So the nasty Ohio election bill, HB 3, passed the Ohio Senate on Tuesday, but the House, expected to approve the Senate changes Wednesday, balked. The
bill is dead for the rest of the year. From
the AP:
Republicans in the Ohio House and Senate tried to meet halfway on a bill that would dramatically change the state's elections laws, couldn't do it, then went home for the holidays.
That was fine with the Democrats, who liken the changes to an attack on voting rights.
The House on Wednesday rejected Senate amendments to a bill that would make major changes to Ohio election law after concerns were raised about the effect on local elections and other issues.
The unanimous vote means differences between the House and Senate will be negotiated when members return early next year. The House tried to call a committee together to resolve the issues Wednesday afternoon, but Senate Republicans questioned the legality of such a hasty meeting. Then both chambers recessed until 2006.
More below the fold.
Maybe the differences between the House and Senate versions are the real reason for the reprieve, or maybe the Republican leadership is starting to realize that if this thing becomes law, there will be a months-long cycle of negative publicity that will do damage to the party at a time when its reputation is bad and getting worse. Whatever is on GOP minds, people who care about voting rights and honest elections have a window of opportunity.
A rundown of Senate changes here, text of House version here
Reminding state legislators how nasty this bill is would be a great holiday season project. Contact info for state representatives can be found by zip code and district.
Find your senator by zip code. Another list of senate targets here, bottom of the page.
If the worst should happen in the Legislature, Secretary of State candidate Jennifer Brunner is circulating a petition calling on Governor Taft to veto the bill. Click here to sign the petition.
For those tuning in, a refresher (by no means complete!!) on the travesties in this law:
HB 3 would effectively end court contests of elections to the US House, the US Senate, and the Presidency, leaving contested elections to be reviewed and decided entirely by a majority vote in the Congress. Comforting, eh?
The other provision eliminates Ohio's contest for all federal elections, inclusing both presidential and congressional contests. Sub HB 3 provides that such contests "shall be conducted with the applicable provisions of federal law."
It is not clear what law this is referring to, as there is no analogous federal statute providing for contests. Perhaps "federal law" refers to the timetable for electoral ballot counting. Yet federal law contains no contest provision, but instead requires Congress to defer to the states, in cases where there's been a "final determination" of any election contests or controversies by the safe harbor date.
HB 3 would take voter suppression to a level remarkable even by 2004's standards. See page four of the linked League of Women Voters report.
HB 3 would eliminate the random selection of hand-counted precincts in a recount.
It's hard to overstate the importance of stopping this legislation. Ohioans, PLEASE KEEP THE PRESSURE ON. The fight continues.
