Backers of an "Ohio Voter Bill of Rights" are running out of time to get their voting reform package on the November ballot.
They need to have their petition language approved soon, so they can get on with the unenviable task of gathering about 414,000 valid signatures of Ohio voters by a July 3 deadline.
The Ohio Voters Bill of Rights Coalition - made up of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative and Black voting rights groups like the Ohio NAACP and the A. Phillip Randolph Institute - face not only road blocks from Republican officeholders like Attorney General Dave Yost and, possibly, Secretary of State Frank LaRose, but pushback from some supporters of voting rights who are afraid their proposal goes too far.
There is even fear among some Ohio voter rights advocates that its presence on the ballot could hurt a ballot issue to de-politicize Ohio's legislative redistricting system.
It includes, among other things a provision that allows Ohioans to register to vote on Election Day at their polling places and do away with a GOP-enacted photo ID law that went into effect last year.
RELATED: Changes in Ohio voting laws mean new challenges for college and university students
But, first, the coalition will have to find a new name for it.
Yost rejected the title last week, sending the coalition back to the drawing board to find a third name for what they originally called "Secure and Fair Elections."
The title, Yost wrote, "does not fairly or truthfully summarize the common understanding of a 'bill or rights.' "
It is, Yost said, "a highly misleading and misrepresentative" name to put on petitions.
It is the second time in a month that Yost, whose office has to sign off on the petition initiative language, has rejected the proposal and left the Ohio Voters Bill of Rights Coalition's lawyers scrambling to address Yost's concerns.
If they manage on a third try to get it past Yost, it would go on to LaRose's ballot board, which could split it up into several separate ballot issues, tripling or quadrupling their already challenging task of collecting signatures.
In addition to Election Day voter registration and getting rid of the voter ID law, the ballot issue would also:
- Automatically register all eligible Ohio residents to vote, unless they opt out.
- Allow same-day voter registration at early-voting centers, ending the current rule cutting off voter registration 28 days before an election.
- Allow counties to expand early voting hours and create multiple early voting and drop-box locations, replacing the limits LaRose has put on county boards of elections.
After Yost's decision, Maki Somosot, a spokeswoman for the coaltion, put out a written statement saying that supporters are undeterred by the rejection.
"We remain steadfast in our dedication to keep pushing this effort forward, no matter how many hoops Mr. Yost asks us to jump through," the statement said.
After Yost's decision, LaRose's press secretary said the secretary of state had nothing to say about it.
But, in December, when the reform package was first sent to Yost, LaRose had plenty to say about it — and none of it was good.
"Let me be clear: there will be nothing secure and fair about the way we vote in this state if this amendment is passed," LaRose said. "It's a direct assault on the integrity of our voting process and the safeguards we’ve put in place to hold that process accountable.
"This is a political Trojan horse designed to make elections easier to steal, and they’re dishonestly doing it under the name of security and fairness," LaRose said. "Pay attention, Ohioans."
You can see why the backers of this amendment are wary about LaRose and his ballot board.
But that is not the only problem for the backers of the Ohio Votes Bill of Rights.
If this amendment reaches the ballot this fall, it could be competing with another statewide ballot initiative — one that would completely transform the way Ohio's congressional and state legislative districts are drawn.
Citizens Not Politicians, the coalition of voting rights groups backing redistricting reform, are well on their way to gathering the signatures they need to place the issue on the November ballot.
It is backed by groups like Common Cause Ohio, the Ohio League of Women Voters and the ACLU of Ohio.
It could very well break the stranglehold Republicans have had on the legislature and bust their veto-proof supermajority.
There is some trepidation among supporters of the redistricting amendment about sharing the November ballot with the voters' rights amendment. It has the potential of hurting the redistricting amendment, but it's not a subject they like to talk about. I know because I tried.
But a recent editorial from Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer did not hesitate to point out the potential problem.
RELATED: Ohio's voter ID laws have changed. Here's what you need to vote
"In Ohio's partisan political landscape, surely opponents of both these measures will try to link them in the voters' minds," the editorial board said. "If one of the proposed amendments is a weak link with provisions going well beyond what most Ohioans could be expected to support, both reform measures could be in jeopardy."
The Plain Dealer suggested the voter-bill-of-rights folks scale down their proposal by chucking Election Day voter registration and doing away with the proposed changes to Ohio's current photo ID law.
There is no indication whatsoever that the Ohio Voters Bill of Rights coalition will do that. It is, at least for now, an all-or-nothing proposition.
It could end up being the clash of voting rights on the Ohio ballot this fall. And one possibility is that they could both lose.
