A new Ohio voter ID law going into effect Friday — the most restrictive in the country — will change the required photo documentation to vote in person in Ohio, unless the person has a religious objection to being photographed. House Bill 458, which was signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine in January, also restricts early voting, mail-in voting, curbside voting and drop box locations.
Eligible photo IDs under the new legislation include unexpired Ohio driver’s licenses, state ID cards, interim identification forms, U.S. passports or passport cards, and military ID cards that include the individual’s name and photograph.
Driver licenses that are suspended will still be accepted so long as they are not expired. Also noteworthy, although some military IDs will be accepted, county-issued veteran IDs will not. Similarly, student IDs from colleges and university students are not considered valid forms of ID under the new legislation.
That has presented a problem for some, as requesting an Ohio ID would invalidate an ID from another state. For out-of-state college and university students who live and sometimes work in Ohio for most of the year, this will make voting less accessible.
Ohioans over the age of 17 without driver licenses will be able to get a free photo ID from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
Previously, in-person voters could use other identifying documents, like utility bills, paychecks and concealed-carry permits, to vote. For mail-in votes, voters must provide a copy of their photo ID or the last four digits of their social security number.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has claimed the law was necessary to stop illegal voting.
But actual occurrences of voter impersonation, which this law might address, are exceedingly rare. Between 2000 and 2014, there were only 31 credible accusations of voter fraud nationwide. In that time more than a billion ballots were cast, making the estimated rate of voter fraud 0.0000031%.
More than 21 million Americans lack government-issued photo IDs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. And a study from the Government Accountability Office found that, in other states, strict voter ID laws decreased voter turnout up to 3%.
And photo ID laws tend to disproportionately effect racial and ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, elderly people and those with low incomes. According to the Government Accountability Office, up-to 25% of Black American citizens of voting age lack government-issued photo identification, compared to just 8% of White American citizens of voting age.
In addition to stricter ID requirements, House Bill 458 limits the number of drop box locations to one per county, which can only open during business hours in the early voting period. It also limits curbside voting eligibility to only people with physical disabilities or people who are physically unable to enter their polling location.
The legislation also changes many voting deadlines. The last day of early voting will no longer be Monday, the day before election day, and will instead be the Friday before.
For absentee voting, ballots must be requested at least a week before election day, making the deadline the Tuesday before at 5 pm rather than the previous deadline of Saturday at noon. Once absentee ballots are cast, they must be received by the County Board of Elections four days after Election Day, six days shorter than the previous 10-day limit.
The May 2, 2023 general election will be Ohio’s first election cycle affected by these changes. The bill can be read in full here.
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This article appears in Mar 22 – Apr 5, 2023.