Fair Elections Ohio Statement on Possible 'Repeal and Replace' of HB194 by the Ohio Legislature

"The recent suggestion of Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted that the Ohio General Assembly should repeal House Bill 194 has ignited several debates including whether it can actually be done while a referendum on the measure is pending.
 
While Fair Elections Ohio appreciates Secretary Husted's suggestion that HB 194 should be repealed, the apparent result seems to be a desire by some members of the legislature to substitute other changes before the November 2012 general election. This will create more confusion than good.

Fair Elections Ohio urges no changes to Ohio's election laws in 2012, especially between the primary and the general elections. Our repeal effort has achieved consistent election procedures for Ohioans in 2012, allowing voters to utilize nearly the same rules as were in place in the last presidential election. 
 
While the Ohio House and the Senate agreed to previous compromises with the assistance of former Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner in 2010, they failed to become law when there was time to implement them.  For 2012, the time for compromise has passed, and election officials and Ohio voters deserve to know the rules well in advance.

Fair Elections Ohio respectfully suggests the best thing for the Secretary to do is to execute his duties to educate the public about the current rules governing elections. The law specifically requires that he "Conduct voter education outlining voter identification, absent voters ballot, provisional ballot, and other voting requirements." (R.C. 3501.05(Z)

Fair Elections Ohio's efforts are and will continue to be focused on increasing voter participation and to protect the rights of every Ohio voter to access and fair elections. For this reason Fair Elections Ohio believes no election laws should change at this time, and HB 194 should remain a question for the voters to decide.