Ohio House panel OKs election reform bill

[Algorem]

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/111589023035220.xml&coll=2

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Julie Carr Smyth
Plain Dealer Bureau

Columbus - A bill aimed at changing Ohio election processes to avoid delays, disputes and disagreements like those of last November cleared a critical House committee Wednesday.

The legislation allows Ohioans to vote by absentee ballot for any reason.

It would require certain voting information to be posted at polling places and made available through a toll-free number, and it defines what constitutes a valid ballot.

It also restricts the activities of election challengers...


House Bill 3 highlights

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/111589068235220.xml&coll=2

House Bill 3 highlights
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Ohio's election reform bill:

Allows any Ohio voter to cast an absentee ballot by mail or at a county elections board within 35 days of an election, through "no-fault absentee voting." Absentee voters would be required to provide identification, such as a driver's license number or the suffix of their Social Security number.

Increases the cost of ordering a recount from $10 per precinct to $50 per precinct.

Requires all recounts to be completed six days before the Electoral College meets.

Moves Ohio's presidential primary election to March, reversing an earlier proposal to set it in May...

[BrainRants]

1. And the machines? n/t

[liberalnurse]

2. Here is a synopsis of HB 3

which was championed by Republican, Kevin DeWine..... I have worked with him on healthcare issues....He is a good man.



http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/analysis.cfm?ID=126_HB_3_&ACT=As%20Reported%20by%20House%20Committee&hf=analyses126/h0003-i-126.htm

H.B. 3

126th General Assembly

(As Introduced)



Rep. DeWine

BILL SUMMARY

· Permits an individual to cast a provisional ballot in an election for a federal office if the individual is a registered voter in the jurisdiction and eligible to vote in that election but the name of the individual does not appear on the official list of eligible voters for the polling place or an election official asserts that the individual is not eligible to vote.

· Permits an individual to cast a provisional ballot in an election for an office other than a federal office or for state or local questions and issues if the individual is a registered voter in the jurisdiction and eligible to vote in that election but the name of the individual does not appear on the official list of eligible voters for the polling place or an election official asserts that the individual is not eligible to vote.

· Defines a "jurisdiction" as the precinct in which a person is a legally qualified elector for the purpose of determining whether an individual is eligible to cast a provisional ballot.

· Establishes procedures for the casting and counting of provisional ballots.

· Requires the appropriate state or local election official to establish a free access system through which an individual who casts a provisional ballot may ascertain whether the individual's vote was counted and, if it was not counted, the reason.

· Requires certain voting information to be publicly posted at each polling place on the day of each election for federal office, the day of each election for an office other than a federal office, and the day of each election for state or local questions and issues.

· Defines "optical scan ballots" and specifies the types of marks on those ballots that constitute valid votes.

· Creates specific procedures for counting optical scan ballots.

· Specifies that teams of employees of a board of elections must remake and count as valid ballots, optical scan ballots that were improperly marked and rejected as blank ballots, if the teams are able to determine that specified types of marks demonstrate the intent of the voter.

· Requires first-time electors who registered to vote by mail to provide identification before being permitted to cast a ballot, and permits those electors to cast a provisional ballot if they do not provide the required identification.

· Requires the Secretary of State to establish a single computerized statewide voter registration list of all legally registered voters in Ohio that complies with the requirements of federal law.

· Requires the applicant for a non-automatic recount to pay the entire cost of the recount if its results do not change the result of the election, and modifies or repeals various provisions pertaining to applications for those recounts and the determination of the charges for them.