Fallsnewspress.com - GOP hopes to vote on election reform by year's end

by Marc Kovac

Capital Bureau chief

Columbus -- Statehouse Republicans appear poised to move forward with election reform before the end of the year, with the leaders of both legislative chambers voicing their support for action.

Senate President Bill Harris, from Ashland, and House Speaker Jon Husted, from Kettering, spoke to reporters about the issue Nov. 18, after legislation was introduced in the Ohio Senate to prohibit voter registration and absentee voting on the same day.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati), also includes provisions that would allow observers to be present at early voting sites and require the Secretary of State to notify local elections boards of any voter database mismatches -- cases where voters registration information is different than their motor vehicle records.

Harris said he believes there is time to move the legislation (Senate Bill 380) through the committee process, giving proponents, opponents and other interested parties ample opportunity for comment. The Legislature has scheduled voting sessions through Dec. 18.

"It's a bill that we can have sufficient hearings in the Senate and let everyone that wants to testify have a chance to testify," Harris said. "I think we can get it passed out of the Senate and get it into the House in time that the House (can act on it)."

Husted said he hadn't read the new legislation yet, but noted there was support among the House's Republican majority for election reform.

"I think it addresses probably some of the most ... vocal concerns that were expressed during the course of the election," he said. "We can't avoid those issues, and the idea of beginning to discuss solutions to the controversies that existed seems an appropriate thing to do."

In addition to legislative action on elections, Husted said he also hoped to address the state's use of private citizens' information, specifically in reference to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services background check on Joe "the Plumber" Wurzelbacher.

"That is probably one of the most egregious things that occurred in this election cycle as it relates to our democracy and confidence in the system that we have," he said.

Asked whether his chamber would move forward with legislation not supported by the governor, Husted replied, "I'm not interested in sending any message. I'm interested in trying to resolve problems that we see.

"Bipartisanship is a two-way street. It doesn't mean just doing what the governor wants. The governor sometimes has to do some of the things that we want. And I don't see any reason why, in the remaining months of the General Assembly, that the environment that we've largely been able to work under of cooperation can't continue."

Marc Kovac is the Dix Newspapers Capital Bureau chief. E-mail him at mkovac@dixcom.com.

2.	Posted by Robin Anderson November 29, 2008
	C'mon, Mayor Don! As a politician who definitely benefited from the endorsement of a "radical" who thought outside-the-box, outside defined party lines, what do you think? Is there any way to relieve the retirees and other hardworking folk of our community from the most onerous burden of the "purported" necessity to increase property taxes in support of our local school system? I mean, gawd-forbid, you should ever have to come out publicly in defiance of the likes of Representative Widowfield or the Baby Whale or the neanderthal-type Republicans of our State Legislature in order to promote a reasonable solution to the problem, eh? I wonder what ever came over the good Mayor Quirk?