News Intelligence Analysis
From the Dayton Daily News
Democrats object to election
overhaul plan
Say Republicans excluded
them from process
By William Hershey
COLUMBUS | Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell, the secretary of state, now is satisfied but Senate Democrats are crying foul about a Republican-engineered plan to overhaul Ohio election procedures.
The version that cleared the Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday eased up on restrictions limiting the role of the secretary of state, the state's chief elections officer, in political campaigns.
Democratic members of the Rules Committee, however, boycotted the meeting at which Republican members voted 7-0 to send the elections bill to the full Senate for a vote Tuesday.
Republicans "suppressed our participation in the process," said Sen. Robert Hagan, D-Youngstown, one of three Democrats who boycotted. Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, committee chairman, said Democrats had a chance to participate.
The bill also would require Ohio voters to show identification before casting their ballots.
An earlier version would have prohibited the secretary of state from playing a leadership role in any political campaign other than his or her own.
The new version would prohibit a secretary of state from serving in an official capacity in a political campaign, but would not restrict his ability to campaign, even to appear in TV advertising, said state Sen. Jeff Jacobson, R-Butler Twp., an architect of the bill.
The bill would impose the same restriction on the attorney general in an issue campaign. The attorney general approves the language of ballot issues for fairness and accuracy.
Hagan and two other committee Democrats, Teresa Fedor of Toledo and Kimberly Zurz of Green, found nothing OK about how the final version of the bill was crafted, Hagan said.
Republicans met in private to craft final amendments without involving Democrats, he said.
Harris said Republicans had kept the Democrats informed, listened to their suggestions and even incorporated a Democratic amendment that requires the elections commission to post opinions and other information on its Web site.
"The people you represent expect you to fight the good fight for them, not to walk away," Jacobson said.
Hagan retorted that Republicans were committing "fraud on the voters" by the voter ID requirement that would keep some people from voting. Jacobson said, "We want safe and fair and honest" voting.
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Copyright © 2005 Yurica Report. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005
Yurica Report. All rights reserved.