Blackshear Condemns Passage of Sub H.B. 472

Today, state Senator Willis E. Blackshear Jr. (D-Dayton) issued the following statement after Republicans in the Ohio Senate passed Substitute House Bill 472, which was amended at the last minute to require that voters provide photo ID to vote by mail.

“This bill will make it significantly harder for seniors and vulnerable citizens to vote by mail,” said Blackshear. “H.B. 472 is confusing, entirely unnecessary, and adds hoops for people to jump through just to vote. In adding these provisions, this bipartisan bill, initially intended to support people experiencing homelessness, has been hijacked as a tool of voter suppression.”

House Bill 472 was originally a bipartisan bill to help Ohioans experiencing homelessness get free identifying documents like birth certificates or state IDs, but was amended late in the committee process to include provisions requiring photo ID verification for absentee voters. This bill will not protect against voter fraud and creates further uncertainty in our election processes while placing an additional burden on Ohio’s election workers and public library employees with another unfunded mandate.