Reece responds to SCOTUS Ohio same day registration and voting decision

Ohio Legislative Black Caucus President and state Rep. Alicia Reece (D-Cincinnati) responded to today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision denying a stay request by Democratic leaders in Ohio to reinstate same day registration and the first week of early voting in Ohio – a process used by some 90,000 Ohioans in the past: 

“It is disappointing that partisan voting restrictions, which have been proven to disenfranchise minority voters, are being allowed to continue in Ohio. This highlights just how dangerous it is to relegate our most fundamental freedom to politicians who can rig the rules for political gain in statehouses across the country. Ohioans deserve a clear set of constitutional guarantees from the state that let them access the ballot box free from politically-driven legislative hurdles every other year.”

Reece is a long-time voting rights advocate and spoke at the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington. She also leads the ongoing push for a Voter Bill of Rights, a grassroots effort to amend the state constitution to protect all Ohioans’ right to vote. The Voter Bill of Rights would amend the state constitution to define the right to vote as a fundamental right, establish early voting dates and times, allow the legislature to prescribe proper training and staffing for polling locations, create an online voter registration system, protect against voter ID requirements and voter registration tests, and include safeguards that ensure provisional ballots are counted.