New Ohio Law Will Tighten Voter ID Requirements and Suppress Votes
Until now, Ohio voters could present any of the following IDs at their polling location and be eligible to vote, military IDs, utility bills, bank statements, government issues checks, paychecks, etc. With the newly signed HB 458, Ohio voters can only vote if they can present a photo ID. The Bill also goes as far as eliminating a day of Early Voting (Monday before Election Day, historically the most popular day of early voting) and shrinks both the windows to cure provisional ballots and the window for mail-in ballots to be counted by election staff. It also eliminates curbside voting, except for those with disabilities, and limits the number of drop boxes to one per county on Board of Election property, which will only open during business hours. The Bill was initially drafted to “protect election integrity” despite no proven counts of voter fraud. Secretary of State Frank LaRose found just one possible instance of voter fraud out of 222,000 votes cast in the 2020 presidential election. HB 458 puts Ohio among the top states for strictest voting laws.
Perhaps the most alarming part of this Bill is the ID aspect. Under the previous law, Ohioans could present a utility bill, paycheck, bank statement, etc., to prove their identity and current address. Now the only acceptable forms of ID are:
- Unexpired driver’s licenses.
- A state-issued ID card.
- A passport.
- Certain forms of military ID.
Absentee voters will be asked to provide a copy of their ID when sending their mail-in ballot. If voters cannot present a photo ID, they will be forced to vote on a provisional ballot and present an acceptable ID when they return to cure the ballot. The only way to count the ballot is with a current photo ID. Again, however, the time to cure a ballot was shrunken from 10 to 4 days after the election.
One aspect that still remains unclear is whether voters will be allowed to present state or county-issued military IDs or those issued by the county veterans service commission, which is given out for free to veterans with specific documents. The only specific military ID mentioned includes:
- A U.S. military ID card.
- An Ohio National Guard ID card.
- A U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ID card.
ID is not the only segment of the Bill being called out for discrimination against veterans. The deadline to return ballots is also dramatically changing the mail-in-ballot voting process. Ballots must be postmarked by Election Day and arrive no later than four days after to be counted. This change specifically impacts folks overseas voting by UOCAVA ballot. Hundreds of deployed or overseas voters will have their ballots invalidated due to the change; In Franklin county, Ohio, 40% of these ballots were received back more than four days after the November 8 election. Previously, Board of Elections offices were accepting ballots postmarked on Election Day that they had received as far as ten days after. The Bill also prohibits any election material, including the application and the ballot, to come with prepaid postage.
Curbside voting is now only available to folks who “cannot physically enter a polling location.” This language is difficult to define, as voters can enter but still have disabilities, making it difficult to vote in a polling location. Each county will also only be allowed to have one dropbox for absentee voters to drop their ballots in. This poses a significant issue in the larger counties in the state, which will have voters driving in some places for over an hour to drop their ballots off – if this is how they choose to vote. The Democracy Docket sited, “this means Franklin County, with nearly 1.5 million residents, has the same number of drop-off locations as Vinton County (12,000 residents). The law also allows (but does not require) counties to provide a drop box at a designated election office.” The dropbox also will only be allowed to be used during the office’s hours, and voters can only drop ballots in it. Previously, any election materials could be placed in the box – voter registrations, absentee applications, etc.
It’s important to note that HB 458 started as a bill to end August Special Elections in Ohio. Republicans packed election reform laws into it and then pushed HB 458 through a lame-duck session in December 2022 without hearings or debates. The Bill started at just 15 pages and passed with 171 pages of discriminatory, harsh election law reform. Experts have reason to believe such strict voting laws will deter folks from turning out to vote and disproportionately impact minority communities such as black and brown folks. A report last year by the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland indicates that a million Ohioans have suspended licenses, due to debts from things like lack of insurance, unpaid fines, and court costs. This number represents one-eighth of the registered voters.
Additionally, these groups are less likely to have a driver’s license or the necessary documents to obtain the ID in the first place. Another hurdle that will impact urban and elderly communities is this very fact, which, coincidentally, are groups more likely to also vote for democrats. The Bill does allow for the BMV to issue state ID cards at no cost, but it is not to say folks will have the necessary documents to provide to get the ID, the transportation to get back and forth, and there is no plan outlined for if folks lose them and if they’ll be able to get a second, how they can renew them, etc., not to mention the time this takes to complete. The changes go into effect 90 days after the Bill was signed (January 6, 2023), and Ohio’s primary election is May 2.
The Bill presents dramatic changes and solutions to problems that don’t exist within Ohio elections. While there was a single potential instance of voter fraud in the entire 2020 election, the only form of fraud such ID reform laws will solve is voter impersonation, which the state saw no instances of. There are local and statewide groups filing lawsuits against HB 458, specifically focusing on the photo ID changes and the changes to both the timelines of curing ballots and the deadlines with mail-in ballots, in accordance with the First and Fifteenth amendments. Rideshare2Vote is equally committed to protecting the fundamental right to vote for all Americans. Join our efforts to help us put wheels under democracy and ensure all voices are heard in every election.
by Heather Tingley
