House Bill 294 is bill introduced by Rep. Bill Seitz in the Ohio legislature that will create lots of new rules on voting in Ohio. Some are good, some are bad, and some are downright ugly. We are working to educate Ohioans on the dangers of the bill so that together we can better fight back against the attack on our voting rights.
The Good
- Automatic voter registration
- Online Absentee Ballot Requests
- Classifies signing a petition as voter activity as a means of preventing the signer from being purged from the voting rolls.
- Expanding in-person ID flexibility.
The Bad
- Eliminates early voting the Monday before the election (this is supported by election officials say they need that day to prepare for the election. Seitz has said he’ll reallocate those hours to expand early voting on other days).
- Shortening the absentee ballot request window (currently 3 days before the election which election officials and the LoWV have said does not give enough time before the election. Voting rights groups have said 7 days would be reasonable. The Seitz bill puts it at 10 days.)
- Requires two forms of ID for online absentee requests.
The Ugly
- Only allows ballot drop boxes at board of election locations for ten days before the election.
- Requires legislative authorization before postage paid forms can be sent to voters.
