BUCYRUS — Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted made a stop at Crawford County’s Board of Elections Monday to talk about his Safe at Home bill.
If passed, the legislation will allow victims of domestic violence to omit their addresses on voter registration cards.
Under current Ohio law, voter registration is public record. According to Husted, this poses a threat to victims who want to vote.
“These people don’t vote for fear that they can be tracked down by the person that wants to do them harm,” Husted said to members of the media, Crawford County Board of Elections and Prosecutor Matt Crall.
Husted called on the legislature to introduce the bill, which he termed Safe At Home in a Cincinnati Enquirer column, in October 2015. State Rep. Mike Duffy introduced the bill Jan. 27 as HB 359. It received bipartisan support and passed the House on the same day.
The bill includes victims of rape, sexual battery, menacing by stalking and human trafficking. It allows those victims to apply for an Address Confidentiality Number, assigned to a P.O. Box through the Secretary of State’s office.
Husted said not just anyone will be able to receive an ACP number, however. He said his office will team with other agencies in Ohio that deal specifically with domestic violence victims and other similar crimes.
“We will send them to a certified domestic violence counselor, we have partner agencies that we’ll work with to have them assessed at the local level to make sure this is something legitimate,” Husted said.
Husted added that no tax dollars will be used to create this service. However, he expects the program to open up a new channel of communication with county board of elections throughout the state.
“We’re not talking thousands of people signing up for this, at least initially,” Husted said. “Probably hundreds of people at first. So we think this is certainly very manageable.”
Husted, as he motioned toward Crall, made mention that prosecutors from around the state have joined forces to support the passage of the bill.
“I think this is one step. If you can’t participate in the system, how are you going to take control over your own life,” Crall said. “I think this is a good idea to help our victims, not just in voting, but to give them the courage to overcome these issues.”
Husted agreed.
“People shouldn’t have to sacrifice their personal safety to exercise their personal liberty,” he said.
According to the Ohio Legislature’s website, the bill is under review in the state senate.
Husted added that other than some newspaper companies who have expressed concern for the legislation that may overstep first amendment rights there is no opposition to the bill.
“There are 38 states that have some kind of program like this. And so, it’s something that’s long overdue in Ohio,” Husted said. “We have bipartisan sponsorship for this.”
