Once a swing state Ohio has turned solidly red.Extreme gerrymandering could continue that way for a long while in legislative and congressional districts.
However, Republicans control statewide officesThe state is evenly divided between Democrats, Republicans for the office of governor, secretary-general, and attorney general. Republicans enjoy supermajorities within the Ohio House, Senate and House due to gerrymandering.
They used this power to ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape and incest. A judge temporarily blocked the lawSeptember While the majority of Ohio voters –– 52% –– opposed what’s known as the “heartbeat bill,”The legislators have stated that they are planning to enact a more strict law abortion ban later this year.
They’ve also brazenly ignored a series of 4-3 rulings from the Ohio Supreme Court that their legislative and congressional redistricting maps this year are unconstitutional. The court’s chief justice, a Republican who has sided with Democrats on the court in ruling against the maps, has vowed to campaign against gerrymanderingAfter stepping down as a judge at the end this year, I am now in the state.
Multiple times this year, the court ruled in favor of state legislative maps and U.S. congressional maps were unconstitutional. By coming back with new variations that didn’t fix the issue, Republican legislators waited out the calendar to be able to move forward with gerrymandered maps for this November’s election.
In contrast to some other statesHowever, the Ohio Supreme Court didn’t go as far as drawing its own maps. The legislature is to follow its latest ruling. redraw congressional maps for the 2024 election.
Republicans hold 12 of the state’s 16 seatsDue to maps, the U.S. House of Representatives has a map. Princeton Gerrymandering Project gives an “F” for manipulation achieving “significant” partisan advantage.
Register and polling places
Ohio has one of the most restrictive deadlines for registering to vote in the country — 30 days before an electionUnless it falls on a weekend, holiday, or as it does this calendar year. That’s the minimum time for registration allowed under federal law.
However, voters can still vote in three waysThe following options are available: early voting, absentee voting, and in-person voting on Election Day. The state has almost month-long period for early voting.
Voters are allowed to use their utility bills, paychecks, military IDs, and other forms of documentation to verify their identity to vote at the polls. But there is a state Senate billIn-person voting is required for any proposal made in April show a photo ID.
Ohio purged nearly 98,000 voters from its registration list in 2021. People who don’t vote for six consecutive years, or fail to take one of a few other actions, such as responding to notices requesting they update their registration, can be struck from the rolls under Ohio law.
These citizens would need to register again in order to vote.
An appeals court ruled in 2016 that Ohio’s purges violate federal law, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the stateIn 2018.
False Voter Fraud Allegations Lead to Threats
Amid former President Donald Trump’s false allegations of widespread voter fraud after he lost re-election in 2020, Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose determined that of the 5.9 million registered voters who cast ballots during the 2020 elections, 0.0005 percent of the ballots were fraudulent.
LaRose was still published Directive 2022-38 in June 2022, asking the state’s 88 county boards of elections to increase security requirements. LaRose’s office created a website link for people to submit anonymous tips about election fraud.
A gush of records requests about the 2020 electionsAs officials prepare for November, conspiracy theories are fueling the attacks on county boards of election. One resulted from the growing distrust in elections. Ohio man to enter an elementary school polling placeThreaten to shoot up the voting machine
Felony disenfranchisement
Ohio residents are stripped of their voting rights while incarcerated on a felony conviction but can re-register to vote upon release, except for individuals convicted of two or more election-related crimes — including misdemeanors. They lose their rights to vote permanentlyYou can, except for a pardon.
More than 50,000 Ohio voters were disenfranchised in 2020, 45% of whom were Black despite representing only about 12% of the state’s population.
Ohioans who are in jail awaiting trial or serving a misdemeanor sentence retain the right to vote, but voting rights advocates have decried what can amount to “de facto disenfranchisement,” as detailed in a recent Public Integrity report.
“Each year, at least 150,000 different people are booked into local jails in Ohio,” the Prison Policy Initiative contendsMany are not provided with the information or assistance they need to vote.
In December 2021, the voting rights organizations Northeast Ohio Voter Advocates & All Voting is Local issued a statement. report which found that Ohio has no formal policy for all its jails to follow: “Formal policies provide a written affirmation that most people who are in jail have the right to vote and that the staff at the boards of elections and jail facilities are held accountable to protect that right. Formal policies also ensure that a change in the sheriff’s office or jail staff will not lead to an infringement on the right to vote for people in jail. Without codified policies and practices, counties risk inconsistent and unfair approaches, as well as constitutional violations.”
Outside Funding Banned
As part of a state budget billLast year, Ohio was named one of 24 statesTo ban local officials accepting grants from private foundations to cover the cost of running elections.
Right-wing organizations promoted copycat legislation to address this issue, fuelled in part by conspiracy theories surrounding Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. He donated $350 Million to the Center for Technology and Civic Life, which provided grants to help under-resourced communities expand early voter participation and recruit poll workers in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This articleFirst appeared on Center for Public IntegrityIt is republished here by Creative Commons license.
