February 21, 2015
By Robert Higgs
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Gov. John Kasich (click here) signed into law Friday changes to Ohio’s election rules on early voting and handling of absentee ballot applications.
The administration announced the bill signings with little comment. The bills would take effect in time for the November election.
Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols noted that the changes to absentee voting rules will make them more uniform, and that Ohio’s early voting period is longer than most states.
“Ohio has more early voting than 40 other states after we signed these bills,” Nichols said....
Here is a beauty. Ohio routinely has mailed out absentee ballots to all it's citizens. This bill went on ot state there would be mailing of absentee ballots if the state legislature did not authorize it in the budget. That includes any absentee ballots there may even be requested. No mailing of requested ballots. I would expect no requests as most voters would still expect them to come in the mail unless there was a state wide education campaign.
...The bill allows the Ohio secretary of state to send them out, statewide, if lawmakers appropriate money to pay for it. Republicans said voters are not treated equally because some county boards of election choose to send out applications and pay for return postage on absentee ballots and ballot applications....
Evidently, a county executive took issue with that portion of the bill and for this past election all the ballots were mailed. It isn't stated if they will be mailed in future elections.
Basically, Democratic majorities will mail them and Republican majorities won't. Amazing.
If I were a Democrat running for office I would make this a gigantic issue. Why would a state normally used to receiving ballots in the mail not want that continued, especially considering the difficultly many Ohioans would have in getting to government offices to pick up a mail in ballot. The purpose of the ballot is nearly lost when considering why many would use a mail in absentee ballot. Many Americans would use a mail in ballot because there would be hurtles to what most Americans would consider a simple task.
As a matter of fact, there should be a federal law requiring every state to mail out all absentee ballots. There should be interesting statistics in Ohio to back that up if anyone wants to carry out a study of past Ohio elections in response to everyone receiving an absentee ballot.
By Robert Higgs
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Gov. John Kasich (click here) signed into law Friday changes to Ohio’s election rules on early voting and handling of absentee ballot applications.
The administration announced the bill signings with little comment. The bills would take effect in time for the November election.
Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols noted that the changes to absentee voting rules will make them more uniform, and that Ohio’s early voting period is longer than most states.
“Ohio has more early voting than 40 other states after we signed these bills,” Nichols said....
Here is a beauty. Ohio routinely has mailed out absentee ballots to all it's citizens. This bill went on ot state there would be mailing of absentee ballots if the state legislature did not authorize it in the budget. That includes any absentee ballots there may even be requested. No mailing of requested ballots. I would expect no requests as most voters would still expect them to come in the mail unless there was a state wide education campaign.
...The bill allows the Ohio secretary of state to send them out, statewide, if lawmakers appropriate money to pay for it. Republicans said voters are not treated equally because some county boards of election choose to send out applications and pay for return postage on absentee ballots and ballot applications....
Evidently, a county executive took issue with that portion of the bill and for this past election all the ballots were mailed. It isn't stated if they will be mailed in future elections.
Basically, Democratic majorities will mail them and Republican majorities won't. Amazing.
If I were a Democrat running for office I would make this a gigantic issue. Why would a state normally used to receiving ballots in the mail not want that continued, especially considering the difficultly many Ohioans would have in getting to government offices to pick up a mail in ballot. The purpose of the ballot is nearly lost when considering why many would use a mail in absentee ballot. Many Americans would use a mail in ballot because there would be hurtles to what most Americans would consider a simple task.
As a matter of fact, there should be a federal law requiring every state to mail out all absentee ballots. There should be interesting statistics in Ohio to back that up if anyone wants to carry out a study of past Ohio elections in response to everyone receiving an absentee ballot.
