Thread by @DavidPepper

THREAD ON NEW VOTER SUPPRESSION BILL IN OHIO

Just when you think you've seen it all....

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Just when you think the non-stop effort to make it harder to vote couldn't get any worse...

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Along comes the Ohio House GOP with a new bill that will astound you.

It's HB 680, and here's what it does.

Please sit down before reading.

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ohiodems.org/ohio-house-gop…

Its purported goal is to esablish what would happen if the pandemic makes it unsafe to vote in person in Nov.

Of course, if the only way to vote is by mail, w enough time to plan, you'd think you'd want to make it AS EASY AS POSSIBLE to vote by mail

You'd think...

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This bill does the opposite. Here are some of its provisions:

1) it reduces the time for military and non-military voters to vote by mail by SEVEN days--cutting off the final week, when the primary showed that that week is when a huge surge of mail ballots comes in

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2) it eliminates the last 3 days of early in-person voting for military & non-military voters.

The GOP has tried this in Ohio again and again (losing in court). Why? Because the final weekends have been the busiest days of early in person voting, heavily favoring Democrats

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3) It UNDOES the mailing of absentee ballot applications to all registered voters, a provision that was passed in last year’s budget, and which has been done for years (even when NOT in a pandemic);

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4) It replaces that longstanding system of mailing a ballot application to all voters with the mailing of a POSTCARD that is NOT an application (like what was sent for this recent primary and was so ineffective)

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So under this process, voters 1) get a postcard, that tells them how to request 2) a ballot application, which they then wait to receive, fill out, then mail in, so they can 3) wait for a ballot, which they then fill out and mail (all w a deadline a week earlier than before)

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So they're adding another time-consuming, costly and ineffective step at the OUTSET (adding a week of delay at least), and cutting off a week to fulfill all the steps at the BACK END

(Of course, many states just send a ballot to every registered voter from the start)

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5) The bill FORBIDS the Secretary of State from using federal CARES Act and Help America Vote Act funding to pay return postage for ballot applications and ballots

????

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6) The bill creates an impossible timetable to do any of this. The Governor and ODH director would have to declare the emergency plan by Sept. 4 and the legislature would have until Labor Day, 57 days before the election, to approve the order for it to take effect.

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This would guarantee that boards of elections would not have the supplies on hand to conduct the election by mail (you know, what we just experienced in the primary)

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7) The bill continues the non-stop attack against Dr. Acton and her expertise, removing the state and local health departments’ ability to set standards for the conduct of elections.

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That means the health officials could not set standards for adequate social distancing, cleaning and sanitizing, and the use of masks.

Y'know, conduct a safe election.

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And there's more I won't address here.

We will obviously fight this atrocious bill in every we can -- legislatively, legally, and on the ground.

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But here's the big picture. Trump is spreading propaganda about vote by mail daily. He's scared to death of it.

But the truth is, the GOP at the national level is doing all its can to suppress BOTH in-person and vote by mail voting when it suits them

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But far more important than Trump tweets is the reality that it is state legislatures that must implement these tactics.

Which is why HB 680 is so dangerous.

We will see bills like this around the country, heeding Trump's call, and adding similarly egregious provisions

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As one experienced Ohio elections expert wrote to me today: "I have seen Republican voter suppression before, but I've never seen such a public, systematic panic over people voting like this."

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Trump knows he's in grave danger of losing.

In states like Ohio and elsewhere.

We must all be ready to fight cyclical, un-American efforts like this at every turn.

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Here in Ohio, you can help in two ways.

One, join our voter protection team. We need poll observers to take on any effort to suppress or intimate voters, be it in person or by mail.

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Sign up to join our team here: go.ohiodems.org/page/s/voterpr…

Second, we need support.

The national GOP is dedicating millions to pursue litigation in support of their suppression efforts. They're already suing in California.

We need to be able to fight them. If you want to help us fight this suppression, please consider...

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...contributing as well. You can do so here: secure.actblue.com/donate/2020-su…

Thank you.

END THREAD