Tue 9/17
Tuesday September 17 is National Voter Registration Day. Registration laws vary from state to state, and thanks to Ohio’s Secretary of Voter Suppress … I mean STATE … Frank “Jim Crow” LaRose, Ohio has some of the most onerous voter registration and voting restrictions in the country. (North Dakota, a deep red state, doesn’t even require registration, just acceptable ID on Election Day, and no voter fraud or “illegals” voting has been reported there.)
As outlined in a CoolCleveland feature story this week, LaRose conducted a massive voter purge this summer. While some of those may be legitimate (voters who moved out of state or died), many are people who moved but didn’t update their address yet, or haven’t voted in the past two years (the latter is legal and should be changed.) This is why it’s important to check your voter registration before the October 7th deadline to register.
In addition, LaRose has put new limits on the use of drop boxes, making them inconvenient for those dropping off someone else’s ballot, such as their husband’s or wife’s. LaRose is furious about the overturning by a federal judge of part of a new law that makes it illegal for anyone other than a short list of immediate relatives to return a ballot for a housebound elderly or disabled person. (He had a major Twitter meltdown over this, screaming about “ballot harvesting,” something never shown to have occurred in Ohio.) He has also proposed in the future to entirely eliminate drop boxes (instead of expanding them as most fair elections advocates suggest); he apparently can’t legally do it this year, though.
Intimidation is part of the voter suppression package, with news stories about “raids” on supposedly “illegal” voters in states such as Texas and Florida. LaRose has stated that he has “flagged” hundreds of potentially illegal voters on several occasions, including a few weeks ago. But almost no verification of their illegal status has followed, and several new citizens have been among those “flagged,” this feels like intimidation as well, even if he’s not actually sending police to people’s homes.
To quote AP, “Only a handful of noncitizen-related cases are ever prosecuted. However, this year’s referrals come as preventing noncitizen voting has become a centerpiece of Republicans’ 2024 campaign messaging.”
Given the U.S.’s shameful low rate of voter turnout compared to other countries, we should be doing everything in our power to make it easier to participate and encourage people to do so. Take a minute on National Voter Registration Day to make sure you’re registered, and then find out the rules and regulations to vote in your state. Their website can provide that information as well.