Ohio voting rights advocates dealt blow after federal election, redistricting bill stalls

A sign for early voting hangs over the Franklin County Board of Elections during early voting in Columbus, Ohio Nov. 1.
A sign for early voting hangs over the Franklin County Board of Elections during early voting in Columbus, Ohio Nov. 1.

Ohio advocates holding out for election reform are, for now, on their own after the U.S. Senate dealt a fatal blow to voting rights legislation this week.

The proposal – which combines two bills – would have established rules for voting by mail and ballot drop boxes, expanded early voting options and permitted same-day registration. It also would have banned partisan gerrymandering and restored federal oversight of election laws in states with a history of discrimination.

Democrats pushed the changes as GOP-controlled states introduced legislation that advocates say would suppress turnout by minority voters. The back-and-forth came to a head Wednesday when Republicans blocked the bill and Democrats failed to muster enough support to change procedural rules to pass it without them.

“They’re on the wrong side of history, these 52 members," Sen. Sherrod Brown said, referring to the 50 Republicans and Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

The bill was supported by Ohio Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate and opposed by all Republicans. It's unclear where congressional Democrats will go from here, but Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Columbus, said Wednesday that she and the Congressional Black Caucus were prepared for this outcome.

"Today is just our first step," she said during a news conference. "We will come up to bat with a clear plan."

Election reform and redistricting

The vote in Washington came days after the Ohio Supreme Court struck down the state's legislative and congressional maps, arguing they were gerrymandered to favor Republicans and violated voter-approved redistricting rules. Mapmakers must now redraw the lines to ensure they pass constitutional muster.

Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, argued the process is further proof that federal reform would help states like Ohio.

"Despite demands by voters to end gerrymandering in 2015 and 2018 at the ballot box, we’ve seen more of the same: a breakdown along party lines, a complete lack of transparency, and rigged maps," she said in an email.

GOP state lawmakers also introduced multiple election bills last year that would limit drop boxes and change rules for early voting, while allowing people to request absentee ballots online. The proposals have since stalled in committees.

Republicans, for their part, viewed the federal legislation as overreach. In a call with reporters Wednesday, Sen. Rob Portman accused Democrats of casting doubt on the election process with claims of voter suppression – likening them to Republicans who incorrectly say former President Donald Trump won in 2020.

"They have consistently attacked some Republicans, saying that they made false claims that there was fraud in the election and therefore made people wonder about the legitimacy of the elections," Portman said. "OK, I get that. Now they’re doing the same thing themselves."

Secretary of State Frank LaRose said Republicans tend to overblow the existence of fraud while Democrats emphasize voter suppression – all for their own political motives. He said Ohio may need to further reform its redistricting process but argued a federal "one-size-fits-all" policy isn't the answer.

LaRose also dismissed independent redistricting commissions, which Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor suggested voters consider because state officials are "seemingly unwilling to put aside partisan concerns."

"I don’t think there’s any group of angels that are truly independent, that don’t have any personal bias or party leanings or belief system that are just going to sit down and draw completely unbiased maps," said LaRose, a Republican. "I think that a so-called independent commission kind of forces partisans to pretend they’re not, which is dangerous as well."

USA TODAY contributed to this report.

Haley BeMiller is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Voting rights bill: Senate vote echoes in Ohio amid redistricting