A rushed effort to ask voters whether to amend Ohio’s constitution to add existing voter identification rules could get a final green light Wednesday.
The effort has gotten the attention of President Donald Trump, who urged the Ohio House GOP to get it onto the November ballot. “I will be watching,” Trump said Monday night on Truth Social.
But the current version of Senate Joint Resolution 10 may not be the final one.
“We have to hear from more members and how they feel about this and if they’re ready to move this resolution,” Rep. Sharon Ray (R-Wadsworth) said in an interview.
After two hours of testimony Monday, members of the House’s general government committee adjourned without amendments to SJR 10. That doesn’t mean none will come between now and then. “I think there’s got to be a little bit more conversation regarding the free IDs,” said Ray, the chair of the committee.
Democratic legislators have largely been the ones arguing to include existing language about free state ID cards in the resolution.
Photo ID is required on Election Day, and it has been since 2023, but state GOP leaders have said the law they fought to get to Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk three years ago isn’t enough. They want voters to decide whether to codify some of the 2023 statute.
Aside from the free ID card debate, SJR 10 does not change the current, more lenient ID requirements to vote by mail, which some on the right have taken issue with.
“The Ohio Senate missed the mark, but we have the chance to salvage it in the Ohio House,” Rep. Ron Ferguson (R-Wintersville) said in a series of tweets last week. “Photo ID for every voter.”
Ohioans get the last word on how the constitution gets amended. They generally need a state driver’s license or ID card, a United States passport or passport card or a military ID to vote early or to vote on Election Day.
