JIM SIEGEL, COLUMBUS DISPATCH
At the request of Democrats who oppose the measure, Senate Republicans agreed today to delay a vote to repeal House Bill 194, the election overhaul law approved last year that Democrats and progressive groups are working to overturn on the November ballot.
“They want another week, and we’ll give them another week,” said Sen. Bill Coley, R-Middletown, who is sponsoring the repeal bill and is chairman of the Senate Government Oversight Committee. “We want to be fair and make sure everyone knows what the law will be.”
Republicans, including Secretary of State Jon Husted, have pushed to repeal the law and remove the referendum from the November ballot, arguing that the debate over election laws could cause confusion for voters and will cost an estimated $1 million.
Republicans say they are just giving House Bill 194 opponents what they want – and doing it with certainty, instead of leaving it to the whim of voters in the fall. But Democrats argue that after collecting hundreds of thousands of signatures, the coalition pushing to overturn the law deserves a vote in November.
Senate Minority Leader Eric Kearney, D-Cincinnati, this week called the repeal of House Bill 194 a “mockery of the referendum process,” arguing that Republicans are only repealing it to “avoid suffering another stinging defeat at the ballot box.”
“Referendums are an essential component of the checks and balances in our constitution,” Kearney said. “It is a right that belongs to the people and the General Assembly should not infringe upon it.”
Coley noted that last year, during late attempts to negotiate a deal on Senate Bill 5, the anti-collective bargaining law that was struck down by voters, Democrats argued that the bill must be repealed before such talks could begin.
“I think they know that this is perfectly proper,” Coley said.
Sen. Keith Faber, R-Celina, argued that groups seem to want to the issue to remain on the ballot for political purposes to drive turnout during a presidential election.
At one point, a shouting match broke out on the committee when Sen. Michael Skindell, D-Lakewood, became angry when he felt Republicans were trying to cut off his questions.
Democrats and some other groups, including the League of Women Voters of Ohio, have objected to several provisions in House Bill 194. This includes a reduction in early voting from 35 days before an election to 21 days by mail and 17 in person; a prohibition on counties such as Franklin from sending unsolicited absentee-ballot applications to all voters; and lessened requirements regarding whether a poll worker has to tell a voter that he or she is in the wrong precinct.
Even under the repeal, early voting would be shortened from what was in place in 2010, because lawmakers also passed a second bill last year that eliminated early voting on the weekend and Monday prior to the election. Some witnesses today argued that provision also should be repealed, because it was not in place at the time House Bill 194 passed.
Democrats and Fair Elections Ohio, the coalition behind the referendum, also worry about what Republicans might do next. GOP leaders have said that once the law is repealed, they want to find bipartisan agreement to re-enact some of the non-controversial portions in time for the November election. Democrats have yet to signal what, if any, provisions they would be agreeable to.
“We cannot overemphasize how confusing it would be for both voters and poll workers if replacement legislation is passed and election rules abruptly change between the primary and general election,” Camille Wimbish, election counsel for Project Vote, told the committee.
If the Senate passes the repeal, House Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, has indicated he would support it as well.
Read more at the Columbus Dispatch.