Clyde applauds lawsuit challenging string of Ohio voting restrictions

State Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) today released the statement below in support of a new lawsuit against Ohio voting restrictions. Rep. Clyde vigorously and vocally opposed the restrictions when they were enacted during the last General Assembly. 

"I fully support this challenge to the GOP voting restrictions that my colleagues and I vigorously opposed when they were passed during the last two years. We warned Republicans that Senate Bill 238’s cuts to early voting would create unequal early voting capacity among counties. We warned early voting restrictions would disproportionately harm certain groups of voters such as women, minorities, and low-income voters. We warned that cutting same day registration was unnecessary to solve any problem in Ohio and would hurt first-time voters, like students.

“We warned that Senate Bill 205 cuts in access to absentee ballots and Senate Bill 200’s reduction of voting machines would cause Ohio to revert back to unacceptable long lines in major elections. We warned that new restrictions on counting ballots in Senate Bill 205 and Senate Bill 216 were unconstitutional and violated the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act.

“We warned that Senate Bill 200’s increases in the frequency of voter purges operation would make Ohio, already the worst state in the country for voter purges, even worse. We warned that Secretary Husted’s exclusion of over one-million voters from the absentee ballot application mailing was unconstitutional and violated the Voting Rights Act.

“I look forward to the resolution of these issues by a court since the challenges to these harmful voting rights restrictions fell on deaf ears in the legislature.”