PRESS RELEASE – Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has released a statement regarding the implementation of common sense election reforms recently passed by the Ohio General Assembly, and which become effective this week:
“I applaud the General Assembly for acting on these widely popular changes that will improve Ohio’s efficiency, security, and administration of future elections.”
“Many of these improvements codify existing, nationally recognized best practices I have directed our boards to implement.”
“I’m grateful that the legislature chose to make them permanent. Additionally, our office looks forward to implementing the new policies so our elections officials can better serve the people of Ohio.”
Amended into House Bill 74, the approved elections election integrity changes include the following:
1) Rename the “Board of Voting Machine Examiners” as the “Board of Voting System Examiners,” expand the scope of technology requiring certification to now include voter registration and ballots on demand voting systems and place a nonvoting cybersecurity expert on the board.
2) Prohibit the distribution of pre-populated voter registration and absentee ballot request forms by third party organizations to increase voter confidence and improve the accuracy of voter registration information.
3) Codify the post-election audit process, currently implemented by Secretary LaRose, to require audits after every election.
4) Allow the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles to electronically transmit new voter registrations, limiting the risk for human error and improving the data accuracy of Ohio’s voter registration database. Electronic transmission was previously allowed only when updating a voter registration.
