7/28/2019 PRESS RELEASE: House and Senate Dems Decry Potential Prosecution of Provisional Voters

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The Ohio SenateThe Ohio House of

Representatives

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JUNE 11, 2013

Dems Urge Secretary Husted to Rescind Order toProsecute Voters who Followed Law

Voter Suppression Tactic Creates Atmosphereof Intimidation and Fear of Voting

COLUMBUS House and Senate Democrats are calling on Ohio Secretary of State Jon

Husted to rescind his May 30, 2013 tie vote decision that ordered the Hamilton County Board

of Elections to refer 39 voters who lawfully cast their ballots to prosecutors for investigation.

Franklin County referred 90 lawful voters for investigation. Democrats also ask for a directive

to be issued to all counties prohibiting such harassment of voters who followed the clear letter

of the law when they voted in the 2012 election.

See the letter below:

Secretary of State Jon Husted180 E. Broad Street, 16th floorColumbus, Ohio 43215

Dear Secretary Husted,

We write with great concern about your order requiring the Hamilton County Board of Electionsto refer 39 people who voted lawfully to prosecutors for unnecessary investigation. In thewake of your order, Republican members of the Franklin County Board also referred 90 lawfulvoters to prosecutors.

These voters followed the clear letter of the law when they cast provisional ballots on ElectionDay after requesting or submitting an absentee ballot. Our law wisely anticipates that voterscould experience problems with absentee ballots and explicitly allows these voters to vote

provisionally on Election Day as a failsafe. Your actions may have signaled to other countiesthat it is okay to harass voters with investigation and possible prosecution.

Many things go wrong with absentee ballots, which is why we build failsafe mechanisms intothe law. It may not reach the Board of Elections on time, it may not include enough postage,or it might contain a simple mistake on the paperwork of a kind that gets thousands of ballotsrejected each election. Casting a provisional ballot that counts only if the absentee ballot has aproblem gives voters a chance to exercise their fundamental right to choose their democraticleaders, rather than having their vote rejected over a simple error. The law says such voters

7/28/2019 PRESS RELEASE: House and Senate Dems Decry Potential Prosecution of Provisional Voters

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shall be permitted to cast a provisional ballot. ORC 3509.09. Your duty is to administer thelaws, not to make them, and the law here is very clear.

We ask that you reverse your tie vote decision that forced the Hamilton County Board ofElections to send lawful voters to the prosecutor and that you also require the Franklin CountyBoard of Elections to stop its witch hunt as well. To ensure that no Ohio voter is wronglyharassed, intimidated, and discouraged from voting, we ask that you also issue a directive to

every county prohibiting such harassment of voters who clearly followed the law. Voters inevery county should be protected from such an egregious abuse of the law.

Thank you for your consideration.

Respectfully,

Nina TurnerState Senator

Senate District 25

Kathleen ClydeState RepresentativeHouse District 75

Heather BishoffState RepresentativeHouse District 20

Kevin Boyce

State RepresentativeHouse District 25

Denise DriehausState RepresentativeHouse District 31

Tracy Maxwell HeardMinority LeaderHouse District 26

Eric H. KearneyMinority Leader

Senate District 9

Dale MalloryState RepresentativeHouse District 32

Connie PillichState RepresentativeHouse District 28

Alicia Reece

State RepresentativeHouse District 33

Charleta TavaresState SenatorSenate District 15