Rep. A. Miller votes against shortening voting time for military and overseas voters

COLUMBUS— State Rep. Adam Miller (D-Columbus) issued a statement today after the Ohio House passed a bill that would let the Ohio Secretary of State shorten the federally required 45-day military and overseas voting period before Election Day by 16 days. The bill comes after the federal Department of Defense denied Ohio’s request to shorten the time for delivering absentee ballots to military and overseas voters. The Under Secretary of Defense said the Secretary of State’s waiver request failed to provide adequate time for military and overseas voters to receive their ballots or to return them. This bill also does not fix the problem.

“No one should be playing politics with the votes of our brave service members,” said Miller. “All Americans deserve the ability to vote in safe and accessible elections, but this effort to short change that would jeopardize that right for our military members overseas. If we really want to support our military, we need to delay the primary and adopt fair, constitutional maps immediately.”

Democrats introduced an amendment that would have moved the primary date from May 3 to June 28, thereby allowing all military and overseas voters to fully participate in the election. The amendment was rejected by Republicans. 

In a last minute, late night maneuver, the House attempted to make the provisions shortening military voting take immediate effect by adding an appropriation to the bill. However, case law provides that only the appropriation will take immediate effect while the substantive change delaying the start of military voting will not take effect until 90 days from enactment.