Testimony by Kelly Dufour, Common Cause Ohio<\/b><\/p>\r\n
Before the Senate General Government Committee on\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\r\n
Senate Bill 153<\/b><\/p>\r\n
May 27, 2025<\/b><\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\nChair Roegner, Vice Chair Gavarone, Ranking Member Blackshear and members of the Senate General Government Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to provide opposition testimony on Senate Bill 153.<\/span>\r\n\r\nMy name is Kelly Dufour and I\u2019m the voting and elections manager at Common Cause Ohio. Common Cause is a nonpartisan organization focused on strengthening public participation in our democracy and ensuring that our government is transparent and accountable to its citizens.<\/span>\r\n\r\nSenate Bill 153 would disenfranchise eligible voters, potentially criminalize Ohioans for just being on the rolls, and create impossible, unfunded mandates for the county Boards of Elections, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nNot only does Senate Bill 153 create two new buckets of work for election officials \u2014 preemptive voter registration and petition circulator vetting, but it also removes existing efficiencies like drop boxes and support from other entities already collecting voter registrations, like schools, libraries and supporting organizations.<\/span>\r\n\r\nSenate Bill 153 is riddled with ways clerical errors could result in compromising an eligible citizen\u2019s registration status and their vote, to the point of requiring criminal investigation for failure to reply to a mailed request. Senate Bill 153 also uses provisional voting as a default response for agency mismatches and question of voter status. Relying heavily on provisional ballots risks large-scale disenfranchisement of voters, creates a significant increase in administrative work for Boards of Elections, and creates unnecessary costs to taxpayers.<\/span>\r\n\r\nI\u2019ve watched Boards of Elections try to respond to the rushed, confusing layering of House Bill 458, the Data Act, House Bill 74 and temporary directives. Where election officials not only try to understand the changes but must find resources to implement change after change, often during active election cycles.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nDid you know:<\/span>\r\n\r\n \t