In December 2005, the Ohio Legislature voted to overhaul the voting process in Ohio. This end of the term overhaul was wildly successful with homeless, immigrants, unions, minority groups, students, and those serving the elderly all suing the state over the last three years. Ohio became the laughing stock of the country, because we could not run an effective election. So, now at the last few hours of this Congress, they are back at it. The State legislature dominated by Republicans is not trying to fix all the problems from 2005, but are proposing new issues for NEOCH and others to sue. So, I went down along with the NAACP, League of Women Voters, ACLU, COHHIO, and Common Cause to testify against this silly bill which would extend the deadline to 60 days before election day. This is a clear violation of federal law, and would result in Ohio being the only state in the union with a registration deadline greater than 30 days before the election day.
Here is a most of what I said:
"We are back here again during the end of a term as we try at the last minute to reform the voting laws in Ohio. It was December 2005, at the end of the last Congressional session that state legislators went behind closed doors and crafted a bill to restrict access to the ballot box. Now, having two years to work on changing poorly constructed HB 3 from 2005, we are at the end of the term and we are trying to restrict access to early voting.
Three years ago, we testified against HB 3 which reformed the voting law to include identification requirements. In fact, the hearing in December 2005 featured a large number of groups opposed to the bill and then only the author of the bill testifying in support. No one listened when we said that this was a bad bill and should be defeated. No one heard us list the flaws in the bill, and the state was repeatedly sued because of the unclear and contradictory law. So, today, I am here to take the opposite position in hopes that you will again disregard what this expert is saying and do the opposite. If you think all these community groups who oppose this bill are down here just to sway the election for one party and not in an effort to make sure that every legitimate voter has a chance to vote, then we will argue in favor of this bill. The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless strongly supports Senate Bill 380 further restricting access to voting, and we urge you to pass this bill in to law so that fewer people will be able to cast a ballot or will have to wait in long lines or vote when it is least convenient.
The last voting reform was so successful, we should do it again at the end of another legislative session. Students, immigrants, unions, homeless people, and groups representing the elderly all sued the state over the last voting overhaul in Ohio. This strategy has inspired such confidence in the legislators and elected officials in control in 2005 that many of those politicians who passed the HB 3 have moved into the private sector and out of the limelight. So, I say keep trying to reform the voting process because for every homeless person who was a likely Democratic voter who is forced to cast a second class provisional ballot there is an elderly woman and likely Republican voter who will have to cast a provisional ballot because she has no driver’s license and lives in a nursing home. For every union household who will no longer be able to vote early and register at the same time there is a suburban traditionally Republican family facing foreclosure who are not sure where they are supposed to register now that they are sleeping on a friend’s couch so they go to the Board of Elections and change their registration and cast their ballot at the same time.
So, who will be affected by this change in the law? There are the thousands in foreclosure who are unsure where they are allowed to vote. There are homeless people who are waiting for the state of California to send their birth certificate so that they can get a state identification. They used the “golden week” to change their registration to the shelter where they currently reside and then cast a ballot since they already waited in line. Thousands of elderly people went after church to vote on a bus in Cuyahoga County, and a few had relocated to a nursing home in 2008 so they updated their registration at the same time. Voting multiple times is the fraught with huge risk, and is the least likely way to corrupt an election. Once again, this bill is addressing a problem that does not exist in the state of Ohio, and that is what it seems we sent you people down here to do. This law also makes it easier for party officials to challenge voters by releasing information on database mismatches. We believe that it is a good idea to model our system of voting after Soviet style tactics where party officials in trench coats challenge the validity of veterans who show up to vote without the proper identification because it worked so well in 1970s USSR.
Voting is the cornerstone of our confidence in government. If it is the strategy of the state legislators is to limit access to the ballot box then this legislation needs to be passed. If it is the strategy to undermine confidence in government then this bill is the perfect compliment to the 2005 House Bill 3, because the state will no doubt face more lawsuits. If the state legislators long for the days of a poll tax that restricted access to the ballot box, then this bill will maintain the mistakes of the last bill. Identification is not free in Ohio so for a homeless veteran to vote a standard ballot on election day they must pay a fee to secure identification. By the way, military identification does not contain an address, which was a requirement from the last voting bill passed. If you are nostalgic for the days when only land owners voted then keep the current rules in place that make it difficult for homeless people to vote.
If state legislators want to show that the state can stop the assault on home rule by challenging the Help America Vote Law, which requires registration deadlines no more than 30 days before an election, then vote for this bill. Who cares about the 11 states that allow voter registration within two weeks of the election or on the same day as the election without any reported problems. Who cares that Ohio would be the one state with a deadline more than 30 days before an election. Ohioans should not care that there are no reported problems in traditional Republican states of Alabama, South Dakota or Utah which has registration deadlines within one or two weeks of the election.
It is a good idea to continue to tinker with the voting process, so that Ohio can continue to viewed nationally as unable to administer an honest election. These last minute laws will only reinforce that national reputation. We should keep the courts busy with repeated challenges to voting procedures and challenges and contradictory statutes. Think how many lawyer we will keep in business over the next four years challenging this law. In a down economy, it is important to keep lawyers in business. This could be considered a mini-stimulus bill for lawyers in Ohio. Most people are not educated about the issues, so current elected officials who spend all day working on these issues should figure out ways to make it harder for the undereducated to vote. Please pass this law, because the last voting overhaul was so successful we need to keep going"
The vote in next week. The state legislators quizzed the Board of Elections Chairperson from Allen County who supported this bogus legislation for over one hour. They dismissed those opposed to the legislation after only a few questions, and the author of the bill left during the testimony of all those who opposed the legislation. So, this bill will pass. Our only hope is that Governor Strickland will veto this bill in an effort to allow the Secretary of State to craft a comprehensive bill that will fix all the problems with the voting system.
Brian Davis
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.
No comments:
Post a Comment