Let’s talk about: Voting Rights

On May 6th, 2021 Ohio Republican Representatives Bill Steitz and Sharon Ray introduced House Bill 294 to the House of Representatives. HB 294 was accepted into the Government Oversight Committee on May 11th, and the first hearing was on May 20th. This bill is better known as the Voter Suppression Bill because it targets vulnerable populations including Black, Indigenous, people of color, differently-abled, low-income, LGBTQIA+, young, and elderly people. Provisions in the bill may lead to lower voter turnout in under-resourced communities.

You need to pay attention to HB 294 because voting is a right in our country, not a privilege. Any policy that suppresses the voting process or disenfranchises voters is unjust. For this reason, The Ohio Women’s Alliance and The Ohio Women’s Alliance Action Fund strongly oppose the Voter Suppression Bill. The role of the government is to remove barriers that stand in the way of exercising our right to vote, but this bill creates additional barriers that will result in eligible people choosing not to vote at all.

The Voter Suppression Bill includes four major proposals that combine to decrease the convenience and accessibility of voting under the guise of simplifying the voting process. The first proposal is to shorten early voting which primarily affects Democratic voters and people of color. This section of the bill seeks to destroy the cultural and historical practice of Black churches and nonprofits bringing their members to vote as a community in events like “Souls to the Polls” which usually take place the last Sunday and Monday of early voting and protect against voter intimidation. Areas with a high Black population also tend to be Democratic strongholds. HB 294 systematically suppresses both minority and liberal voters.

The second proposal is to reduce the number of available ballot dropboxes to 3 per county located at the Board of Elections which means that there will only be 264 dropboxes for a state with a population of 11.7 million people. Longer wait times, lines, and traffic will make these boxes virtually inaccessible and make casting your ballot much more time consuming. Many voters who lack the resources to overcome obstacles including childcare, hourly jobs, and lack of transportation will decide not to vote due to these limitations.

The third proposal of the Voter Suppression Bill is to reduce the amount of time available for absentee voters to request and return their ballots. Absentee voters will only have 10 days to complete the process. Young, elderly, and disabled voters as well as those in college are directly targeted by this narrow window because they are the most likely to vote by mail. The U.S. Postal Service is still recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this limited time will result in bottlenecking during the distribution, collection and return of ballots. The 10 day deadline will be missed due to slow delivery, and otherwise valid ballots will not be counted.

The final proposal is the elimination of the curbside ballot dropoff for everyone except for those with a visible physical disability. In fact, Board of Elections staff members who are not qualified to determine the severity of a disability will be able to question voters about the nature and classification of their disability. This is discrimination and inhibits eligible people’s ability to vote. Additionally, grandchildren will no longer be able to drop off ballots for their elderly grandparents.

Every part of HB 294, The Voter Suppression Bill, will silence the voices of Ohio voters and make it more difficult to cast our ballots. It is essential that we lead the fight against its passing and expose the true nature of this bill.

To learn more about what you can do to stand up against the voter disenfranchisement that this bill will create, register today for the Black Womxn’s Round Table to Protect Voting Rights virtual event taking place September 1, 2021 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. You can find the link HERE.

The Black Womxn’s Roundtable to Protect Voting Rights will be a roundtable conversation among Black womxn across Ohio. The round table participants attending are Black womxn activists, organizers, elected officials, and historic Black-womxn-led organizations, coming together to create awareness and education on the Voter Suppression Bill HB 294 and the harm this bill would cause if passed.

Written by Krista Lupas