Republican lawmakers in the Ohio House and Senate are preparing to put a proposed amendment on this fall's ballot that would give voters the opportunity to enshrine the state’s law requiring photo ID for voters into the constitution. While the idea is popular and is moving quickly, there were no supporters who testified to a House committee that will vote on the proposal, likely next week.
The hearing in the Ohio House General Government Committee went on for nearly three hours, and none of those who spoke before the committee were supporters of House Joint Resolution 9. Ranking member Rep. Eric Synenberg (D-Beachwood) said only two of those who submitted testimony before the meeting supported the amendment, while 78 others are opposed.
The proposal requiring photo ID for in-person voters doesn't include voting by mail. Columbus attorney Richard Topper said he's concerned about that, because more than 40% of voters have voted by mail. And he added the proposed amendment would not allow for new technology, which would make voting even more secure.
“We are stuck in 1960s documents provided with this amendment," Topper told the committee. "There are other things like facial recognition, other things that are much more accurate in telling people and identifying people, which are totally out with this amendment.”
The legislative director for the ACLU of Ohio said the amendment is not needed. Gary Daniels likened this to the 2004 Defense of Marriage Act, which put the state law banning on same-sex marriage into the constitution during a presidential election year, or the 2022 amendment that bans non-citizens from voting along with the existing state law that already did during a year in which Ohioans elected a governor and U.S. Senator.
“These were done to attract certain voters to the polls is our contention," Daniels said. "This isn’t our first rodeo here. We know what this is about. People don’t like to talk about it. People don’t want to admit it. They will deny it, but we know exactly what’s going on here.”
The executive director with the League of Women Voters of Ohio said if there is an amendment, more time and thought needs to go into the language of it. Jen Miller said the amendment needs to make clear that voters can obtain the necessary identification free of charge. And she said it needs to clarify language about military IDs.
“This amendment would—should—make it clear that the digital IDs for from the U.S. veterans' administration are acceptable," Miller said. "The US veteran administration at this time only has digital IDs, but the language in this proposal talks about cards and documents.”
Later in the day, House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) was asked about why no one came to the committee to testify on behalf of the joint resolution, which was initially proposed on May 19.
“As we know, often it's the same set of people who are being invigorated by the same groups to come and testify,” Huffman said. He explained legislators don’t just get their information or input from people who come to testify at the Statehouse because most Ohioans can’t.
“They're at their jobs. The kids are at their school, they're taking care of things in Allen County and Ashtabula and every place else," Huffman said. "And so we get information other than who's in committee, and those are people all over.”
Huffman said polling provides information for lawmakers too.
“We know in this case that an overwhelming number of Ohioans think this is a good idea—Republicans, independents and Democrats," Huffman said. "Frankly, I think no matter what the issue is, you could get 78 people to show up and testify against it or for it in a committee meeting. But that can't be the controlling determination because then it would just be up to the people who are well-funded enough or well organized enough to get their people to show up."
Ohio lawmakers hope to pass HJR 9 by the middle of June, before they leave for summer vacation. It needs three-fifths support in both chambers, which is 60 votes in the House and 20 in the Senate. Republicans have super-majorities in both chambers, so they could do that without any support from Democrats.
