COLUMBUS, Ohio – If out-of-state college students register to vote in Ohio, yet fail to obtain in-state driver licenses and vehicle registrations within 30 days, what happens then?
READ MORE: In the Columbus Dispatch
State officials had no answers yesterday as Republican Gov. John Kasich prepares today to sign the state transportation budget into which majority Senate Republicans inserted the controversial provision.
Democrats and voting-rights activists have called on Kasich to use his line-item veto to remove the language, but his office declined yesterday to say whether it will be removed or signed into law. Kasich has the authority to use his line-item-veto pen on the two-year, $7 billion budget measure. He’s slated to sign the bill Wednesday at an event at Daifuku America Corporation in Reynoldsburg.
Republicans say the proposal isn’t about voting, but rather residency, and simply requires new Ohioans to get licenses and registrations by replacing current “soon as possible” language with a deadline, similar to 44 other states.
Democrats counter that the move is a “poll tax” designed to discourage some among more than 115,000 out-of-state students from voting in Ohio by forcing them to spend $75 or more to obtain in-state licenses and registrations.
The pending law would forbid those who fail to get Ohio documents from driving in the state and subject violators to minor-misdemeanor citations punishable by up to a $150 fine.
How would police officers know a person is registered to vote in Ohio when they are handed a valid out-of-state driver’s license? How would poll workers know a person doesn’t have an in-state license since Ohio has no photo ID law?
“We are studying the language to determine our role and we will have 90 days to implement a plan,” said Joe Andrews, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, which includes the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
“It will be up to law enforcement to enforce the requirements as they make stops and attempt to determine residency,” Andrews said. He provided no details.