Kowani wrote:Leaked draft of a bill that top Ohio Republicans are planning to introduce to restrict voting would reportedly require 2 forms of ID for voting absentee or early, abolish absentee ballot drop boxes, limit early voting, & ban prepaid postage for absentee votingCleveland.com reports that Ohio Republicans are planning to introduce a major new voting restriction bill that could impose significant changes and limitations on mail voting in particular, and the progressive media group More Perfect Union obtained what it calls a leaked draft of the bill that would abolish absentee ballot drop boxes, ban prepaid postage on absentee ballots, require two forms of ID for voting absentee or early, and cut early voting availability.
Republicans haven't offered any explanation as to why they want to ban prepaid postage, though they unsuccessfully tried to do so last year. Last September, lawmakers also rejected a request by Republican Secretary of State LaRose to pay for such postage, a decision that was criticized by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine for making it harder to vote.
Republicans are also considering codifying some of LaRose's directives into law, such as one that limited counties to a single location for mail ballot drop boxes regardless of population size instead of outright banning them. Combined with a 2006 law Republicans passed to limit counties to one early voting location regardless of size, this directive means that populous Democratic-dominated urban counties such as Franklin County, which is home to the state capital of Columbus and 1.3 million residents, are placed at a disadvantage compared to residents of smaller Republican-leaning counties like Vinton County, which has just 13,000 residents but the same number of drop boxes and early voting sites.
While most of the bill appears aimed at making it harder to vote, cleveland.com reports that Republicans might include a few measures that would expand voting access. LaRose has backed giving voters the option to automatically update their registrations when they do business with the state's driver's licensing agency, though that proposal falls short of true automatic voter registration, which would cover currently unregistered voters. LaRose also expressed optimism that the bill would enable online requests for absentee ballots, even though he refused to allow this method via administrative action last year by claiming only lawmakers had that power despite a court ruling that officials could do it.
One Form was already tough enough on some people: imagine trying to provide two. That hurts several groups of people easily right there. They really have sold themselves on the "Big Lie", haven't they? While I suspect this would have come without such an event, it's quite clear they think they can't win if voting is made easier. Like other Republican-controlled States, they're trying to hurt turnout in more populous places while maintaining to increasing turnout in rural areas. We shouldn't be surprised anymore: the only way to reverse this is if the courts strike it down and, well, with McConnell blocking Obama from filling judicial seats, SCOTUS in the hands of Republicans, and Republicans taking control through gerrymandering, it's going to require a federal response- and the Democrats to hopefully fill the Supreme Court with a majority on their side. Eh, we're screwed it seems.
