Ohio Voting Requirements Initiative (2020)

Ohio Voting Requirements Initiative
Election date November 3, 2020
Topic Voting policy measures
Status Not on the ballot
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin Citizens

The Ohio Voting Requirements Initiative was not on the ballot in Ohio as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020.

The initiative would have amended Article V, Section I of the Ohio Constitution to make the following changes:

• remove the requirement that voters must be registered 30 days prior to an election but maintain that all voters must be registered;
• require absentee ballots requested by military personnel or voters outside of the U.S. be sent 46 days before the election;
• automatically register citizens at motor vehicle departments unless the citizen refuses registration via a written statement;
• allow voter registration at polling locations; and
• require 28 days of early voting.

A similar measure, Michigan Proposal 3, Voting Policies in State Constitution Initiative, was approved in 2018. The initiated constitutional amendment added eight voting policies to the Michigan Constitution, including straight-ticket voting, automatic voter registration, same-day voter registration, and no-excuse absentee voting.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The title for this measure submitted by petitioners was as follows:

“

The Secure and Fair Elections Amendment

”

Ballot summary

The summary for this measure submitted by petitioners was as follows:

“

The Amendment would amend Article V, Section 1 of the Ohio Constitution to: Remove the provision that citizens be registered to vote for 30 days to be electors, but maintain the requirement to be registered. Provide the following rights to every citizen who is, or is eligible to become, an Ohio elector: The right if serving in the military or residing outside the United States to, upon application, be sent an absentee ballot beginning 46 days before an election if registered to vote. The right to be registered to vote upon applying for, renewing, updating, or replacing an Ohio driver's license, learner's permit, Or identification card with the agency responsible for issuing these documents, unless the citizen affirmatively States in writing that they do not want to be registered to vote. This provision shall take effect February 1, 2022. The right, if registered, to Obtain and cast a ballot in person on weekdays during an early voting period, which shall begin 28 days before each election and end the day before the election, excepting state legal holidays on which the Secretary of State's Office is not open to the public, and, for each of the final 2 weekends before a general election, include a minimum of 12 hours over the two days of each weekend. The right, during the early voting period and on Election Day, to submit in person a voter registration form and either proof of residency or military ID to an election official at any location where the citizen would Othérwise be eligible to vote if they had registered by any other method. This provision shall take effect February 1, 2022. Any one form of ID accepted for voting under Ohio law as of January 1, 2020 shall be sufficient to prove residency for this registration method if it also shows the voter's current address. Persons who register with this method shall be immediately qualified to receive and cast a regular ballot in the election, and the ballot shall be counted unless election administrators demonstrate that the individual is not qualified to vote. This provision shall not limit other rights to register. The right of individuals with disabilities to have full and equal access to register to vote and to vote. Provide that any one form of ID accepted for voting under Ohio law as of January 1, 2020, shall continue to be sufficient to prove identification for voting. Require a representative sample of statewide elections to be audited to ensure the accuracy and integrity of elections. Provide that the Amendment shall bc self-executing and construed in favor of voters' rights, and that nothing shall prevent the general assembly from expanding voters' rights beyond what is provided in the Amendment.

”

Full text

The full text of the measure is available here.

Support

Ohioans for Secure and Fair Elections led the campaign in support of the initiative.

Supporters

• Ohio Conference of NAACP
• American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio

Opposition

If you are aware of any opponents or opposing arguments, please send an email with a link to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Ohio

In Ohio, the number of signatures required to get an initiated constitutional amendment placed on the ballot is equal to 10 percent of the votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial election. Ohio also requires initiative sponsors to submit 1,000 signatures with the initial petition application. Ohio has a signature distribution requirement, which requires that signatures be gathered from at least 44 of Ohio's 88 counties. Petitioners must gather signatures equal to a minimum of half the total required percentage of the gubernatorial vote in each of the 44 counties. Petitions are allowed to circulate for an indefinite period of time. Signatures are due 125 days prior to the general election that proponents want the initiative on.

The requirements to get an initiated constitutional amendment certified for the 2020 ballot:

• Signatures: 443,958 valid signatures were required.
• Deadline: The deadline to submit the signatures was July 1, 2020.

County boards of elections are responsible for verifying signatures, and the secretary of state must determine the sufficiency of the signature petition at least 105 days before the election. If the first batch of signatures is determined to be insufficient, the petitioners are given a ten-day window to collect more signatures.

Stages of this initiative

• Darlene L. English, Laura A. Gold, Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Isabel C. Robertson, and Ebony Speakes-Hall filed the initiative with the Ohio Attorney General on January 22, 2020.
• On January 31, 2020, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) rejected the summary of the amendment because it was longer than the text of the amendment and contains unnecessary information. In his letter rejecting the summary, Yost wrote that the summary fails "to accurately and concisely extract the language and effect of a proposed amendment and filter it into a synopsis that is easily understandable to a signer of the petition."
• On February 10, 2020, petitioners resubmitted a version of the initiative.
• On February 20, 2020, the Ohio Attorney General verified that the summary submitted by petitioners was "fair and truthful" according to state requirements.
• On March 2, 2020, the Ohio Ballot Board voted that the initiative violates Ohio's single-subject rule and must be divided into four separate initiatives. The Board divided the initiative into the following subject areas:
  • administering elections,
  • registering voters,
  • voting rights for those with disabilities, and
  • auditing election results.
• On March 5, 2020, Ohioans for Secure and Fair Elections filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Attorney General Dave Yost that argued, "The provisions of the Proposed Amendment each relate to this single general object of voting."
• On April 23, 2020, the Ohio Ballot Board voted to certify the measure as one amendment pursuant to the court's ruling.
• On March 30, 2020, initiative sponsors filed a lawsuit in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas asking for the signature deadline to be extended, the number of signatures required to be reduced, and permission to gather signatures online. James Hayes, a spokesperson for the campaign, said, "It might be a long shot that the court will side with us, but we thought it was a shot worth taking. ... And we think that this would be a good decision, a worthwhile decision, in line with protecting the First Amendment rights of Ohioans across the state."
  • On April 28, Judge David C. Young dismissed the case arguing that since the petition requirements for initiatives are in the Ohio Constitution "the ability to change those requirements is reserved only to the people." He added that there is no exception for public health emergencies.
  • On May 19, U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus ordered Ohio to accept electronic signatures from the ballot measure campaigns and extended the signature deadline from July 1 to July 31. Judge Sargus argued in his opinion that "these unique historical circumstances of a global pandemic and the impact of Ohio's Stay-at-Home Orders, the State's strict enforcement of the signature requirements for local initiatives and constitutional amendments severely burden Plaintiff's First Amendment rights." The judge's order applies only to the plaintiffs in the case.
  • On May 21, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost appealed the court's order.
  • On May 26, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals put a hold on the lower court's order that granted the campaign permission to gather signatures electronically and extended the deadline. The judges wrote, "There’s no reason that Plaintiffs can’t advertise their initiatives within the bounds of our current situation, such as through social or traditional media inviting interested electors to contact them and bring the petitions to the electors’ homes to sign."
• On June 18, 2020, the campaign announced that it was suspending its efforts to put the initiative on the November ballot. Toni Webb, campaign manager for Ohioans for Secure and Fair Elections, said, "We end this campaign incredibly proud of everything we have accomplished, including a 6-1 victory at the Ohio Supreme Court finding our initiative qualified as a single issue, and making clear the standard for future ballot measures in Ohio. ... The bottom line is that the COVID-19 pandemic hit right at the beginning of Ohio’s precious signature gathering months, making it impossible to gather the signatures necessary to qualify for the ballot."

Lawsuit

  

Lawsuit overview
Issue: Whether the measure violates the state's single-subject rule
Court: Ohio Supreme Court
Ruling: Ruled in favor of plaintiffs
Plaintiff(s): Ohioans for Secure and Fair Elections	Defendant(s): Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, Ohio Ballot Board, and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost
Plaintiff argument: The measure does not violate the state's single-subject rule because each provision of the measure pertains to voting.	Defendant argument: The measure contains four separate matters and therefore should be voted on by the electorate as four separate measures.

  Source: Toledo Blade

On March 5, 2020, Ohioans for Secure and Fair Elections filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Attorney General Dave Yost that argued, "The provisions of the Proposed Amendment each relate to this single general object of voting." Petitioners asked the Ohio Supreme Court to require the Ohio Ballot Board to reconvene to vote that the provisions of the amendment do not need to be voted on separately. On April 14, 2020, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in a 6-1 vote requiring the Ohio Ballot Board to reconvene as soon as possible to certify the proposed amendment as a single measure. The court rejected the plaintiff's request for more time to collect signatures. On April 23, 2020, the Ohio Ballot Board voted to certify the measure as one amendment pursuant to the court's ruling.

See also

2020 measures

• 2020 ballot measures
• Voting policy measures on the ballot
• 2020 legislative sessions

Ohio

• Ohio ballot measures
• Ohio ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Initiative petition full text