The measure, House Bill 2 of a special legislative session DeWine called, temporarily reset to Sept. 1, from Aug. 7, the deadline for Democrats to certify to Ohio’s secretary of state that Biden will in fact be Democrats’ 2024 nominee.
The Aug. 7 deadline was a problem because the Democratic National Convention won’t meet until Aug. 19 (through Aug. 22). And had Democrats not met the original Aug. 7 deadline, Biden couldn’t appear on Ohio’s ballot.
To their credit, the GOP ringmasters of the Statehouse circus, House Speaker Jason Stephens, of Lawrence County, and Senate President Matt Huffman, of Lima, got-r-done.
Remarkably, even though the Biden ballot bill in effect assured Ohioan of an opportunity to readily exercise their right to vote, 32 Republicans in the General Assembly voted “no” on the Biden bill.
Given inevitable confusion at polling places over write-in voting procedures, requiring write-ins would arguably amount to depriving some of Ohio’s potential Biden voters – there were 2.7 million in Ohio in 2020 – of their rights.
Even so, these Miami Valley legislators voted “no” on the ballot bill: Republican Sen. Niraj Antani, of Miamisburg, and Republican Reps. Adam Bird, of Cincinnati; Sara Carruthers, of Hamilton; Bill Dean, of Xenia; Jennifer Gross, of West Chester; Thomas Hall, of Middletown; Jena Powell, of Laura; and Jean Schmidt, of Loveland.
Meanwhile, the special legislative session also passed House Bill 1, an attempt to ban foreign contributions to Ohio ballot issue campaigns.
To cut through the fog, a number of Statehouse Republicans think the ban could gum up passage of a couple potential November statewide ballot issues. One would forbid gerrymandering of General Assembly districts; the other would increase Ohio’s minimum wage. (The last time Ohio’s per capita income matched the nation’s was 55 years ago, in 1969.)
As passed by legislators and signed by DeWine, the HB 1 foreign donations ban also gives Republican Attorney General David Yost, an all-but-announced candidate for governor in 2026, exclusive power to enforce it, instead of the bipartisan Ohio Elections Commission, which is composed of three Republicans, three Democrats and one independent.
The Elections Commission was established by the General Assembly in the wake of the Watergate affair. Coincidentally, an early challenge to the panel’s power was filed by DeWine growing out of his victorious 1976 campaign for Greene County prosecuting attorney – his first public office. The Ohio Court of Appeals (10th District) subsequently upheld the Elections Commission law.
The Dispatch reported in 1977 that the commission said “DeWine [had allegedly] violated the [Elections Commission] act by publishing a brochure contending [the Democratic incumbent] had ‘lost’ cases sent to the grand jury that did not result in indictments.” Last week, DeWine said he believed the complaint was eventually dropped. In 2014, in an unrelated Ohio case, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ordered lower courts to reconsider the constitutionality of Ohio’s “false statement” election law, and Judge Timothy Black of U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio, struck it down.
Meanwhile, the General Assembly is starving the Elections Commission. Not counting seven part-time commissioners (annually paid $25,000 each), the panel has a three-person staff, and the General Assembly has budgeted just $625,000 for the agency.
As to good government, Ohio isn’t exactly the heart of it all.
Thomas Suddes is a former legislative reporter with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and writes from Ohio University. You can reach him at tsuddes@gmail.com.
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