Time To Get Your Absentee Ballot

This Will Take No More Than Two Minutes

NEOCH staff have already commented about the bad deal Cuyahoga County struck with the State of Ohio over voting procedures, but it is a done and we have to live with it.  Now it is time to sign up to receive your absentee ballot by mail.  It is actually very easy on the County Board of Elections website.  All you have to do is answer a couple of questions on the Board of Elections website and they will send it to you.  No hassle.  No standing in lines, and no sending in an envelope.  If you want to go old school, you can print out a form and send it to the Board of Elections at the same site.  Since the County is not going to remind people to vote by sending a form, it is critical to send this link around to family and friends and get them to sign up to receive a ballot in the mail.

The other piece of good news is the House Bill 194, which radically changes voting procedure will likely be on the ballot next year.  It looks like advocates have reached the number of signatures that they need to allow Ohioans to vote on these changes in the law.  NEOCH absolutely opposes HB 194, and helped gather signatures to allow Ohio voters to decide.  NEOCH sued the State of Ohio over the counting of provisional ballots and showing identification in order to vote on behalf of our constituency who often do not have proper identification.  We settled with the state in 2010, and our settlement was up in the air because of the changes in voting law with HB 194.  It looks like with the collection of sufficient signatures HB 194 will be put on hold, and our settlement will remain at least through the 2012 Presidential election.  The best thing to come out of our settlement was a consistent process for counting provisional ballots throughout the State of Ohio.  This allows a homeless person without identification voting in the correct precinct in Medina having the same opportunity to have his or her provisional ballot counted as the homeless person without identification in Franklin County. 

Go to the website today and ask for a ballot by mail today!!!  If you are social service provider, get all your clients to sign up.  Make Fridays, "Participate in Democracy Fridays,"  by making sure your clients are registered and have ordered a ballot for November.

Brian
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