NAACP MANSFIELD #3190 Stands with The NAACP Ohio State Conference and other Civil Rights Leaders who decry Sub. HB 458 which disproportionately attacks voting rights of Black, brown, and naturalized Ohioans.
In a recent letter signed by:
Tom Roberts, Dayton
President, Ohio Conference of NAACP
Andre Washington, Columbus
President, A. Philip Randolph Institute
Pierrette M. Talley, Toledo
Executive Director, Ohio Coalition on Black Civic Participation
Prentiss Haney and Molly Shack, Cincinnati, and Columbus
Co-Executive Directors, Ohio Organizing Collaborative
The new laws are thinly veiled as a reaction to illegal voting and/or voter fraud. Yet, this argument does not stand up to the reality of how few cases are ever uncovered and proven in our recent elections.
Key points of HB 458
1. Voters will lose the freedom to register to vote and vote with an alternate form of ID such as a utility bill, government document, or paycheck. Voters will be forced to provide a strict photo ID to vote, whether voting by absentee ballot, or in person on Election Day, or provisionally.
2. Voters will lose the freedom to vote provisionally with the last four digits of their Social Security Number, unless they have religious exemption that excuses them from the strict photo ID requirement.
3. Voters will lose access to drop boxes by limiting Boards of Election to a single drop box location, open only during business hours only, and limited to the early voting period. This change ignores the geographical and population differences across our 88 counties.
4. Non-citizens risk being targeted and harassed by a new requirement to list citizenship status on Ohio driver’s license.
5. Grandchildren will continue to be prohibited from dropping off their grandparents’ absentee ballots.
6. Voters will lose the last Monday day of early voting. It is the second most popular day of early voting. Hours that were previously codified in Sub. HB 294 will be eliminated.
This bill is not good and just public policy. This bill is not fair and equitable. Anyone who thinks so must still be upset about Brown vs. Board of Education. Governor DeWine waited until 5 pm on a Friday night, then quietly signed HB 458. He waited until most Ohioans had stopped paying attention for the week, because he knew he was hurting people he was supposed to represent.
NAACP is committed to addressing this. Going forward The Mansfield Branch of the NAACP will scrutinize the language used in this latest change to Ohio law to ensure that voters are registered in compliance with the law. Too often the process can be made to look confusing or overly complicated to discourage potential voters from even trying to register.
