Ohio Omnibus Election Law Bill, Including Ballot Access Improvements, Passes House
November 18th, 2009On November 18, Ohio HB 260 passed the Ohio House of Representatives. This is the omnibus election law bill that contains improvements in ballot access for new and previously unqualified parties. See this story.
November 19th, 2009 at 4:38 am
We are not done yet !. Has to get thru the GOP Controlled Ohio Senate. We will see how they feel about the 1st Amendment of the Constitution and “free market principles” in the voting booth.
November 19th, 2009 at 7:11 am
The story linked to here doesn’t talk about the ballot-access aspects of the bill. But is it safe to presume that the version passed by the Ohio House is still as it was (at least in those aspects) when described by the column you linked to in another blog entry earlier on the 18th, Richard?
November 19th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Yes, it’s the same.
November 19th, 2009 at 9:38 am
The House has a 52D:46R majority. Several amendments were proposed. One by a Democrat was approved 72:26. 5 by Republicans were tabled (defeated) by a 52:46, 51:47, or 53:45 vote (so the only show of any bi-partisanship was that one member of each party punched the wrong button). The bill passed 52:46.
Originally the bill had 11 sponsors. 26 more, all Democrats, added their names after the bill passed its 2nd reading.
The Senate is 21R:12D. It will be lucky to get a committee hearing – unless there is some requirement in the rules that there be one.