Referendum won’t be on ballot

August 16, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

COLUMBUS

Secretary of State Jon Husted will not place a citizen referendum of controversial election-law changes that were repealed by lawmakers earlier this year on the ballot in November, despite calls from groups pressing the issue.

Husted told members of the state ballot board Wednesday that there was no need to pursue the House Bill 194 referendum, because legislation passed by mostly Republican lawmakers and signed into law by Gov. John Kasich officially took effect Wednesday.

“It’s the judgment of the chair that there is no longer an issue to be repealed,” Husted said. “I believe that under the authority granted to this board under the Ohio Constitution and the state statute, that we are fully compliant with both. And as a practical matter, to place [an issue on the ballot] would cost approximately $1 million in advertising itself, and its seems as though it would be, in these difficult budget times, a waste of money to place an issue on the ballot that has already been repealed.”

Husted also said he has “not seen a legal opinion that says that we must” place the issue before voters.

The decision brought immediate criticism from groups that gathered signatures as part of the referendum.

“It’s a very sad day in our state when legislators find a way to circumvent and disregard Ohio’s constitution,” Brian Rothenberg, executive director of Progress Ohio, a liberal advocacy group, said in a released statement. “This takes us down a very slippery slope, whereas the citizens of Ohio stand to have no voice whenever they’d like to challenge bad policies enacted by self-serving politicians.”

House Bill 194 proposed a number of changes to Ohio’s election laws, including eliminating the so-called “golden week” during which people can register to vote and cast ballots on the same day and prohibiting election boards from sending unsolicited absentee ballot applications to eligible voters.

Proponents believed the changes are needed to help prevent fraud and ensure election rules are applied consistently. But opponents said the changes would make it harder for the elderly, low-income residents and minorities to cast ballots.

The latter gathered enough signatures to force the legislation onto the ballot, but Republicans in the Ohio House and Senate preemptively repealed the legislation.

Supporters of the early repeal said they gave voters who signed onto the referendum effort exactly what they wanted, months early and without the cost of what promised to be a contentious election.

But opponents characterized the repeal as an unprecedented attempt to undermine the will of Ohio voters and the referendum process.

A major sticking point was the elimination of three days of early voting, ending in-person absentee submissions on the Friday before Election Day. That provision was included in HB 194 and as a technical amendment to separate legislation, the latter of which has not been repealed.