Constitutional amendment on voter photo ID advances
By David Beasley
The Center Square
A resolution to give Ohioans the chance to make voter photo identification a part of the state constitution as well has passed the Senate and will next be considered by the House of Representatives.
Voter photo identification is required by state law for in-person voting.
Senate Joint Resolution 10 “is about ensuring long-term security in our elections,” Sen. Jane Timken, R-Jackson Township, said Wednesday in presenting the bill to the Senate. “Photo ID for voting helps secure the bedrock democratic principle of one person, one vote.”
She pointed to Virginia as a reason for enshrining the voter identification requirement in the constitution even though it is already state law, the legislator said.
“Virginia indeed passed photo ID laws, however after several years of operation, surviving judicial challenges, Virginia repealed its photo ID requirement in 2020 after a single seat in the General Assembly flipped,” the senator said.
Senate Joint Resolution 10 “simply puts the question before the Ohio voters,” Timken said.
Before the photo identification legislation was passed, “any person could show a random bank statement or utility bill in order to cast a ballot,” Sen. Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, said Wednesday.
“Since House Bill 458 was enacted, our state now has one of the strongest photo ID laws in the country,” Gavarone said. “SJR10 continues that work by ensuring that we continue to have the highest standards in order to vote.”
Sen. Bill DeMora, D-Columbus, called the proposed constitutional amendment a political ploy to “prop up” the Republican nominee for governor, Vivek Ramaswamy.
“This resolution does not protect Ohioans because it’s already the law in Ohio,” DeMora said.
Sen. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, said voter fraud in Ohio is rare.
More than 22 million Ohioans have voted in presidential elections since 2008, he said.
“Since that time there have only been 18 voter fraud charges despite aggressive investigations,” he said. “Phony voting is just not happening very much at all in the state of Ohio. In-person voting fraud is less common than UFO sightings."
Those cases of alleged fraud that are identified are usually the result of administrative mistakes, the senator said.
“Claims of voter fraud have been used as a tactic to bolster partisanship especially among a party’s base ahead of general elections,” Smith said.
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