Ohio’s Legislative Majority Continues Quest to Lock Down Power, Proposing Bans for Ranked Choice Voting and Ending Open Primaries

Brian Beihl

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 5, 2023

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

Ohio’s Legislative Majority Continues Quest to Lock Down Power, Proposing Ban for Ranked Choice Voting and Closed Primaries

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

After ignoring Ohio’s constitutional ban on partisan gerrymandering and attempting to make it harder to pass citizen ballot initiatives, the majority in the Ohio legislature is now attempting to ban ranked choice voting and close party primaries.

Ohio Capital Journal reports that Tuesday, a house committee heard testimony on HB 208 and 210, restricting who can vote in a party primary. SB 137, banning use ranked choice voting, got its first hearing last week. 

Ohio’s current primary rules allow voters to choose either party’s ballot, but  choosing a ballot automatically affiliates the voter to that party. To unaffiliate, voters must manually change affiliation back, or simply ask for a different party’s primary ballot in the next election.  Both HB 208 and 210 would require newly registered voters to affiliate 30 days in advance of a primary. HB 210 requires changing affiliation by Dec. 31 of  the year before the primary.  If passed, Ohio’s 6.2 million unaffiliated voters can’t participate in a primary election unless they join a party. 

SB 137 bans ranked choice voting in state elections, and would withhold state funding to any municipality which enacts it.  Detractors say that RCV takes too long, and is too complicated for voters to understand. Supporters of RCV argue it allows more choice of candidates, encourages better candidate behavior, and is easy to do. 

We have links to the bills and articles at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Ohio Capital Journal – Ohio senators consider election law changes to close primaries, prohibit ranked choice voting
Ohio Capital Journal – Ohio House bill to close primaries gets first hearing
Ohio Legislature –   HB 208 Primary election voting procedures
Ohio Legislature – HB 210 Political party registration
Ohio Legislature – SB 137 Prohibition against ranked choice voting
Morrow County Ohio – How Do I Declare or Change Political Party Affiliation?
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law – Online Panel – An Electoral Game-Changer: What if Ohio (and other states) used Alaska’s new Ranked Choice Voting system?
Axios – Record number of Americans say they’re politically independent


Groups Taking Action:
Rank the Vote Ohio, League of Women Voters OH, FairVote, Open Primaries

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #OhioPolitics #RCV #OpenPrimaries