was then dumped into All Children Matte's Ohio PAC, which championed for-profit charter schools.

Word is there may be one more round in this nearly four year old battle, as All Children Matter may attempt to sue the Ohio Elections Commission, instead of the Ohio Secretary of State.

• Increasing citizen participation in elections, focusing in a nonpartisan way on under-represented communities such as communities of color, senior citizens who no longer live in their homes, youth, and many others.

• Building on the information the Secretary of State’s office has collected via its “Better Lives, Better Ohio” online statistical resource to develop a “Social Health Report Card” for Ohio. The raw data on life quality in Ohio is tracked annually.  Using indicators of life quality in Ohio can tell the story of the people in Ohio from year to year to year and region to region.

• Leveraging the Secretary of State’s activities to benefit economic development in Ohio, including connecting innovation with resources to move it to commercialization and create more jobs.

• Engage everyday Ohioans with the opportunity to express themselves, via a new initiative called “My Dream for Ohio.”  The initiative begins with a Facebook page that allows Ohioans to comment online and upload audio and video to share their visions for the future of the state, promoting greater participation.

Rep. Dan Stewart, D-Columbus, sponsor of the House bill, said he thinks more than 90 percent of the differences have been worked out.

"I think we have a possibility of doing it. I think that a lot of it rests on leadership of the Senate," he said.

Brunner said that the legislature needed to pass a bill by April to give county elections officials enough time to incorporate major changes for the fall election without causing problems.

But Brunner, a Democrat who will leave office at the end of the year after losing a primary bid for the U.S. Senate, said she thinks the political conditions are right for the legislature to act this year, even if changes don't take effect until later.

"Since I'm serving out my term and not running for re-election, this is probably the most optimum environment to do that so that we do what's in the best interest of the people," she said.

Lawrence Norden, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice who led the two Ohio election summits, said he thinks there's still time to make some changes for the fall election.

That could include making it easier for voters to correct mistakes on their registrations and applications for absentee and provisional ballots or clarifying the rules to reduce the number of provisional ballots cast.

But Norden agreed with Brunner that the legislature should act this year, even if some major changes aren't made until future elections, because it's difficult to predict what might happen next year in a new legislative session.

"The danger is there that if we don't resolve these problems, that we're just going to see more uncertainty, more litigation, and it's just really bad for the system," Norden said.

Brunner also said she hopes the legislature will vote this year to put a redistricting issue on the ballot that takes some of the politics out of the line-drawing process after each decennial census.

"It would be a real shame to pass up this chance for another 10 years," she said.

There is hope. Yesterday, House Speaker Armond Budish outlined what he would like to see passed into law over the next two or three weeks before lawmakers ride out of town for the summer.

Both election reform bils were included in his list:

-- House Bill 260, which makes a number of changes to Ohio elections, including early voting and provisional balloting.

-- House Joint Resolution 15, which would place on the November ballot a new way to draw state legislative districts.

New Public-Private Partnership Will Bring Nonpartisan Voting Information
to 1.5 Million Young People

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio is one of 12 states involved in a national pilot project launched Friday to encourage young people to vote.

Voternetwork is a project sponsored by The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), in partnership with Tangent Media, LLC.   The Voternetwork is a commercially-sponsored, multimedia voter outreach program that will target 18 to 24 year-old citizens. This innovative public-private partnership will rely upon direct mail, e-mail, Web sites and social media to make the voting process easier and more accessible for the next generation of tech-savvy, young voters.

“As Ohio’s chief election official, I have seen firsthand the benefits that technology can bring to increase voter engagement and participation,” said Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.  “As voting methods and election administration have evolved, so has the opportunity to engage voters for greater participation in a more robust democracy.  This pilot expands our effort to relay tailored, state-specific information about registering to vote, finding a polling place, requesting an absentee ballot, serving as a poll worker and voting on and before Election Day, to more potential Ohio voters, especially young people,” said Secretary Brunner.

This effort is made possible by the NASS-Tangent Media partnership through the support of civic-minded advertisers and at no cost to Ohio taxpayers. 

During the first week of April, approximately 1.5 million young adults in the 12 targeted states will receive basic election information with an invitation to join the Voternetwork, either through the U.S. mail or e-mail. Those who choose to sign up for the Voternetwork are able to receive regular election notices and deadline reminders from election officials. Other states that are targeted in the pilot include: Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington.

NASS and Tangent hope to expand the Voternetwork program to include additional states following the November 2010 conclusion of the pilot.

“We are honored that Ohio was included as we strive to move ahead to modernize our election system and make it more accessible, especially to young people,” Brunner said. 

In Ohio, several initiatives have been promoted this year in an effort to further engage young Ohioans.  On Monday, Secretary Brunner wraps up the Vote @ 17 www.voteat17.com high school registration and voting effort in Cincinnati.  College Vote Ohio www.collegevoteohio.org was launched March 10 during a press event at Cleveland State University and the office has incorporated the use of social media via Facebook as an extension of its voter engagement efforts.    

Early voting has begun in Ohio.  Voter registration comes to a close on Monday, April 5, 2010.  For more information, voters can access the Secretary of State’s website at the “AvoidtheLine” link on the site’s home page: www.sos.state.oh.us

For more information on the NASS, Tangent initiative, please visit www.voternetwork.com.

The Ohio Republican Party recently paid for a mailing to some Ohio electors that included two parts on the form entitled "Vote-By-Mail Request Card. " The form includes a statement of affiliation with the Republican Party and a specific request for a Republican Party ballot for the May 4, 2010 primary election.

In addition, the form includes a check box with th e following statement:

(Optional) By checking this box I am requ esting an absentee ballot for the November 2, 2010 general election , in additioon to th e primary elect ion request above.

Unfortunately, R.C. 3509.03 docs not permit an Ohio elector to request an absent voter's ballot for more than one election, except for UOCAVAvoters using a federal post card application.

R.C. 3511.02 (B) allows U.S. armed forces members and their spouses and dependents who reside outside of Ohio to be with or near the armed service member to request an absentee ballot for more than one electio n by using a federal post card application.

Consequently, unless an Ohio elector is an overseas voter under UOCAVA or an U.S. armed forces member or souse or dependent of the U.S. armed forces member , the elector may request an absentee ballot for only a single election (not multiple elections).

The Secretary of State sent out the following directive to accomodate the Republican Party's mistake and to assure no voters where inconvienced by it.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new resource on the Secretary of State’s Web site now provides college students with the information they need to ensure they can vote, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner announced Wednesday.

The new resource, entitled “College Vote Ohio,” is an all-in-one stop where students, their parents, college administrators and student organizations can find information like voter registration deadlines, how to register to vote or vote absentee, how to decide where they should cast a ballot and a forum for sharing ways to get and keep more young people as active voters.

College Vote Ohio was developed by the Voting Rights Institute in the Secretary of State’s office in collaboration with Ohio college students and administrators.

“Because they often leave home to attend college, students of higher education face unique challenges in participating as voters. College Vote Ohio is a useful tool to help connect college students with their rights to vote as our newest generation of voters.  If we can instill familiarity with the process now, they are more likely to be responsible, lifelong voters in our democracy,” Secretary Brunner said.

College Vote Ohio is also a resource for dormitory Resident Assistants (RAs), college administrators and student organizations that assist students with an active campus life, with downloadable fliers to educate students about voting, and an avenue to share ideas about how to better reach young people during their college years and help them become active civic participants by voting.

The new page can be viewed via the following link: www.CollegeVoteOhio.com

The coming 2010 Census will kick off the next redistricting season, which determines how electoral district lines are drawn and, ultimately, who gets to represent the public in state capitols and Congress.

Please join us next Monday in Columbus for a forum on redistricting reform:

WHEN:  Monday, March 1, 2010, 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
WHERE:  Auditorium - Downtown Columbus Metropolitan Library, 95 South Grant Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43215
SPONSORS: Ohio Citizen Action, The League of Women Voters of Ohio Education Fund, Midwest Democracy Network, George Mason University, Brennan Center for Justice
This event is FREE, including lunch.
RSVP: Click here to RSVP for Monday's Forum

Motion of Jennifer Brunner, Ohio Secretary of State, to Intervene and File Answer and Counterclaim/Cross-Claim for Declaratory Judgement Instanter (PDF)

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's Answer and Counterclaim/Cross-Claim for Declaratory Judgement (PDF)

Columbus – Today, joined by family and supporters at a press conference at Ohio Democratic Party headquarters, Clerk of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Maryellen O’Shaughnessy announced her candidacy for Secretary of State. O’Shaughnessy was introduced by Governor Ted Strickland.

“We need a Secretary of State who is strong, dedicated, experienced, compassionate, hard-working, courageous, and innovative,” said Governor Strickland. “Maryellen O’Shaughnessy will be that Secretary of State. Maryellen shares my philosophy that nothing is more sacred in our democracy than each individual’s right to vote. She will be a guardian of the integrity of our elections system and implement new ideas to increase voter participation and enhance voter protection.”

O’Shaughnessy said, “I am running for Secretary of State because I am passionate about our state and our democracy. I bring to this race my experience as a small business owner, a Council Member for the nation’s 15th largest city, and a County Clerk with a staff of 231 and budget of $12.5 million. As Ohio’s next Secretary of State, I will advocate for greater participation in our elections process by making it easier for Ohioans to register and vote. And I will work every day to administer elections in a free, open and fair way.”

O’Shaughnessy outlined several programs and initiatives that she will advocate, including:

• Assured registration of driver’s license and services applicant, unless they opt-out
• Secure online voter registration
• Enhancing programs targeted at increasing voter participation among young people
• Cracking down on petition circulation fraud
• Reapportionment reform that requires competitiveness and partisan fairness

View More Images Of The Announcement Here

The recent 5-4 Supreme Court decision lifted campaign spending limits for corporations. Now if the big banks on Wall Street don't like what Congress proposes, they can DIRECTLY try to buy a legislature more to their liking.

Stand with me to demand no corporation may spend from its treasury without the express approval of its owners. If the Supreme Court is going to treat corporations as persons with full First Amendment rights, then you and I need to make sure real people are making those decisions.

Sign the petition!

Sen. Brown Introduces The Citizens Right to Know Act

The Supreme Court dealt a body blow to democracy when it ruled, 5-4, that corporations can spend their huge profits to influence American elections. In a stunning display of judicial activism, the radical majority invented a case that was not before it so it could toss out a century of precedent and give corporations license to spend billions of dollars to influence political campaigns.

Well, this extreme corporate power grab will not go unanswered on my watch. I'm going to work to make sure that corporations:

1. FULLY DISCLOSE when they spend from their treasuries to protect special interest cronies in Washington
2. REQUIRE CONSENT from shareholders in the form of a majority vote before they advocate for or against candidates
3. PROTECT OUR ELECTIONS from the influence of foreign-owned corporations spending freely on American politics

The big banks, pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies have enough power -- click here to help me curtail the influence of corporations to spend their massive profits to buy elections!

Even with 60 votes in the Senate, health care reform was hanging in the balance, clean energy legislation was imperiled, and reining in Wall Street excesses looked to be an uphill fight. Now if the big banks on Wall Street don't like what Congress proposes, they can DIRECTLY try to buy a legislature more to their liking.

In the last election, the most expensive in our history, candidates, parties, and outside groups spent $5 billion on the U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and the historic election of President Obama. That's a huge amount of money, no doubt. But consider this comparison -- Goldman Sachs recently announced it would spend $16 billion on bonuses this year.

SIGN MY PETITION TO PASS COMMON SENSE REGULATIONS FOR CORPORATE CASH SPENT ON ELECTIONS

If corporations are going to play an outsized role in our democracy, then democracy needs to play at least some role in corporations. And if the Supreme Court is going to treat corporations as persons with full First Amendment rights, then you and I need to make sure real people are making those decisions. Join me today, and share our effort with your family and friends on Facebook.

The Supreme Court dealt a body blow to democracy when it ruled, 5-4, that corporations can spend their huge profits to influence American elections. In a stunning display of judicial activism, the radical majority invented a case that was not before it so it could toss out a century of precedent and give corporations license to spend billions of dollars to influence political campaigns.

Well, this extreme corporate power grab will not go unanswered on my watch. I'm going to work to make sure that corporations:

1. FULLY DISCLOSE when they spend from their treasuries to protect special interest cronies in Washington
2. REQUIRE CONSENT from shareholders in the form of a majority vote before they advocate for or against candidates
3. PROTECT OUR ELECTIONS from the influence of foreign-owned corporations spending freely on American politics

PLEASE SIGN MY PETITION FOR COMMON SENSE REGULATIONS TO KEEP CORPORATIONS HONEST NOW

Bush v. Gore was a brazen decision by the Court to decide a Presidential election for George Bush. It turns out that wasn't a rogue decision -- it was a road map for interference in the political process. The Citizens United v. FEC decision is an even more dangerous attack on our democracy. It could decide election after election as the people's voice is drowned out by a chorus of corporate causes, not just in Washington, DC, but in state capitals and city halls across the country for generations.

The big banks, pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies have enough power -- click here to help me curtail the influence of corporations to spend their massive profits to buy elections!

Even with 60 votes in the Senate, health care reform was hanging in the balance, clean energy legislation was imperiled, and reining in Wall Street excesses looked to be an uphill fight. Now if the big banks on Wall Street don't like what Congress proposes, they can DIRECTLY try to buy a legislature more to their liking.

In the last election, the most expensive in our history, candidates, parties, and outside groups spent $5 billion on the U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and the historic election of President Obama. That's a huge amount of money, no doubt. But consider this comparison -- Goldman Sachs recently announced it would spend $16 billion on bonuses this year.

SIGN MY PETITION TO PASS COMMON SENSE REGULATIONS FOR CORPORATE CASH SPENT ON ELECTIONS

If corporations are going to play an outsized role in our democracy, then democracy needs to play at least some role in corporations. And if the Supreme Court is going to treat corporations as persons with full First Amendment rights, then you and I need to make sure real people are making those decisions. Join me today, and share our effort with your family and friends on Facebook.

Following the recent Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission to allow unlimited corporate funding of federal campaigns, Murray Hill Inc. today announced it was filing to run for U.S. Congress and released its first campaign video.

Watch It:

“Until now,” Murray Hill Inc. said in a statement, “corporate interests had to rely on campaign contributions and influence peddling to achieve their goals in Washington. But thanks to an enlightened Supreme Court, now we can eliminate the middle-man and run for office ourselves.”

Murray Hill Inc. is believed to be the first “corporate person” to exercise its constitutional right to run for office. As Supreme Court observer Lyle Denniston wrote in his SCOTUSblog, “If anything, the decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission conferred new dignity on corporate “persons,” treating them — under the First Amendment free-speech clause — as the equal of human beings.”

Murray Hill Inc. agrees. “The strength of America,” Murray Hill Inc. says, “is in the boardrooms, country clubs and Lear jets of America’s great corporations. We’re saying to Wal-Mart, AIG and Pfizer, if not you, who? If not now, when?”

Murray Hill Inc. plans on spending “top dollar” to protect its investment. “It’s our democracy,” Murray Hill Inc. says, “We bought it, we paid for it, and we’re going to keep it.”

Watch It:

Congressman Alan Grayson (FL-8) has introduced legislation to prevent a corporate takeover of government in America.  His “Save Our Democracy” Reform Package (H.R. 4431-4435) aims to stave off the threat of "corpocracy" arising from today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision. 

The Supreme Court decision in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission legalizes the use of corporate funds in political campaigns, striking down campaign finance laws that date back more than a century.  Congressman Grayson introduced the bills on January 13th, in anticipation of the Supreme Court's ruling.  Each of the five Grayson bills is clear and concise; none is longer than four pages.

“The Supreme Court in essence has ruled that corporations can buy elections.  If that happens, democracy in America is over.  We cannot put the law up for sale, and award government to the highest bidder.” Congressman Grayson said.

“By gutting the 100-year-old Tillman Act ban on corporate contributions, the U.S. Supreme Court has opened the door to political bribery and corruption on the largest scale imaginable. As Teddy Roosevelt said at the time, 'property belongs to man, and not man to property.'  That's why we have federal election laws, and that's why we need them, both then and now,” Congressman Grayson said. 

Here are the bills that Congressman Grayson has introduced, and what they aim to accomplish:

1)  The Business Should Mind Its Own Business Act (H.R. 4431):  Implements a 500% excise tax on corporate contributions to political committees, and on corporate expenditures on political advocacy campaigns.
2)  The Public Company Responsibility Act (H.R. 4435):  Prevents companies making political contributions and expenditures from trading their stock on national exchanges.
3)  The End Political Kickbacks Act (H.R. 4434):  Prevents for-profit corporations that receive money from the government from making political contributions, and limits the amount that employees of those companies can contribute.
4)  The Corporate Propaganda Sunshine Act (H.R. 4432):  Requires publicly-traded companies to disclose in SEC filings money used for the purpose of influencing public opinion, rather than to promoting their products and services.
5)  The Ending Corporate Collusion Act (H.R. 4433):  Applies antitrust law to industry PACs. 

Sign Rep. Grayson's petition today, and show your support for saving our democracy. Together, we will move these bills forward and prevent the sale of our government to the highest bidder.m

In this week’s address, President Barack Obama vowed to continue fighting for the American people to ensure their voices are heard over the special interests and lobbyists in Washington, despite this week’s Supreme Court decision to further empower corporations to use their financial clout to directly influence elections.

Watch It:

Full Transcript of the President's Remarks Below:

In a ruling with huge consequences for the 2010 elections and American politics at large, the Supreme Court rules that corporations can spend freely on elections.

Scotusblog's Tom Goldstein calls it "a small revolution in campaign finance law," and notes that it the end of a distinction between corporate and individual contributions will also apply to state elections.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court has ruled that corporations may spend freely to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress, easing decades-old limits on their participation in federal campaigns.

By a 5-4 vote, the court on Thursday overturned a 20-year-old ruling that said corporations can be prohibited from using money from their general treasuries to pay for campaign ads. The decision, which almost certainly will also allow labor unions to participate more freely in campaigns, threatens similar limits imposed by 24 states.

The justices also struck down part of the landmark McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill that barred union- and corporate-paid issue ads in the closing days of election campaigns.

Advocates of strong campaign finance regulations have predicted that a court ruling against the limits would lead to a flood of corporate and union money in federal campaigns as early as this year's midterm congressional elections.

The decision, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, removes limits on independent expenditures that are not coordinated with candidates' campaigns.

It leaves in place a prohibition on direct contributions to candidates from corporations and unions.

The case also does not affect political action committees, which mushroomed after post-Watergate laws set the first limits on contributions by individuals to candidates. Corporations, unions and others may create PACs to contribute directly to candidates, but they must be funded with voluntary contributions from employees, members and other individuals, not by corporate or union treasuries.

In a rare bipartisan 85-13 vote, the House on Wednesday, Jan. 13, agreed to put a proposal on the May 4 primary ballot to renew the Third Frontier high tech economic development program.

The proposal calls for the state to issue $950 million in bonds over five years. Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and House Speaker Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, had advocated a $1 billion bond plan but Republicans wanted a smaller amount.

The proposed constitutional amendment now goes to the Senate.

Additionally, the House voted not to concur with Senate changes to a bill that would have prevented Gov. Ted Strickland from appearing in radio or television ads to promote the Third Frontier.

House Bill 5, which also deals with transition accounts used by statewide officeholders, now heads to a conference committee.

Earlier this month, a two-month independent investigation of ACORN, by former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, found incidents of mismanagement, but no criminal wrongdoing by ACORN, the favorite whipping boy of Republican scammers such as Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Fox "News" and the GOP itself. That investigation also found that the "sting videos" used recently against ACORN were doctored and manipulated.

And today, once again, ACORN is cleared of wrongdoing vis a vis yet another independent investigation, this one by the Congressional Research Service [PDF], as noted in a press release from U.S. House Judiciary Chair John Conyers.

Conyers Releases CRS Report on ACORN

For Immediate Release
December 22, 2009 Contact: Nicole Triplett

(Washington D.C.) - House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) today released a report prepared by the Congressional Research Service on several issues concerning the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). The report was requested by Chairman Conyers and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank on September 22, and is linked here: CRS Report. Among its findings, CRS reported that:

• There were no instances of individuals who were allegedly registered to vote improperly by ACORN or its employees and who were reported "attempting to vote at the polls." Memorandum from the Congressional Research Service to the House Judiciary Committee, "ACORN Investigations" (December 22, 2009), at 1.


• As of October 2009, there have been 46 reported federal, state, and local investigations concerning ACORN, of which 11 are still pending. "ACORN Investigations," Table 1.


• No instances were identified in which ACORN "violated the terms of federal funding in the last five years." "ACORN Investigations," at 1.


• Recently enacted federal legislation to prohibit funding to ACORN raises significant constitutional concerns. The courts "may have a sufficient basis" to conclude that the legislation "violates the prohibition against bills of attainder." Congressional Research Service, "The Proposed ‘Defund ACORN Act’ and Related Legislation: Are They Bills of Attainder?" (November 30, 2009), at 25.


• Concerning recent "sting" operations relating to ACORN, although state laws vary, two relevant states, Maryland and California, "appear to ban private recording of face to face conversations absent the consent of all the participants." Memorandum from the Congressional Research Service to the House Judiciary, "Allegations of Recording Conversations with Various ACORN Affiliated Individuals without Their Consent" (October 9, 2009), at 1.

"I appreciate the careful work of CRS on these issues," Chairman Conyers said.  "I look forward to seeing the results of the work being undertaken by other agencies, including the recently announced Government Accountability Office review concerning federal funding of ACORN."

Read More at The Brad Blog

Brad Blog reports on the story which we first posted on Monday.

ACORN Lawsuit in OH a Victory for Democracy

Republican Secretary of State defied federal electon law
Hundreds of thousands of voters likely to benefit from settlement...

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has won a substantive victory on behalf of the voters of Ohio --- perhaps hundreds of thousands of them --- via a court case filed in 2006, challenging a number of voter suppression tactics employed by the state's then Sec. of State, J. Kenneth Blackwell (R).

The victory may lead to the enfranchisement of "hundreds of thousands of voting-eligible low-income Ohioans" according to one of the attorneys involved in the case, yet it looks like Fox "News", Matt Drudge, and all of the other Rightwingers may have forgotten to post a thank you note to ACORN this week for their successful battle to strengthen the growth of democracy in the U.S....

In September 2006, ACORN filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court alleging that Blackwell and officials from Ohio's Department of Job and Family Services (DJFS) had systematically violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), which Act, by its express terms, was intended to "increase the number of eligible citizens who register to vote in elections for Federal office," "protect the integrity of the electoral process," and "ensure that accurate and current voter registration rolls are maintained."

Specifically, the lawsuit, Harkless v. Blackwell, which later became, Harkless v. Brunner, alleged Blackwell and officials from the DJFS violated Section 7 of the Act which mandates that state agencies which "provide public assistance" furnish voter registration forms, assist in their preparation and accept completed applications.>Per the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeal [PDF]:A 2005 survey conducted by ACORN revealed that only 3 out of 103 people exiting a DJFS office were offered a form asking whether they wanted to register to vote. Between 2002 and 2004, DJFS offices for rural counties with relatively small populations registered far more voters than urban counties with larger populations and more people living at or below the poverty line. In the same time period, DJFS offices in 10 counties failed to register a single voter, DJFS offices in 17 counties registered fewer than 10 voters, and DJFS offices in 32 counties registered fewer than 100 voters.

The suit, initially dismissed by the District Court, was reinstated by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeal on Oct. 28, 2008, following ACORN's appeal. The Sixth Circuit decision was issued after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief [PDF] in which it agreed that the District Court decision was unsound.

On Monday, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, issued a press release in which it announced a settlement which their co-counsel, Lisa Danetz, estimates will lead to the registration of "hundreds of thousands of voting-eligible low-income Ohioans".

Read The Full Story at Brad Blog

There is an intriguing irony. Where the Right has gone out of its way to smear ACORN, it turns out that it was the government, under the control of a Republican Secretary of State, which had violated U.S. election law.

See Also:

Federal Court Lawsuit Settlement Brings Ohio Into Compliance with National Voter Registration Act

Hundreds of Thousands of Low-Income Ohioans to Benefit

Cleveland, OH--Low-income Ohio citizens will be ensured access to voter registration at Ohio public assistance offices as a result of a settlement agreement submitted to Federal District Court Judge Patricia A. Gaughan over this past holiday weekend. 

The settlement successfully resolves a three-year old lawsuit filed against the Ohio Secretary of State (SOS) and the Director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) in September 2006 by Lorain resident Carrie Harkless, Cleveland resident Tameca Mardis, and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) charging widespread violations of the federal National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Section 7 of the NVRA requires public assistance agencies to provide voter registration opportunities to their clients.

Extensive pre-suit investigation and discovery in the case revealed that many of Ohio’s county public assistance offices were ignoring their responsibilities to provide voter registration to their low-income clients.  Currently, only seventy-one percent of low-income Ohioans are registered to vote compared to ninety percent of affluent Ohioans.

Before the lawsuit, there was no state official overseeing the state’s compliance with the federal law.  Although Ohio has designated the Secretary of State as its chief election official responsible for NVRA compliance, at the time the lawsuit was filed, then-Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell contended that the state’s obligation to provide voter registration services to its low-income residents was satisfied by the maintenance of a toll-free hotline for public assistance offices to call. ODJFS claimed that Ohio law prohibited it from ensuring compliance by county offices. 

“As a result of the steps the Secretary of State and ODJFS Director will take, we expect hundreds of thousands of voting-eligible low-income Ohioans to be registered to vote,” said Lisa Danetz, Senior Counsel in the Democracy Program at Demos and co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs.  "We applaud the integration of voter registration into agency processes as well as the planned monitoring of the county public assistance offices."

"There is no debate. Ohio law says it in black and white."

 - Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien characterizing Ohio residency laws, October 2008

"We need to come up with something that's more black and white."

- Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien on Ohio residency laws, November 2009

 _______________________________________________________________

"One thing that is crystal-clear is the law -- if you are a temporary resident or a visitor, you are not entitled to register to vote and you're not entitled to vote."

 - Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien, October 2008

"O'Brien said he wanted to file charges against other voters but couldn't for lack of evidence and because Ohio's residency laws are hazy. He urged state lawmakers to clarify residency rules for voting...."

- Columbus Dispatch, November 2009

The House Elections & Ethics Committee reported on a 7-6 partisan basis a comprehensive overhaul of the state's election system today.

The bill would shrink the early voting period but expand the number of early voting sites. It also seeks to streamline voter identification laws and reduce the number of provisional ballots used. as well as permiting voters to register online without having to send in any follow-up paperwork. Lastly, the bill would give Ohioans overseas more time to cast absentee ballots.

The bill is championed by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

Anticipated approval of the full House next week would send the measure to the  Republican-controlled Senate, where the GOP majority has been debating its own bill.

November 2, 2009

Dear Ohioan:

Election Day is upon us once again. Tomorrow, Ohioans will vote on issues, elect municipal and township officials, municipal court judges and clerks, board of education members and educational service center governing board members. Your participation is critically important at every level of the ballot, because the decisions you make each and every year have lasting effects for your community.

Don’t forget to get out and vote tomorrow. Polls will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. If you’re not sure where you vote, you can look up your polling location information on my office Web site.

The strength of our democracy depends on the participation of our citizens. Thank you for taking an active role in your government by voting tomorrow and every Election Day.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Brunner

Republican Secretary Of State candidate Jon Husted fresh from the 7-0 Ohio Supreme Court ruling that eliminates numerous Republican voter fraud and voter caging attacks, appeared to support the Indiana Voter ID law that has been declared unconstitutional by the Indiana Supreme Court over a proposal from the League of Women Voters of Ohio to relax the state's identification requirements for voting.

In the curret debate in the Ohio General Assembly over the overhaul of voting laws, the League has urged legislators to rely on the decades-old practice of voter signature verification at polling places, and asking for an ID when handwriting does not match a poll book entry.

Sen. Husted (R-Kettering), said in an interview that voter identification laws in Ohio are "very lax" in comparison to those in other states.

"Indiana has a much more strict voter ID law than we do," he said.

"I think, with the recent controversies, that if you want to have confidence that the people voting in the elections are indeed who they say they are, you have to have some form of identification beyond just a signature," Sen. Husted said

Indiana Voter ID Law Found Unconstitutional and Disenfranchising

One of the country's most contentious voting rights issues came back into the spotlight last Thursday when an Indiana court struck down the state's strict photo voter ID law as un