Name: Ohio House bill would roll back in-person early voting, end statewide mailing of ballot applications for November election
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Ohio House bill would roll back in-person early voting, end statewide mailing of ballot applications for November election

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NEW!13,805sharesCOLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio House elections bill, lined up for a swift series of committee hearings since it was introduced last week, would make this year’s presidential election the first one since 2008 in which the state wouldn’t mail an unsolicited absentee ballot application to all registered voters. also would eliminate in-person early voting on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday before the election, something that’s been offered since 2015 .The proposal runs counter to , who has sought to expand early voting for the November election, in part due to the coronavirus pandemic. His plan includes giving people the option to request a ballot online, and providing postage-paid envelopes to voters with ballot applications and actual ballots. The new House bill would prohibit LaRose from sending unsolicited absentee ballot applications, something that’s been done for every presidential and gubernatorial election in Ohio since 2012, and bar him from providing postage-paid envelopes with any elections mailings.The bill, introduced by freshman state Rep. Cindy Abrams, a Cincinnati-area Republican, got its first committee hearing last Wednesday, the day after it was introduced.It’s scheduled for a second and third committee hearing in Columbus on Tuesday and Wednesday.The proposal to roll back early voting in Ohio comes as Republican President Donald Trump, commenting on recent moves by other states to adopt vote-by-mail policies similar to Ohio, has claimed without evidence that mail-in voting leads to widespread fraud that benefits Democrats. Recent post-elections audits in Ohio, conducted by Republican secretaries of state, have found voting irregularities to be statistically minuscule — in 2016, . About one-third of Ohioans who have voted in recent years have voted by mail, elections that generally have favored Republicans at the statewide level. Ohio elections are run by county boards of elections, with administration and oversight equally split between Republicans and Democrats.LaRose spokeswoman Maggie Sheehan said in an email that the measures limiting early voting in HB680 would lead to longer lines on Election Day.“As currently drafted, the bill would result in one of two scenarios – either an entirely vote-by-mail election or long lines on Election Day,” she said. “However, we’ve recently had positive conversations with House leadership and the bill’s author, and with their help we hope we can get the bill where it needs to be to ensure Ohioans can safely have their usual options of in-person, absentee and early voting.”Asked about the early voting provisions, Abrams said eliminating the weekend of voting helps clarify existing law, and limiting the mailing of ballot applications would save the state money. The state spent $1.1 million sending absentee ballot applications in 2016.In a Monday letter to Abrams, the Ohio Association of Elections Officials, which represents county boards of elections across the state, also said barring ballot application mailings would lead to longer lines on Election Day, calling it “imperative” to remove those provisions. The group said in-person early voting should be offered through the Sunday before Election Day.The ostensible purpose of HB680 is to offer an all-mail, emergency elections plan, something voting-rights activists and Democrats have encouraged . Under the bill’s plan, the governor could request the state legislature to set up an entirely vote-by-mail election during a public-health emergency, as long as the request came no later than 60 days before an election. It would require the Secretary of State to send an informational postcard for such an emergency election.“We are continuing our work on the legislation," Abrams said in an emailed statement. "As you know, the bill creates a clear and unambiguous plan for running our elections during a public health emergency. It is critically important that decisions about how we conduct our elections be made thoughtfully and deliberately, not in the heat of the moment and especially not in the midst of a crisis.”House Speaker Larry Householder has criticized DeWine for due to the coronavirus, and has said the House will come up with an elections plan to prevent DeWine from doing so unilaterally again. Through an elections plan developed by state lawmakers, Ohioans ended up voting by mail through April 28, a process , but which was marred by voter confusion and issues with the U.S. Postal Service.In committee testimony last week, Abrams did not generally focus on the aspects of the plan that roll back early voting. But when she was asked about eliminating in-person early voting the weekend before Election Day, she said the bill remains a work in progress.“The committee process is beautiful, so we’re open to conversation and discussion,” she said.State Rep. Brigid Kelly, a Cincinnati Democrat who sits on the committee hearing HB680, said she’s heard criticism from across the political spectrum about the bill. Democratic state Reps. Paula Hicks Hudson, of Toledo, and Bride Rose Sweeney of Cleveland, on Monday that among other components, would mail an absentee ballot to all registered voters, skipping the step of making a voter apply for one, and allow counties to open more than one early-voting center.“The bottom line is at a time we should be making voting more accessible to people, this bill moves in the opposite direction,” Kelly said.Read recent coverage from cleveland.comNote to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.

NEW!13,805sharesCOLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio House elections bill, lined up for a swift series of committee hearings since it was introduced last week, would make this year’s presidential election the first one since 2008 in which the state wouldn’t mail an unsolicited absentee ballot application to all registered voters. also would eliminate in-person early voting on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday before the election, something that’s been offered since 2015 .The proposal runs counter to , who has sought to expand early voting for the November election, in part due to the coronavirus...

Ohio House bill would roll back in-person early voting, end statewide mailing of ballot applications for November election

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