News Intelligence Analysis
Voter ID proposal unveiled
today
Part of elections overhaul urged by some lawmakers
By William Hershey
COLUMBUS | — Ohio voters would have to show identification such as a driver's license or a copy of a current utility bill before they cast their ballots, under legislation to be outlined today to the state Senate Rules Committee.
The voter ID requirement is part of a proposal to overhaul election procedures to be unveiled today by Sen. Kevin Coughlin, R-Cuyahoga Falls.
A voter without an ID could cast a provisional ballot by providing the last four digits of a Social Security number or signing an affirmation of who he or she is. The vote would be counted when election officials verified the voter's identity, Coughlin said.
Other forms of acceptable identification would include a bank statement, government check, paycheck or government document with the voter's name and address.
The bill also would beef up requirements for putting proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot by gathering signatures from registered voters through the initiative process. For example, it would require supporters to gather 1,000 signatures, up from the current 100, before submitting a proposal to the attorney general for his initial approval. After this first step, supporters still must get signatures from 322,899 voters — 10 percent of the votes cast in the most recent governor's race — to get an issue on the ballot.
It also would require those gathering signatures to provide a permanent Ohio residence.
Coughlin's legislation also would restrict ability of the secretary of state, Ohio's chief elections officer, to participate on ballot issue committees.
If approved, this would hinder Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, a leader of the committee that already has a tax expenditure limitation amendment qualified for next year's ballot.
Blackwell has made the proposal a centerpiece of his campaign for the 2006 Republican nomination for governor.
Attorney General Jim Petro, who along with Auditor Betty Montgomery is also seeking the GOP gubernatorial nomination, has unveiled a competing proposal to limit government spending but it has not qualified for the ballot. The restriction would not apply to Petro.
Carlo LoParo, Blackwell's spokesman, said the secretary of state wanted to review Coughlin's legislation before commenting.
Coughlin's proposal, which state Sen. Jeff Jacobson, R-Butler Twp., helped craft, is a revised version of an election overhaul bill the House passed in May.
The House version would have restricted the ID requirement to first-time voters who register by mail.
Rep. Kevin DeWine, R- Fairborn, sponsor of the House bill, said he supportsthe expanded ID provision.
Now a voter is only required to sign a voting book at the polls, which elections officials match with the signature provided when the voter registered.
"We're in the age of identity theft," Coughlin said. "As individuals, businesses and, yes, elections processes get more sophisticated, a simple signature match is completely inadequate."
According to the Web site of the National Conference of State Legislatures, seven states require photo IDs before voting. Another 15 require forms of ID that don't necessarily include a photo.
Daniel Tokaji, assistant professor at the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University and an election law specialist, said the proposed ID requirement is not "good or necessary."
"First of all, it hasn't been shown that we've got any significant number of people going to the polls pretending to be somebody they're not," Tokaji said.
Contact William Hershey at (614) 224-1608.
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