SB 380: Statement by Secretary of State's office on Senate Passage
| By Lorraine Bieber - Dec 9th, 2008 at 11:54 pm EST |
This afternoon the Ohio Senate passed a lame-duck session bill as part of its legacy of making early voting as difficult and confusing as possible.
Senate Bill 380 creates a more complex deadline structure for registration and early voting, while making it easier for partisans to challenge voters.
The House Committee on State Government and Elections is expected to take up Sub S.B. 380 Wednesday.
The following is a statement from Jeff Ortega with Secretary of State Brunner's office in response to Senate passage of SB 380:
Our office believes this bill is fundamentally flawed with no bipartisan consensus or support.
The substitute measure that was unveiled is another example of hastily-written legislation that will create administrative problems for county elections boards and invite litigation. For example, the proposed changes to the absentee ballot process would, this office believes, needlessly disenfranchise registered and otherwise eligible voters in the name of allegedly cracking down on illegal voting. Also, efforts to close the overlap between the end of voter registration and the start of absentee balloting in this measure could be problematic. The process to provide additional voting options for Ohioans is also unnecessarily complicated under the bill.
For these reasons and others, this office urges state lawmakers to work with the Ohio Elections Summit process to create thoughtful, comprehensive elections improvements rather than pass complicated new rules for no useful purpose.
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