GUEST EDITORIAL | Marietta Times
Voting rights groups have their hands full with state Attorney General Dave Yost.
Last month, Yost issued his second rejection of petition language a voting rights coalition has submitted for a proposed constitutional amendment.
Yost claimed the amendment’s title — “Ohio Voters Bill of Rights” — was “highly misleading and misrepresentative” of the measure’s contents.
That argument might have flown with little notice were it not for one crucial detail. Yost acknowledges his office previously certified IDENTICAL language for the Nursing Facility Patients’ Bill of Rights in 2021 and another Ohio Voters Bill of Rights in 2014.
This time around, though, the proposed amendment asks for enshrining the right for all Ohioans to vote safely and securely in the state constitution.
It includes automatic voter registration, same-day voter registration and expanded early voting options and locations.
“In the past, this Office has not always rigorously evaluated whether the title fairly or truthfully summarized a given proposed amendment,” Yost wrote the coalition’s attorney. “But recent authority from the Ohio Supreme Court has confirmed that the title for a ballot initiative is material to voters.”