The proposals have gotten more attention for requiring proof of citizenship and eliminating ballot drop boxes, but they carry significant changes to signature gathering, too

By: Nick Evans – Ohio Capital Journal

A coalition of government watchdog groups are warning state legislation could hobble Ohio’s initiative process. Direct democracy has been available to Ohioans since 1912, and citizen-led groups can organize initiated statutes or constitutional amendments.

The proposals would create strict new paperwork requirements and add other administrative hurdles like requiring many circulators wear a badge identifying themselves as “paid” even if they’re given something as small as a pen for signature collection.

Above and beyond changes to the initiative process, the bills would also eliminate ballot drop boxes and require all voters to show proof of citizenship to cast a ballot.

“Bottom line, this is attack on direct democracy,” Jen Miller from Ohio’s League of Women Voters argued. “This is an attack on local control. It’s an attempt to bully, intimidate, harass, and possibly prosecute people just because they want to take part in democracy,”

Nitty-gritty

Common Cause Ohio Executive Director Catherine Turcer praised the people who grab clipboards and collect signatures to put proposals on the ballot.

“This extreme legislation is an attempt to bully, intimidate, and hassle these front-line heroes,” she argued.

The paperwork involved in signature gathering is already complex and time consuming. She explained circulators have to fill out a standard form — name, address, employer, etc. — when they turn in petitions. But the new bills would ratchet up the stakes of that relatively banal procedure. Right now, if the circulator messes something up, they can cross it out and write their initials.

“And it is accepted as a change that was legally made,” Turcer explained. “House bill 233, and Senate bill 153, would make it so that any error here, anything that you made a mistake on, it would mean that the entire booklet would be invalid. And just, I can’t imagine the number of signatures that would just get tossed out.”

She added that provisions requiring circulators to wear a badge identifying themselves as “paid” if they accept “anything of value,” sets an unrealistic standard.

“If I were to give a clipboard and a pen to a volunteer, and a t-shirt that says the name of the campaign,” she explained, “anything of value would then mean that a circulator would have to get a badge.”

That’s more paperwork, she said, and thus more chances for something to go wrong.

Turcer also criticized a provision requiring an individual to be registered to vote prior to signing a petition, rather than by the time the petition gets filed with election officials.

“One of the things that we often do is check registration before people sign,” Turcer explained, “so that we can get somebody registered as we’re doing a ballot measure.”

Taking that opportunity away doesn’t just reduce their signature count, Turcer argued, “it also stops that opportunity for a voter-to-voter conversation about, well, this is why you should get registered. These are the things that are coming up on the upcoming ballot.”

Stakes

Ohio Unity Coalition Executive Director Petee Talley drew a straight line from 2023’s Issue 1 defeat, which rejected a GOP-led effort to make it harder to amend the state constitution, and the current slate of legislation. She argued the latest bills are “retribution” for that defeat.

Talley took particular offense at the provision requiring signature gatherers wear a badge if they’re compensated.

“If I wanted to give a can of cold pop and a slice of pizza to someone and maybe even a t-shirt that (Turcer) alluded to, suddenly they’re going to have to add wearing a badge to all of that stuff?” she asked.

“It’s nothing but intimidation. It’s nothing but bullying,” she argued. “It’s voter harassment, and this is an attack on our voice and our rights, and we’re not going to stand for it.”

Miller walked through the follow-on consequences of requiring paid circulator badges. Some voters will mistakenly think volunteers who got a slice of pizza are actually getting a paycheck, she said.

“We should expect opposition trackers attempting to catch circulators without their badges,” she added. “And with the increase in uncivil and polarized rhetoric in political venues, this could result in intimidation or even violence against circulators or voters signing those petitions.”

What’s more, Miller said, “boards of elections would have to become badge police.” It’s a task they don’t have the money, manpower or expertise to carry out, she argued. The requirement voters be registered before signing a petition? Miller said that might be a problem, too.

“We don’t even know if boards of elections have the technical capacity right now to verify that a voter registration was valid on the date that the voter signed,” she said.

One reason that might not have come up is that, so far, county boards haven’t been able to weigh in. The bill’s first and second hearing happened during the early voting period for this May’s primary election. The third hearing landed on the day boards had to certify the election.

Asked whether she thought that was intentional, Miller said, “I don’t think it matters. It’s shameful, either way. There is no more important constituent when it comes to democracy bills than the boards of elections.”

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on X or on Bluesky.