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America Votes - Ohio
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Ohio Supreme Court Denies Democrats Full 90-Day Window to Collect Referendum Signatures
The Ohio Supreme Court unanimously turned down a request from Democrats for more time to collect signatures to force a 2012 referendum on Republican-drawn congressional districts. The Court affirmed that the 90-day signature-gathering window began September 26, when the redistricting law took effect, rather than October 14, when the justices ruled that the new map was subject to a possible statewide vote. The Republican-dominated court gave no explanation for denying Democrats' request.
Attorney General Mike DeWine and Secretary of State Jon Husted, both Republicans, had refused to let Democrats begin gathering signatures in early October, arguing that the redistricting law contained an appropriation exempting it from a referendum until the high court ruled otherwise.
State Democrats must collect 231,234 signatures for a November 2012 referendum. DeWine and Husted's actions have given them 18 fewer days to do so.
In a similar 2009 case, justices gave extra signature-collecting time to opponents of then-Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland's plan authorizing electronic slot machines at horse tracks, saying a full 90-day period would allow LetOhioVote.org a "meaningful opportunity" to circulate petitions.
Despite the setback, state Rep. Kathleen Clyde, a member of the Ohioans for Fair Districts ballot committee, says she has no doubt that they will be able to gather the necessary signatures.
Voting to Repeal SB5 Begins in Ohio
Voting in Ohio began on October 4th, but this was the first weekend that voters were able to cast their vote in Issue 2; voting down Issue 2 would mean the repeal of SB5, a bill that severely limits collective bargaining rights for public employees in Ohio. To this point, Ohians are voting at a much higher than normal rate for an off-year election.
From the Columbus Dispatch story:
"With more than two weeks to Election Day, 65,046 Franklin County voters have requested absentee
ballots, and 2,057 have voted early in person, according to the board.
Those numbers already surpass early voting in the last two off-year elections. In 2009, more
than 47,000 people voted early, either in person or by absentee ballot, and nearly 29,000 did in
2007.
In last year’s gubernatorial election, nearly 170,000 voted early.
“This is more like a gubernatorial election,” said William A. Anthony Jr. director of the Board
of Elections
“It’s clearly the issues. They’ve created a lot of excitement.”
Anthony said many Downtown workers have come to vote during their lunch hours. On Friday, 192
voted, slightly more than the same day in last year’s gubernatorial election and more than three
times as many as in the last off-year election in 2009.
“I tell people if they want to avoid lines, vote early,” Anthony said."
SB5 Heats Up In Ohio
Today, We Are Ohio announced the campaign will begin airing its first television advertisement today in major media markets and cable all across Ohio. The announcement was made in Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo, Youngstown, Dayton and Marietta by local first responders who will vote NO on Issue 2 to reject Senate Bill 5, the unfair and unsafe bill that will hurt their local communities.
Watch the add below:
Also, check out this great video from We Are Ohio of their parade from the the day they delivered the signatures to repeal SB5:
Ohio Governor Kasich Says "No" to Unemployment Relief
Ohio Governor John Kasich today turned down millions in available federal funds to help the unemployed. $176 million in funding was available to Ohio if they pledged to expand their state unemployment programs -- they had a number of options to do this, including to extend benefits to people in approved job training programs and extended benefits to dependents, among other options.
Governor Kasich instead said, though a spokesman, that doing so "makes no sense..."
Read the article from ThinkProgress here.
Success in the process to repeal Ohio's SB 5
Yesterday, opponents of Ohio Governor John Kasich’s anti-union bill, SB 5, that was signed into law this past march, achieved another victory in their attempts to repeal the law on the November ballot. This victory came by way of the state Ballot Board voting for a clear “yes” to support the law, and “no” to vote against it verbiage for the ballot this November.
Supporters of the law were trying to make the repeal efforts more confusing by submitting wording that would mean a “yes” vote translated into voting for the repeal of the law. It has been proven that voters who are skeptical or confused by an issue tend to vote no, therefore supporting the opponents of the law. With 13.7% of the population of Ohio as union members, higher than the U.S. average rate of 11.9%, this law is clearly an important issue to the people, and this new ballot wording will help their efforts to repeal it come November.
Voter ID law dies out in Ohio
Voting rights advocates received a victory last week in Ohio when “state House Speaker William Batchelder (R) indicated that state Senate Republicans would not move on a proposed voter ID law. The bill, which passed the House earlier this year, is opposed by Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted and the GOP-controlled state Senate.”
Many aren’t convinced that this is the end of voter ID forgood in Ohio, but it is progress considering all of the voter ID initiatives that have been in process this year across the country. There is also still the issue of Governor Kasich’s election reform law which disenfranchises over 200,000 voters in Ohio who utilized early voting methods in previous elections. For more information regarding voter ID issues in Ohio, the Cleveland Plain Dealer has a good article, read more here.
Voter supression continues across the country
Voter suppression efforts by governors are picking up across the country, all supposedly in the name of reducing voter fraud when in reality these laws are just reducing the number of voters who can easily access the ballot. Governor John Kasich of Ohio signed an elections reform bill into law at the beginning of July that added numerous restrictions to voting as well as allowed poll workers to refuse to tell voters where they can vote.
- Early voting by mail would be cut to 21 days under the Republican plan.
- The new law would ban early voting by machine anywhere except at county elections offices.
- The legislation also would forbid counties from mailing unsolicited absentee-ballot applications to voters
These restrictions would mean that 4 out of every 10 voters in Columbus alone would not have been able to vote when and where they did in 2008.
In addition to these limitations in Ohio, Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin signed a similarly restrictive bill into law earlier this year requiring Wisconsin voters to present a photo ID, making it harder to vote for groups like elderly voters, young voters, students, minorities and low-income voters. Now that he has signed that law, Walker is making it even harder on voters by finalizing a plan to close up to 10 offices where people could have obtained photo IDs. All of these efforts are working to suppress the vote and trying to reshape the electorate in time for the 2012 elections rather than encouraging more people to have their voices heard.
Ohio passes more anti-choice bills
On Tuesday this week, the Ohio House of Representatives passed a package of anti-choice bills that, if passed through the Senate, will further infringe on women's rights in Ohio. The most controversial of the three bills is the one referred to as the "Heartbeat Bill," which would make it illegal to have an abortion after there is a detectable heartbeat from the fetus, which can be found as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
One of the other bills instead draws the line for abortions at around 20 weeks or when the fetus is deemed viable outside of the womb. The last bill "excludes abortion coverage from the state insurance exchange created by the federal health care law."
All three of these bills will encroach upon women's rights, but pro-life organizations saw them as a huge victory. However, the "Heartbeat bill" may be considered unconstitutional if enacted and will most likely be taken to court since it likely violates the previous decision of Roe vs. Wade.