HB 194

Someone asked me recently why I cared so much about the Repeal of HB 194 (Ohio House Of Representatives Bill 194 which is the Voter Suppression Bill). I told about my friend Charles.

I have taken Charles to vote for years because he needs assistance to vote as he has difficulty reading. Although I did not know it at the time, I later learned that one of the poll workers is the spouse of one of the Deputies at the Board of Elections. When Charles got his sticker "I Voted Today!" he proudly put it on his jacket. He told the poll workers, "I'll never miss voting because before I came to Ohio I wasn't allowed to vote." One of the workers asked why he hadn't been allowed to vote and he told him that where he grew up they had a poll tax and as they were poor they couldn't pay the tax. I could see the shocked look on the faces of the poll workers as that must have seemed like ancient history to them.

The next time I was at the Board of Elections the Deputy told me that her husband had come home from working at the poll and he had tears in his eyes as he told her of meeting an elderly man who told how much it meant for him to vote because he hadn't been allowed to vote before he moved to Ohio. She told me that she asked him the voter's name and when he said Charles' name, she said she told him that she knew that he was my friend because I'd taken him to the Board of Elections to vote when he first moved into town and he'd told them the same story.

When I read that the Ohio House Of Representatives wanted to take away voting rights, I was incensed. I said to my brother, "Lyndon Johnson would turn over in his grave!"

When Jennifer Brunner was our Secretary of State she enacted policies to make it EASIER to vote with early voting, Motor Voter, and lifting of restrictions on absentee voting.

As the assault on voting rights is happening in numerous states we realize that it is a concerted effort to keep old people, young people, disabled people and poor people from voting!

Sign the petition to keep this from happening in Ohio!