As Governor Mike DeWine considers whether to sign a Republican-sponsored bill that aims to require a photo ID for nearly all Ohio voters, elections officials are questioning the necessity of the major voting reform.
House Bill (HB) 294, sponsored by State Representatives Bill Seitz (R- Green Township) and Sharon Ray (R-Wadsworth), would require voters to show a photo ID to vote and would issue a free photo ID to any Ohioan who wants one who does not have a drivers license.
The Ohio Association of Election Officials (OAEO) comprises an even number of Republicans and Democrats from throughout the state. The association says that the voter ID restriction is not a necessary provision in the legislation and that the system is working as is.
“We think that the laws as they currently stand — which include photo ID but also include things like government documents or bank statements or any kind of military ID — those all really work well,” OAEO executive director Aaron Ockerman said.
The Ohio Voters Right Coalition, a non-partisan network of local, state, and national voting advocates, concur with OAEO stating that a photo ID requirement for voters is “not good for Ohio.”
The two organizations also cite that Secretary of State Frank LaRose said that “Voter fraud is exceedingly rare in Ohio.” The groups question the necessity of these new restrictions.
Under current law, Ohioans can use a utility statement, paycheck, or another government document that contains their address and not their photo in Lui of a photo ID such as an Ohio driver’s license, state ID card, U.S. passport or passport card, U.S. military ID card, Ohio National Guard ID card, of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ID card.
Seitz argued that although rare, even a few fraud cases are significant and that the election process can always improve.
“There is always room for improvement in safeguarding the integrity of election processes,” Seitz said.
LaRose said although Ohio has a good voter ID process that, this is a good piece of legislation.
“This is one of those things that people like to debate. What they ought to do is look at what Ohio does because, again, we found that good balance where we protect the integrity of our process and it’s something we care very deeply about. We’re also reasonable when it comes to knowing that sometimes life happens, and so we don’t want to turn anyone away. Ohio’s voter ID process is a good one and a good law to make it convenient to vote,” LaRose said.
DeWine said that he would need to read the final bill before deciding whether or not to sign it.
“The last two secretaries of state have both said that we have a very good system in the state of Ohio. It’s easy to vote, hard to cheat, so I think we already have a good system in the state of Ohio,” DeWine said.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, across the country, voter ID laws are relatively new to elections. They vary by state — 18 states have photo-ID requirements on the books — and many were ratified after the turn of the century.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “People Voting” by Phil Roeder. CC BY 2.0.
