Senate Bill 153 (together with its identical twin, House Bill 233) is the latest attempt to rewrite Ohio’s election laws. The bill is massive, unnecessary, and harmful. If enacted it would make it harder for eligible Ohioans to vote, and harder to collect petition signatures, while at the same time placing impossible bureaucratic and financial burdens on our county boards of elections.

On Tuesday, the Ohio Senate General Government Committee heard from only one proponent of the SB153 – a lobbyist representing an out-of-state supporter. We need to push back now and make it clear: Ohioans don’t support SB153.

Like the SAVE Act, SB153 would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote – disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of eligible Ohio voters. But that’s not the worst of it. In addition, it would also:

• Require registered voters to vote provisionally if there’s any mismatch with their name or address on their license;

• Cancel a provisional voter’s registration if they did not successfully “cure” their ID within four days at the Board of Elections;

• Refer for prosecution and cancel someone’s registration for failure to respond to confirmation letters from the Board of Elections or the Secretary of State;

• Eliminate drop boxes entirely;

• Require petition signers to be registered to vote before they sign a petition;

• Allow the Secretary of State or Boards of Elections to subpoena a petition circulator if they do not fully comply with strict rules for signed statements, conditions of compensation, and personally counting number of signatures;

• Create numerous new bureaucratic tasks and hurdles for election officials – without providing any additional funding.

Ohio’s elections officials are still working to implement other recent changes in the law and are currently in the middle of administering the primary election. Why are our lawmakers rushing through massive election changes without providing time for thoughtful feedback from elections officials?

Your senator needs to hear this message from you: Elections bills require a thoughtful approach, a full fiscal analysis, and significant feedback from the elections officials in 88 counties who administer them. In short, they must not be rushed!

Call your Ohio Senator and tell them: “Slow down! Stop the massive, unnecessary and harmful threats of SB 153.”

You can find the phone number for your Ohio Senator HERE. Hopefully, you will have the opportunity to talk to an aide but It is fine to leave a voicemail message.

Here’s an idea of what to say: “My name is [Your Name] and I live in [Your Town]. I urge you to slow down and not push forward Senate Bill 153 - a massive bill that would create huge problems for eligible voters and for boards of elections across the state. Elections bills need research, financial support, and feedback from election officials who administer them.”

Once you have made your call, click "Log your call" to tell us what happened.

Want to learn more? Here’s helpful messaging on pushing back on SB 153 and read the Legislative Service Commission analysis.