Democratic lawmakers have introduced a bill that would reform the Ohio Election Commission.
State Reps. Beryl Brown Piccolantonio, D-Gahanna, and Terrence Upchurch, a Cleveland Democrat, has written a bill to change the makeup of the Election Commission, hoping to foster greater bipartisan cooperation.
“It is clear that our current system and the makeup of the Ohio Ballot Board is broken and does not meet the high standards that Ohio voters deserve during crucial elections.” Piccolantonio said at a news conference on Friday.
Upchurch is a member of the current board of elections, which is chaired by Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose. The board also includes state senators. Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green; Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson, D-Toledo; and William Morgan. Except for the Secretary of State, the board members’ terms expire in February.
Democrats recently took a difficult look at the Republican-controlled Election Commission on the voting language for item 1.words that voters see when they are in the polling booth.
“The reason we have to take action is because of the poor leadership of the Republican-led Board of Elections,” Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo, a Democrat from Upper Arlington, said at a news conference. “A handful of power-hungry politicians have been using this Board of Elections as a political tool for years to write dishonest language to deceive, mislead and defraud voters. … Voters are tired of the partisanship of the Board of Elections, the lies, the mismanagement and the failures of leadership. But the system is not that broken. It can be fixed.”
There was controversy over ballot provisions last year, first over the rejection of a primary issue in an August special election that would have made it more challenging to change the state constitution, and then over a successful constitutional amendment on reproductive rights in the November election.
“Instead of honestly and thoroughly doing the business of designing and improving ballot language that properly identifies the substance of the propositions on the ballot, they have done everything in their power to rig the system by using false and misleading language, hoping to deceive voters at the ballot box.” said Piccolantonio.But Ohio voters are too shrewd for these games, no matter what Republicans think about them.
She said the fresh bill would limit the number of people who can serve on the Electoral Commission, banning the appointment of lobbyists and politicians.
Two of the nominated members will be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, and the remaining two members will be appointed by the President of the Senate and the Minority Leader of the Senate.
No more than two of the appointed members will be from the same political party.
This piece of legislation would also slightly change the structure of the electoral commission. There would be co-chairs of opposing parties, including the secretary of state.
“The Electoral Commission is here to serve all of us and with these changes we can ensure that it does so,” Piccolantonio said.
She plans to find GOP legislators who will work with her and “understand that our job is to serve the citizens, not political parties.”
“I don’t think it should be a partisan issue whether the issues that are on the ballot accurately reflect the intentions of the people who put them there,” she said.
This bill also protects Republicans, Russo said.
“The truth is, they’re not going to be in the secretary of state position forever, so as we move into the future, this reform ensures that regardless of who takes that position, Republican or Democrat, the elections board will operate in a nonpartisan manner, as the Constitution intended,” she said.
Russo acknowledged that while the chances of passing the bill before the end of the General Assembly are slim, it opens the door to discussions about the Election Commission. The Legislature will return the week after the election, and the current General Assembly ends this year.
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