Reply #7: Democrats boycott vote to forward revised plan

[Melissa G]

Article published Thursday, December 8, 2005

OHIO ELECTION LAWS
Democrats boycott vote to forward revised plan
Republicans expected to send bill to Senate

By JIM PROVANCE
BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU
Thanks to voter's unite for the link!


COLUMBUS - The battle of ballot issues next year could be affected by a massive election-law rewrite sent last night to the full Senate solely with votes from the panel's Republican majority.


Democratic members of the Senate Rules Committee decided to boycott the vote.

"They haven't worked with us at all," said Sen. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo). "We started out with a 200-page bill. It's now 400 pages, and we have had less than 24 hours. And they're not dealing with what's really wrong with Ohio's elections."

Under an amendment before the committee, the attorney general would join the secretary of state as the only statewide elected officials prohibited from serving as treasurer or some other official capacity for ballot-issue campaigns.

The bill, opposed by the League of Women Voters and other government watchdog groups, would also require voters to provide proof of identification before casting ballots and would make it tougher for petition-driven issues to reach the ballot in the first place.

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051208/NEWS09/512080429