Thread: Ohio Bill Would Require Photo I.D. at the Polls

Ohio bill would require photo ID at the polls.

By: The Associated Press 03/22/11 7:17 AM

The Associated Press

A state House panel is considering a bill that would require Ohio voters to show a photo ID before they can a ballot.

Republican Rep. Louis Blessing of Cincinnati tells the Dayton Daily News the legislation would keep people from trying to vote more than once. Blessing is a sponsor of the bill, which will be before the House State Government and Elections Committee on Tuesday.

Photo identification would be needed when voting at a polling place on Election Day or casting an absentee ballot in person.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio complains the bill creates an unnecessary hurdle for Ohioans who want to vote but don't have access to a photo ID.

Blessing says under the measure, a four-year photo ID card could be purchased for $8.50.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/2011 ... z1HRiGLzxJ

Ohio bill would require photo ID at the polls.

Way to go Ohio, keep up the great work!!

Amid rancor, voter-ID bill moves to Ohio SenateWednesday, March 23, 2011 11:41 PM
By Jim Siegel

The Columbus Dispatch
With Democrats invoking racist images of the nation's past and accusing Republicans of trying to disenfranchise minorities and the poor, the Ohio House voted today along party lines to impose a new requirement that voters show a photo ID at the polls.

House Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, said he was "a little bit embarrassed by the floor debate," which featured passionate speeches mixed with repeated mentions by Democrats of Jim Crow laws and how the bill represents a modern-day poll tax.

"It was as if there was a concatenation within the Republican Party to do something racist," he said. "I don't think that is fair in any way, shape or form."

He added: "We don't need to have people stand up on the floor of the House of Representatives and act as if everything that is going on is racist, particularly not from the party that gave fewer votes to the 1964 Civil Rights Act than the Republican Party."

Story continues belowAdvertisement Rep. Tracy Maxwell Heard, D-Columbus, called the bill an "affront to inclusion."

"My ancestors fought on this soil, with guns leveled on them, to gain this privilege. You will not rescind this off-handedly as minimal or cloak this wolf in soft-sheet cloth of equality. Not while I stand."

Under House Bill 159, Ohio would join eight other states in requiring that voters show approved types of photo identification, including a current or expired driver's license, a state-issued identification card, a military identification card or a valid passport. The bill requires that the Bureau of Motor Vehicles make cards available for free for those who cannot afford them.

Current law allows voters to show a photo ID, but they also may use a current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck or government document with a current name and address.

The bill now goes to the Senate, where Senate President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, doesn't regard it as a priority, said spokesman Jason Mauk.

Democrats argued that an estimated 890,000 voting-age Ohioans do not currently have a government-issued photo ID, including significant numbers of blacks and people older than 65.

"We are taking a big step backward to the days of discrimination," said House Minority Leader Armond Budish, D-Beachwood.

Rep. Robert Mecklenborg, the bill's sponsor, said that in Georgia, black vote totals increased in the most recent presidential and gubernatorial elections after a photo ID was required.

The Ohio bill went from introduction to passage in just eight days. Mecklenborg said that was enough, after his committee met for about six hours on Tuesday and heard several viewpoints. The Cincinnati Republican said hearing more repeating arguments was not going to change anybody's mind.

The voter-ID issue was separated from other election-related proposals, Mecklenborg said, "so the whole gamut of election reforms can be considered without the tinge of partisanship exhibited by the Democrats with respect to this bill."

Asked about the need to move so quickly, Mecklenborg said, "I believe this is a cornerstone of good, solid electoral reform. You build backward from the date of actually casting the ballot ... and then you work in other directions."

Mecklenborg said the bill is necessary to combat voter fraud and the perception of fraud, but Democrats said there is little to no evidence that people are trying to impersonate other voters to commit fraud. Rep. Michael Stinziano, a Columbus Democrat and former executive director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, said any fraud issues he has seen involved absentee ballots and weren't at the polls.

"If (the bill) were supported by any evidence of election-day fraud, then I could understand the legitimacy of our conversation," said Rep. Dennis Murray, D-Sandusky. "But the complete absence of evidence means the legislation is gasoline on the fire of elitist prejudice."

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has not said whether he supports the bill. Spokesman Matt McClellan, in a written statement, said:

"The photo ID bill leans toward accuracy versus access. The reforms we proposed try to strike a balance between the two, while ensuring both. But with or without the photo ID provision we will run an election that provides easy access for voters while assuring the integrity of the outcome."

jsiegel@dispatch.com


http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/lo ... ml?sid=101

Thomas E. Niehaus (R)
President

State Senator Thomas E. Niehaus has represented the 14th Senate District of Ohio, including Adams, Brown, Clermont, Scioto and a portion of Lawrence County since 2005. In January of 2011, his colleagues unanimously elected him to serve as the President of the Ohio Senate for the 129th General Assembly.

LINK to his web page:
http://www.ohiosenate.gov/thomas-e-niehaus.html

His email:
Email: SD14@senate.state.oh.us

Follow the Progress of OHIO House Bill 159 here

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-1201575.html#1201575

Sure... all photo ID's are racist - they show what race you are predominately from... so that makes them racist... right?

In today's world, it is absolutely absurb to claim that a free photo ID is a hardship... what a crock.

This is great news though! Way to go Batchchelder!

Every student of every High School in NYC gets a photo ID at the start of every new year. The first is for free but if lost there is a charge for the second.

Just saying.

Originally Posted by Ratbstard

Every student of every High School in NYC gets a photo ID at the start of every new year. The first is for free but if lost there is a charge for the second.

Just saying.

Those shouldn't be eligible. Should be a state or federal issued ID only. Any nut can get a HS ID including illegals who by our screwed up law are legally entitled to free HS at taxpayers expense.

But the Bill does provide for anyone who doesn't have an ID to get a free one from the state as long as meet ID requirements.

Do the Dumbocrats really think Americans are gonna believe we have so many legal voters who would vote yet don't have any state issued ID? The number must be well below %1 imo if so. The ones its hurting are the illegals who aren't entitled to vote and are NOT Ohioans or even Americans!

Illegal aliens are not worried about obtaining ID cards and Social Security numbers, because they purchase from fraud workers anythings they need to scam Americans.

If immigration laws were enforced the way they should be there would not be any such problems occurring in this Country.