Victory! The Ohio House Finance Committee worked in a bipartisan fashion to reject amendments to the Transportation Budget that would have harmed voters.

Election officials, the League, and allies have all raised their voices against fast-tracked amendments to the Transportation Budget (HB54) that would have resulted in eligible Ohioans being wrongfully required to vote provisionally and even removed from the voting rolls. 

If the amendments would have passed, they would have put more strain on county Boards of Elections, which are already overworked and underfunded. They would have cost taxpayers significant money, and most importantly, they would have made our voting rolls less accurate.

Moments like this show us that bipartisanship is not dead. Let’s make sure lawmakers know that we want more bipartisan collaboration and deliberation in the future. 

If passed, countless Ohioans with expired BMV-issued IDs and surrendered licenses would have been forced to vote provisionally and eventually could have had their registration canceled. Such changes would have disproportionately impacted senior citizens, voters with disabilities, active duty military, students, and people who have surrendered their licenses for medical issues or traffic violations. 

Election laws are complicated and any potential changes need time for real study by experts. Democracy works best when we all participate and when we work across the aisle for commonsense policymaking. Let’s thank the Finance Committee and your Ohio Representative and ask them to continue to work in such a deliberative, bipartisan fashion. 

Thank your State Rep and the House Finance Committee for Protecting Voters!