Democrats urge Gov. Mike DeWine to veto bill requiring ID with absentee ballots
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Statehouse Democrats and voting rights advocates are calling on Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) to veto a new bill requiring absentee voters to send a copy of their photo ID along with their mail-in ballots.
Republicans call it an additional safeguard on election integrity that shouldn’t make it any harder to vote. But in the past, DeWine said he is reluctant to sign any new changes to voting rules, and opponents — including the bill’s own co-sponsor — argue this is just the sort of rule change DeWine should reject.
House Bill 472, sponsored by Representatives Christine Cockley (D-Columbus) and Jodi Salvo (R-Bolivar), was originally meant to help people experiencing homelessness get free state identification. But in the days before it landed in the Senate, things changed.
“The bill was hijacked by the Senate Republicans and turned into something completely different,” Cockley said. “What started out as a great piece of bipartisan legislation turned into a bill about voting rights.”
Senate Republicans inserted language into the bill requiring photo IDs for mail-in voting partially to placate some members of the House majority caucus who were reluctant to vote in favor of Senate Resolution 10 — which asks Ohioans to add a voter ID amendment to the state constitution — without also addressing absentee ballots in state law.
On the House floor, Republican members insisted the amended bill includes plenty of exceptions for people who need easier access to absentee voting, and would not make voting harder for anyone.
“If you’re sick, this bill does not apply to you. If you’re disabled, this bill does not apply to you. If you’re in jail, this bill does not apply to you,” Rep. Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) said. “Every time we vote to improve Ohio’s election integrity, Ohioans show up to vote in greater numbers than they did before.”
“My in-laws are 93 and 98 years young. They live in a nursing home. They have a lot of restrictions on their movement,” Rep. Marilyn John (R-Richland County) said. “If I thought for one minute that this bill would keep them from being able to vote, I would be a no vote.”
But Democrats like Rep. Terrence Upchurch (D-Cleveland), president of the Legislative Black Caucus, see this as “just another attempt to make voting harder for people in this state.”
“As the leader of the Black Caucus, we are absolutely urging the Governor to veto this bill,” Upchurch said. “We in the Black Caucus are committed to making voting more accessible and easy for Ohioans, not putting additional hurdles in front of them. There are forces at work right now that are fighting a lot of the progress that we have made as a country — not just as Black Americans but as an entire country.”
Cockley, who asked for her name to be removed from the bill she co-sponsored, said she also sent a letter to DeWine urging him to veto H.B. 472. She said lawmakers sped through the process without hearing from vulnerable communities, and without properly considering the risks that come with Ohioans sending personal information through the mail every election season.
“Right here in Columbus, Ohio, a large number of constituents had their ID stolen, including my own, it is on the dark web, because we were not handling people’s identifications and private information with security in mind. So it is a big concern to me that there’s no way for this to be implemented in a safe, secure way,” Cockley said. “I hope [DeWine] will look at the situation, realize it was rammed through the process in an unfair way without ample time, without any time for stakeholders to provide input or testimony on the final bill, realize he’s on his way out and do what the right thing is, and that would be to veto it.”
On Tuesday, DeWine gave no indication of which bills he might consider vetoing. The changes included in H.B. 472 would not go into effect until the 2027 General Election.