Voting Rights
State Dems relate their experiences on the front lines of the voting rights struggle
WASHINGTON — State Democratic legislators on Tuesday outlined their efforts to not only protect voting rights, but also expand them in their Republican-controlled state legislatures. During a panel discussion, state lawmakers from Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Texas and Florida discussed how they’ve fought against restrictive elections measures introduced and passed in their legislatures. This year alone, […]
LaRose: 104 illegally registered to vote in Ohio, 13 voted in 2020
More than 100 people in Ohio are accused of illegally registering to vote and casting ballots during the 2020 election cycle, Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced Monday. LaRose acknowledged some of these cases involve “honest mistakes” and reflect only a small portion of the millions of ballots cast here in 2020. Though he touted […]
VP Harris says DNC will pour $25M into voting rights protection
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris announced Thursday that the Democratic National Committee will spend $25 million to protect voting rights, in response to a wave of laws pushed by Republican lawmakers in state legislatures that would restrict voting access. The move comes after Democrats have been stymied in their attempts to enact a national […]
DeWine signs budget, blocks erasure of COVID-19 health violations
Gov. Mike DeWine signed the $74 billion, two-year state budget into law, keeping in place nearly all of its signature policy positions and spending priorities while once again nixing an effort by Republican lawmakers to counter his administration’s methods of handling the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. The governor also vetoed an attempt by Republican lawmakers to […]
Black churches can lead the way on voting rights
By Rev. Susan K. Smith and Rev. Levon C. Manzie We suspected it for years, and now we know it: Jim Crow was never dead. You might even say he was too mean to die. We know this because in too many places, the forces of racism are raging as laws aimed squarely at suppressing […]
Senate Democrats’ voting rights push stalls in the face of GOP opposition
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Republicans shut down efforts to open debate on a sweeping elections reform and voting rights bill brought to the Senate floor by Democrats Tuesday night. In a party-line 50-50 vote, the Democratic measure, S.1, titled the For the People Act, did not reach the 60-vote threshold required to end a filibuster and […]
Testy exchanges seen in first hearing on Ohio election changes bill
The Republican sponsors of a bill to change various pieces of Ohio election law had their first opportunity Thursday to make a case why these changes are necessary. State Reps. Bill Seitz, R-Green Twp., and Sharon Ray, R-Wadsworth, fielded questions from a handful of Democratic lawmakers, each sharing concerns that some of the provisions would […]
Election reform battle comes to Ohio with new Republican proposals
The 2020 election in Ohio, Republicans will tell you, was perhaps the most successful in state history. Ohio recorded its highest turnout ever, despite a pandemic that saw COVID-19 cases rising in the weeks leading up to Election Day. Secretary of State Frank LaRose led a major poll worker recruitment drive and coordinated safety protocols […]
Voting rights advocates air worries about onslaught of new state election laws
WASHINGTON — A U.S. House elections panel on Thursday heard from witnesses about the need to craft a new formula that identifies which states or jurisdictions have problematic histories of racial discrimination when it comes to access to the ballot box. The hearing in the House Administration Committee’s elections subcommittee also served as a way […]
Biden slams ‘un-American’ GOP drive to curb voting rights in the states
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday in his first formal news conference since taking office blasted Republican-controlled state legislatures that are seeking to restrict voting access, labeling those attempts “sick” and “un-American.” Biden specifically referenced proposals like those working their way through Georgia’s state Capitol, where a final vote loomed on a GOP-drafted bill that would […]
How national voting rights bill would impact Ohio’s election system
As state legislatures across the country consider how to alter their election systems, Democrats in Congress are pushing for nationwide reforms they say would make voting more accessible to all Americans. Several of the changes outlined in House Resolution 1 are already in place here in Ohio. Groups making up the Ohio Voter Rights Coalition […]
Sweeping voting rights package passes U.S. House
The House passed sweeping voting rights, redistricting, campaign finance and ethics reform, late Wednesday night along party lines in a 220 to 210 vote, but the historic package will face an uphill battle in the Senate as no Republicans currently support the bill. From Ohio, all 12 Republican congressmen opposed the bill while all four Democrats representatives supported it. […]