Ohio Proposes to End Golden Week

This week the Ohio Senate voted to eliminate the week in which citizens can register to vote and vote at the same time.  They also have reduce early voting time and bar the local boards of election from opening on Sundays.   We absolutely oppose this law and have posted this video and sent testimony down to the Ohio legislature committee (posted on our website as a pdf).

If we value democracy in America, then we should do everything we can to encourage voting and make it as easy as possible.  This may mean paying for the postage across the United States to mail in your ballot.  We should provide free rides to the elderly to get to polling sites in rural communities, and not suppress the vote by punishing urban communities for having as many hours as possible available at the one polling location to vote early.  The large counties need more time to vote because we are forcing everyone to go to one location for early voting, and there are just not enough room in most urban Boards of Election to accommodate everyone interested in early voting.  We saw lines of two hours in 2012 on the last weekend of early voting proving that Ohioans really want to vote and really like early voting.   On the Saturday and Sunday before Election Day 2012, Cuyahoga County had lines of 45 minutes to one hour.  We had lines out the door during the 2008 Presidential election even though we had an efficient and highly trained staff at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.   We needed more time for early voting locations and a bigger campaign to encourage voting by mail.  Limiting early voting in Ohio will only result in longer lines in Cleveland, Columbus, Youngstown, Dayton and Toledo. 

Brian Davis

Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.

PS: Let us know what you think of the video since this is our first experiment with video on the site.