Just a week after the Ohio Senate approved a bill to eliminate the four-day grace period for accepting mail-in ballots, a Republican in the House has introduced a bill that would require absentee voters to present a copy of their photo identification when returning their voted ballots.
Rep. Ron Ferguson (R-Wintersville) said House Bill 577 would make mail-in absentee voting more secure.
“In Ohio, it’s already the law that when you vote in person, you need to show that photo ID," Ferguson said in an interview. "This is just to ensure that we do the same thing for mail-in ballots so that we can be assured that the person who is casting that ballot is indeed the person that is supposed to be casting that ballot.”
Ferguson said this change would be easy for voters to comply with: “Most of the mail-in process would be the same. We would just be requiring a copy of a photo ID that you would currently use to vote in person.”
But Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, said there is no need for this bill.
“What we need to do now is to make sure that every eligible Ohioan is voting. We have secure elections in Ohio," Miller said in an interview.
Miller said voters already have to give verifiable information when they request a ballot and when they return it. She said she fears some voters could be disenfranchised.
“It could be that you are a person with a disability or a senior who is homebound and getting out to make a photocopy is not possible for you," Miller said.
Ferguson said his bill requires that organizations that offer mail-in ballot applications to also offer free photocopies of the photo identification for those voters.
HB 577 was introduced Nov. 5 - the day after the election - and has been assigned to a committee, but hasn't had a hearing yet.
