Polling from both Heritage Action and Honest Election Project Action has shown voter ID to be extremely popular among Ohioans. Yet the Republican effort to enshrine voter ID into the state constitution is being called out by many in local mainstream media.
Republicans Push Enshrining Voter ID in State Constitution
First, where the effort stands in the Ohio legislature.
A resolution to enshrine Ohio’s existing voter ID law into the state constitution has made its way through the state Senate and the General Assembly will vote soon.
Last month, Republican nominee for governor Vivek Ramaswamy called for enshrining voter ID with a ballot initiative, and Republican state lawmakers quickly heeded the call. With the passage of Senate Joint Resolution 10, Ohioans are that much closer to voting on the initiative in November.
And the local media is much closer to a meltdown.
Local Media Aghast
“Ohio already requires voter photo ID. Some Republicans want statewide vote on it this fall,” read a headline last month from the State News Bureau.
Fox 8 made the already existing law the focus of in their article “Ohio Republicans want voter ID constitutional amendment.”
A report from NBC 4, with a partisan headline, “GOP-led movement to add voter ID requirement to constitution moves forward,” acknowledged that voter ID laws are popular, but quickly downplayed a constitutional amendment. “Public polling shows most Americans support voter ID requirements. But that doesn’t mean the issue is top-of-mind for most Ohio voters, especially since state law already requires photo IDs at the polls,” the report mentioned, before citing comments from opponents of the measure.
Two outlets magnified opposition to the proposal, with Dayton Daily News’ “Republican plan to put voter ID into Ohio Constitution faces public criticism” and Ohio Capital Journal’s “Ohio photo voter ID amendment prompts pushback across political spectrum.”
Both mention opposition from ACLU Ohio, including how the organization feels the amendment is “unneeded” and brought on by “purely political reasons.”
ACLU Ohio has a call to action to oppose the effort, “Tell Lawmakers: Stop Weaponizing Ohio Constitution.”
“This coordinated attack on our free and fair elections must not be ignored,” the call to action mentions, claiming that the ballot initiative “make[s] it harder for eligible voters to participate in our democratic process by mandating a photo ID.” It also claims that “our elected officials are manufacturing a fake crisis to sway electoral outcomes.”
Nobody is disputing that voter ID is already the law. Ramaswamy acknowledged as much in his op-ed. That doesn’t mean it can’t be overturned by a future governor or legislature.
Resolution co-sponsor state Sen. Jane Timken, who recently spoke with the Daily Signal, presented a real-life example as a warning: While voter ID was once the law in Virginia, control of the state Senate flipped, and then-Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, signed a law that “completely gutted that law [on voter ID] and overturned it.”
Timken shot down media narratives that election fraud isn’t a problem, especially when some elections are particularly close. Instances of fraud “are actually cancelling another person’s valid vote by voting fraudulently.”
“One instance of voter fraud is too much,” she said, adding “we want to increase voter participation and trust in our elections.”
“The more voters trust the election, the more they participate,” she said.
The Right Also Has Issues With the Bill
The Ohio Capital Journal article also mentioned opposition on the Right.
Marcell Strbich, who ran for Secretary of State but lost the Republican primary to Treasurer Robert Sprague, advocates requiring photo ID for mail-in ballots. Polling from HEP Action shows that Ohio voters would support the amendment with this provision as well.
State Rep. Ron Ferguson introduced HB 577, the Secure Vote Act, a bill that would do just that. It is currently in the General Government Committee He also told the Daily Signal that he opposed the voter ID resolution as it is written.
Timken also acknowledged concerns about photo ID for mail-in ballots, while also expressing concerns with AI, but also called the effort to enshrine Voter ID into the state constitution the “most stringent” voter ID law if actually passed by voters in November.
She also offered another solution for verification. “In this constitutional amendment, we have alternative means of actual verification, which is the driver’s license number or the last four of the Social Security number, which are, again, verified by the boards of elections. So, they can look that up,” she added.
