Governor vetoes bonus, election bills

By Marc Kovac

COLUMBUS — As expected, Gov. Ted Strickland vetoed Republican-backed election reform and rainy-day fund-backed veterans bonuses, both of which passed during December’s legislative lame-duck session.

And also as expected, the Republican leader of the Ohio Senate and the new Democratic leader of the Ohio House say they’ll move forward with new legislation on both issues, with hopes of reaching an agreement that they and Strickland can support.

The vetoes were among a number of bills signed into law by the governor Tuesday. Strickland had made his intentions on the issues known before lawmakers passed them last month.

The election reform bill would have closed a same-day registration/voting window, allowed multiple early-voting sites in counties, prohibited absentee ballots from being counted if identification envelopes were not completed, and required the secretary of state to provide database information to elections boards concerning mismatched voter registrations.

In his veto message, Strickland said he supports “a deliberative, bipartisan process to craft meaningful improvements to Ohio’s elections system. Ohio voters deserve the thoughtful administrative and legislative changes that can come out of such a process.”

He added, “The bill addresses issues that are too complex and controversial to properly address in a lame-duck session. ... In my judgment, many of the provisions are overbroad and may make elections administration even more difficult, potentially limit opportunities for Ohio citizens to vote and expose the Secretary of State’s office and boards of elections to the risk of new and costly lawsuits.”

House Speaker Armond Budish, the first Democratic leader of the chamber in 14 years, said he planned to move on election reform during the new session, including creating a new standing committee to focus on the issue.

Republican Senate Press Bill Harris said he believes an agreement can be reached.

“We’ll continue to work with the House,” he said. “We’ll have testimony, and certainly, from talking to the leadership of the House, I think they’re [interested] in doing some election reform. So we’ll work out the differences.”

The veterans bonus bill would have provided payments to military men and women who have served during recent conflicts in the Persian Gulf. The costs, potentially upward of $200 million, would have come from the state’s rainy-day fund.

Strickland has reiterated his support for the bonuses but said it was not fiscally responsible to use the state’s savings for such costs, in light of a projected $7 billion budget deficit for the coming biennium.

Budish and Harris have said they would move on a new veterans bonus bill, paid through a bond issuance that would have to be approved by voters. The governor supports that approach.

mkovac@dixcom.com