Senate passes election changes, Compromise to be sought with Ohio House bill

Thursday, 10 December 2009 03:25

By Jim Siegel of THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Senate Republicans approved a variety of election-law changes yesterday, such as increasing the number of places where voters can cast absentee ballots and ending the one-week span when Ohioans could register and vote on the same day.
The action came three weeks after House Democrats passed their own set of election-law changes. The question now is whether the two chambers will marry their ideas in time for the 2010 elections.

Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, sponsor of the election bill, said he wished House Democrats would have delayed action on their bill so talks between the two chambers and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner could have continued.

"They passed their legislation without an attempt being made to reconcile their ideas with ours," Seitz said, adding that he will work on doing that now that the Senate has passed its version.

Senate Bill 8 passed 22-10, with all but one Democrat, Sen. Tom Sawyer of Akron, voting against the measure. Conversely, the Democratic-backed House bill passed with no Republican support on Nov. 18.

Sen. Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo, said there are some good provisions in the Senate bill, and some not-so-good ones. She praised Seitz for his "tireless work," but said the bill does not go far enough.

The House and Senate bills do contain some similar provisions.

Both would eliminate "golden week," where people can register and vote on the same day, leading to concerns about voter fraud.

The Senate bill would end absentee voting at 5 p.m. of the Saturday before the election, while the House bill waits until Monday, the day before the election.

Both bills also would allow counties to increase the number of sites for voting centers. The Senate bill would go from one to three, with locations determined by a supermajority of the bipartisan four-member county board of elections. The House bill would allow four sites and would let the secretary of state break a tie if the county board did not agree on locations.

The House bill deals with a greater number of issues, including online voter registration and casting provisional ballots. Seitz said he is willing to continue working on those concerns.

"There is a kernel of stuff we can deal with on many of these issues," Seitz said.

"What I care about is what the local board of elections people think. They're the people we make implement this stuff."

Brunner, a Democrat, prefers the House bill, which was crafted after she convened two summits to consider changes after the 2008 elections.

A spokesman said Brunner is "encouraged that the Senate is interested in passing elections reform. She looks forward to further discussions to enhance elections for the benefit of voters as the House and Senate continue to try and work together."

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Election proposal

Highlights of the Ohio Senate's election-law bill:

• Ends in-person absentee balloting at 5 p.m. on the Saturday before the election and eliminates "golden week," when Ohioans were able to register and vote on the same day.
• Sets standards for when the secretary of state must appoint members of county board of elections who are recommended by the local political party.
• Requires that absentee ballots for voters abroad, both military and civilian, be available 45 days before an election, and allows such people to ask for electronic documents.
• Changes the filing deadline for candidates and issues from the 75th day to the 90th day before an election.
• Eliminates the ability to hold a March special election in presidential election years.
• Allows a person to declare a political-party affiliation when registering to vote.
• Specifies what information must appear on absentee-ballot identification envelopes.
• Specifies how the secretary of state must disclose to county election boards results of matching the statewide voter-registration database against motor-vehicle and Social Security databases.
• Reduces from 100 feet to 50 feet the distance from a polling site in which a person cannot distribute literature or otherwise engage in campaign activities.
• Clarifies that voter-registration mismatches based on a driver's license number, Social Security number or date of birth shall not be the sole reason for removing a voter from the statewide database.

Source: Senate Republicans

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