The Ohio state Senate was set to consider this week what critics are calling the most restrictive voter identification law in the country. The push for restrictive voter ID measures in the Buckeye state is part of a trend of similar legislation sweeping Republican-controlled legislatures across the country. But Ohio’s measure is so restrictive — it requires the photo IDs to be issued by the state, so voters couldn’t identify themselves with their full Social Security numbers — that it lost the support of Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted.
“I want to be perfectly clear, when I began working with the General Assembly to improve Ohio’s elections system it was never my intent to reject valid votes,” Husted said in a short statement posted on his official website.
“I would rather have no bill than one with a rigid photo identification provision that does little to protect against fraud and excludes legally registered voters’ ballots from counting,” Husted said.
“I do not believe this is in any way a voter suppression issue,” said Tom Niehaus, the Republican President of the Senate. “This is about maintaining the integrity of the voting process.”
The Ohio Secretary of State is now admitting this legislation will “exclude legally registered voter’s ballots from counting”. He’s also denying it was ever his intent to “reject valid votes”. The GOP majority leader is denying “voter suppression”. He “does not believe” this is a voter suppression attempt. Finally. After 10 years of absolute bullshit on voter impersonation fraud, we’re getting down to what’s really going on here.
Don’t get too excited about Secretary of State Husted’s sudden and mystifying attack of conscience. He doesn’t have a great record, and he’s only been in office since January. His behavior in a 2011 case involving provisional ballots doesn’t inspire confidence. Second class (provisional) ballots are less likely to be counted, because provisional ballots introduce an element of pollworker, election employee, and election official discretion that just doesn’t come into play with a first class ballot. The chaotic mess that resulted when a close 2010 Ohio judicial race went to recount (that I’ve described below) is a good example of that.
Briefly, there was a very close race for juvenile judge in a county in Ohio in 2010. The results turned on whether provisional ballots were to be reviewed or excluded. The voters involved cast their provisional ballots correctly but due to pollworker error, those second class “provisional” ballots were accepted at the wrong precinct table. Hundreds of provisional ballots were thrown into question, and they came out of majority Democratic precincts.
It went to court, where conservatives won the right to exclude provisional ballots in the state supreme court. A federal court disagreed, and ordered that a review be conducted to determine whether the votes could be counted. Secretary Husted cast the tie-breaker vote to appeal that federal court decision. The case is complex. It now involves advocates for voters relying on Bush v. Gore – which is always amusing, in a bitter, sad way- to use that absolute piece of garbage decision against conservatives, and it goes on from where I stopped. You may read the details here, here and here.
Provisional ballots were the fail-safe, the back-up, and we were assured by conservative lawyers and judges that the provisional balloting process would prevent the disenfranchisement of valid voters. But provisional balloting is complicated- it involves several additional steps, more than one piece of paper, and lots and lots of pollworker instructions to the voter. Each step introduces the possibility of voter error, pollworker error, or a blatantly partisan discretionary call by an elections official or employee. The supposed “fail-safe” conservatives assured us would protect voting rights doesn’t work as intended, and in truth introduces a whole new set of problems.
If you want to see how bad it can get for voters who are shunted to a second-class ballot, follow the links above and wade through the thousands of pages of legal filings that resulted from one county court judicial race. Each one of those provisional ballots represents a voter, and each and every one of those voters is now at risk of having their vote thrown out, in a race that turned on a 23 vote difference. Every voter that entered that polling place has the right to assume their vote will be treated in a fair and equitable manner, and that’s not happening. Instead, we have a viciously partisan battle that has (so far) involved 4 courts and three conflicting decisions. And, what about the voters who had the misfortune to cast those second class ballots? Where are they in all this? Long forgotten. They don’t matter.
Every time I write about voting rights I get comments asking what Democrats or liberals are doing in states like Ohio to protect voters. There is a conference call for voting enthusiasts scheduled on July 15th, here in Ohio, and, as I mentioned, Vice President Biden raised the issue when he addressed Ohio Democrats last weekend. So, it’s on the radar and there will be a plan to help qualified voters get and vote a first class ballot. How well the plan will work, and how many legitimate votes by disfavored groups will be excluded, I do not know. Conservatives are constantly changing the rules, and it’s always a challenge to keep up with their endlessly creative and novel interpretations of what’s required to vote and have the vote counted.
cathyx
NO, I can’t take any more republican wins. I’m done.
Bulworth
Union-busting, voter suppression. All in a day’s work for today’s GOP.
dpcap
Accusations of RINO in 3… 2… 1…
Han's Solo
But without this law how will Ohio Republicans stop the poor and minorities from voting?
Senyordave
If any of these go to Supreme Court, it will obviously lose 5-4 (maybe even 6-4, I’m sure Thomas would twice to uphold it if he could. He would probably vote for 1950’s-style literacy tests.)
Bulworth
Not sure what this means. Don’t most of these voter ID bills involve a photo ID issued by the state?
Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century)
yeah, but elite bloggers don’t live in ohio, so they don’t care.
Han's Solo
Once again, this is just a baby step for Republicans. They want to get the caste system the founding fathers came to this country for!
Only the upper caste should be allowed to vote, just like under America’s greatest founding father, Ronald Reagan.
snark/
kay
There’s an address mismatch problem with voting. A (presented) photo ID has an old address. The person moved and didn’t want to update their address. The solution to that is to take down the voter’s SS #, along with some other documentary evidence of residence.
Elliecat
Couldn’t this difference be exploited to help remind “independent” and even conservative voters that there’s no way to be sure that “voter ID” laws will only suppress the votes of The Wrong People?
I’d like to see a campaign in which people who support “voter ID” laws are quizzed about what the latest requirements or proposed laws are and whether they believe they have the proper ID (and then asked to produce it).
Dennis SGMM
It occurs to me that Air Force personnel stationed at Wright-Patterson AFB (Ohio’s fifth-largest employer) won’t be able to vote unless they obtain an Ohio driver’s license because even military ID cards aren’t acceptable ID under the new law.
When I was in the service, most of us just kept our home state driver’s licenses as long as they weren’t going to expire while we were stationed in another state.
So much for “supportthetroops!”
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
This is why I’m convinced it’s folly to count the 2012 election as a foregone conclusion at least as far as the presidential election goes.
They’re gonna try their damnedest to ensure that only their preferred voters get to vote, liberties and freedoms be damned. And what’s worse is that they very well could succeed before any hammers can be brought down, and irreparably fuck us even worse. And it’d probably be applauded to the heavens by our Very Serious People.
RalfW
It’s so simple. Go back to having only white, landowning males eligible to vote, and the fraud and abuse will vanish just like that!
I bet even Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison would favor that. She’d still win in her beloved Texas.
Han's Solo
Once this bill passes the next step will be to require people who want to vote to show up with both brokerage statements showing assets of over 1 million and a property tax receipt for your personal residence.
Look at the bright side, this is Ohio. It isn’t like Ohio has done anything else crazy of late…
Trinity
We.Are.Fucked.
Trinity
We.Are.Fucked.
kay
I use home-state jurisdiction all the time so they can get an order out of an Ohio court when they call from Iraq or Afghanistan on a pressing local issue in dispute, and one of the things I use to buttress that is voter registration.
Oh, it’s not about “the troops”.
Ash Can
Call it what it is — rigging elections. The Republicans are basically admitting publicly, for all to see and hear, that they do not believe they can win normal, small-“d” democratic elections unless they cheat. They are no different and no better than the people running elections in third-world countries where the United Nations feels compelled to send observers to determine whether the elections are at all legitimate. I’m beginning to think I could very well see, in my lifetime, sky-blue army helmets showing up at certain polling places in certain areas in the U.S.
bryanD
It seems like the acid test would be to take one’s social security card down to the local DMV and pay $5-$10 for a state photo ID and then *hope* the Man doesn’t let you vote.
Geraldo! Greta! TPM! French toast in bed!
Dennis SGMM
@bryanD
Ohio’s canny Republican pols have a plan for that: they’re going to pass a new law that requires you to have a state-issued photo ID in order to apply for a state-issued photo ID.
Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century)
so much for the small government, freedom™ agenda.
I remember way back when — when the wingers were against mandates.
Martin
Yet another of the GOPs many half measures to prevent hordes of illegal voters from stuffing ballot boxes from Portland to Portland. Of course Social Secuirty cards can be forged as can state issued photo ids. This problem will never be fully resolved until voters have their Social Security number permanently affixed to their outer left forearm. In order to prevent voter registration fraud, the voter’s political party should be prefaced to the number – a ‘D’ for Dems, etc.
Perhaps one of our Democratic legislators could point out the effective system that the GOP appears to be aiming for and ask why they keep trying to do this half-assed when such a simple and proven solution is sitting right before them.
kay
Okay. I am curious, though. Husted ran an awful, sleazy, lying campaign and he went absolutely berserk-partisan to install that juvenile judge, including firing a whole county bd of elections.
So why the sudden turn around? He didn’t all of a sudden become a voting rights’ advocate, because 3 months ago he was busy installing a judge, with no concerns for the hundreds of votes he deemed unworthy. I’m wondering if it’s related to the (federal) litigation?
IrishGirl
I live in AZ and back in 2008, I had lived at my current address for an entire year and my drivers license was up to date. For some reason, conveniently I wasn’t on the voter list and they made me do a provisional ballot. I’m white but I noticed a lot of minorities come in with me who were also forced to use a provisional ballot. I suspect to this day that my vote was never counted. Of course candidate Obama won anyway, but no thanks to Arizona.
grandpajohn
And as usual our fucking media has no balls. the n ext time one of the assholes spouts that its just to prevent voter fraud, why doesn’t somebody ask when was the last time someone was charged with voter fraud at the polls?
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@grandpajohn #24:
That won’t work. Someone will just say the magic words “ACORN!” and heads will nod. And our country dies just a lot bit more.
kay
It’s a pain in the ass for you, but I think it’s worth it. Go there (in person) the next day and ask if it’s been counted in yet. If it hasn’t, ask why it wasn’t, and if it hasn’t been counted in yet ask when you can call and verify that it’s been counted.
This is a fail-safe that doesn’t work. It’s a sham, and the only reason they’re getting these restrictive laws to pass judicial muster is everyone is hand-waving and blithely pretending the fail-safe works.
If it doesn’t, they’re going to have to come up with some other bullshit to get this garbage past federal judges. Let’s keep their lawyers busy :)
artem1s
There has been a fringe wingnut opposition to a ‘national’ ID for quite awhile. It was first about fundamentalists’ hysterics over ‘the mark of the beast’ and later fears of a ‘new world order’ takeover (remember the black helicopters?). Those people are alive and well and living in rural Ohio. It’s possible he has gotten the word that they will go Teaparty on the OH GOP if they pass this thing.
Another concern might be that the state has relaxed its absentee rules to the point that no one really has to go to the polls at all anymore. Pretty much anyone can vote by mail and avoid the ID mess altogether, which will surely bring a separate but equal lawsuit into play.
Also.too. you can’t intimidate the brown people if they are voting from their Barka loungers in front of the 54″ wide screen HDTVs eating their T-Bones.
kay
This came up in the 2005 voter ID battle. Conservatives like a least-restrictive absentee process, because (surprise!) their voters are older and better-off and more likely to vote absentee.
It’s a big ‘ol hole logical in their argument, because, of course, it’s much, much easier to commit voter fraud w/an absentee ballot. Democrats were screaming about the disparity it in 2005, because, ya know, it doesn’t make any sense if they’re really worried about fraud.
Which they’re not.
Woodrowfan
Bulworth: I often work as an election officer in my area and a lot of people use federal IDs, such as ID cards for veterans. Some use work IDs (with a photo and a name) and I’ve even gotten a passport or two. None of which would fit Ohio’s law.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@Martin: OK, that was a G-d-like G-dwin. Genius.
Zach
Why don’t Democrats double down on this and support a Federal law amending the post-2000 voting regulations to mandate that everyone’s finger be dyed purple after voting a la Iraq? Here’s why this would be smart:
1) Every conceivable fraud scheme that involves fake IDs involves someone voting more than once (someone has to cast all of the fake ballots) – this calls the GOP’s bluff.
2) Purple fingers would more effectively shame non-voters than “I Voted” stickers and lead to somewhat increased turnout. Increased turnout helps Democrats.
3) We can let people choose red, white, or blue if Focus on the Family is still scared of the color purple.
Kay Dennison
I live in Ohio. I called my State senator this morning and told him not to vote for it. He’s GOP but he doesn’t always vote the party line. He actually cares about his constituents and doesn’t vote the party line. Frankly, if they pass it, we’ll just go for referendum like we did on SB 7 — the union busting bill. Kasich is gonna get his butt impeached if he doesn’t back off. We are Ohio and we’re fighting back.
Keith G
It better f_cking well be on the radar.
This is a nationwide, systemic effort on the part of the right and it will give them some headstarts in several key states. The Democratic response isn’t even enough to be called anemic. It’s nice that Joe finally is on the case, late and little though this is.
debbie
Umm, I’ve been following this story, and in all fairness (I am no fan of his), Husted came out against this as soon as they started working on it. If he’s louder about it now, it’s because the law is more of a certainty.
Niehaus, on the other hand, is a fat c*nt.
debbie
Kay, I don’t know if you watch “Columbus on the Record” — it’s a local PBS Washington-Week kind of show. They were discussing this voter bill, and the”Democratic strategist” brought up the fact that no one had ever proven voter fraud (as opposed to registration fraud), and the “Republican strategist got all spooky-eyed and said, “How will we ever know?” This issue will never go away.
Keith G
@RalphW
Hutchison’s problems were not with “new” voters. She was just not wingnut-crazy enough not to have her ass handed to her by a teabagger in a primary.
Imagine that.
Mnemosyne
@ bryanD
Which state lets you get a license based solely on having a Social Security card? Ohio doesn’t, so which state are you thinking of?
Throwin Stones
I trust Husted not at all and obviously miss Brunner. Not sure of his angle here, but it’s a bit odd as he’s a true winger.
I think the Ohio abortion bill may just be the first most recent lob toward the USSC to repeal R v. W.
Hungry Joe
@debbie
Voter fraud/”How will we ever know?” reminds me of a Congressman’s response to those opposing the rounding up of Japanese-Americans after Pearl Harbor. When it was pointed out that no act of sabotage had been carried out or even suspected of any one of the tens of thousands of Japanese-Americans on the west coast, he said, “You see how well organized they are?”
I’m about 71% sure that story’s true. If it’s not, the spirit lives on, anyway.
kay
Hi Debbie. I don’t believe him not because of what he says, but because of what he does. The legal issue here is whether provisional ballots are to be counted. It may well end up at the US Supreme Court. Husted FIRED county board members who didn’t adopt the conservative legal position on counting provisional ballots, while the issue is still unresolved. Why did he weigh in at all? It’s an active lawsuit. The issue isn’t resolved. It hasn’t been heard.
So my speculation here is that he’s offering politically-timed lip service on a vague political issue (I oppose voter ID!) while working very hard to get specific legal precedent to deny provisional ballot voters a review before throwing their votes out.
Short answer: I think he’s full of shit. His words don’t match his actions.
here
kay
Here’s what I want. I want a factual, numbers based review of provisional balloting in Ohio. The numbers are there, and we now have 6 years of this “fail-safe” to look at.
I want to know two things: was the voter shunted to a second class ballot improperly (how many), and if they were shunted, were their ballots rejected and why were their ballots rejected.
Georgia, Indiana and Ohio should have reams of numbers on this. I want to look at the ballots. I want a count. It’s a piece of paper. There’s a record.
If this fail-safe is FAILING, voters should know that.
kay
Okay, I looked (because I’m obsessive, granted) 5% of provisional ballots cast in 2010 were wrongly thrown out.
So what I want to ask conservatives is this: given that there is virtually no evidence of voter impersonation fraud, is disenfranchising 5% of second-class voters acceptable?
Because conservatives didn’t come up with provisional balloting out of conscience, Debbie. They came up with it to get these laws past a federal judge.
Their system doesn’t work. It has an failure rate that no person who cares at all about voting rights should accept. The burden is ON CONSERVATIVES to show that they can administer these ridiculous laws in a way that doesn’t disenfranchise lawful voters.
They haven’t done that. 5% of provisional ballots NOT COUNTED in Ohio. They’ve wrongly disenfranchised hundreds and hundreds of voters. That’s HUGE. It could turn an election.