Jennifer Gross, R-West Chester, are co-sponsoring the bill which sets the deadline at the end of the prior year. Gary Click, R-Vickery, sees voters crossing party lines as a much more pressing problem. But at the same time, it’s not a hill that I hope to die on, you know? I think there’s so many other policy things that I’m working on that are just as important.”īy contrast, Rep. “Because I think that goes to the message that this is something that is worth taking into consideration. “I’m kind of grateful that there’s two different bills,” he added. He said most of his legislation starts from a personal story, “but I haven’t had an instance where I can point to, in my two primaries that I’ve had, where I can tell Democrats jumped over and influenced our election.” Hall described the changes as a worthwhile idea to chew on rather than addressing an immediate threat. It’s not just a Democrat issue,” Hall explained. “I know there’s blue and red states that do this. Thomas Hall, R-Madison Township, is sponsoring the version setting the deadline for party declaration at 30 days prior to an election. The practice goes by a handful of names - “crossover” or “strategic” voting, as well as the more colorful, “party raiding.” Critics contend allowing voters to cast ballots meant to undermine the party distorts the contest. Some argue this openness could give rise to voters from one party casting ballots in an opposing party’s contest to hurt that party’s chances in the general election. Even so, if the voter fills out a form attesting to their new party, they can vote. A secretary of state directive requires the challenging poll worker to have “personal knowledge” of the voter’s party. State law allows poll workers to challenge voters on their party affiliation, but it’s rare. All you have to do is request the GOP ballot. If you voted in the Democratic primary last year, you can vote in the current year’s Republican primary. The voter is then a party member until they miss two years’ worth of primaries, or they select a different party’s ballot.īut there’s nothing to stop voters from crossing over. Voters only affiliate with a party when they select its ballot during a primary election. Ohio’s current system is known as partially open. Another nine states use a system where unaffiliated voters are free to participate in the primary of their choice, but voters registered with another party can’t cross over. In six of those, however, state parties decide on a year-to-year basis whether to allow unaffiliated voters to participate. In 15 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, participating in the primary requires party affiliation. But primary elections are often a different animal. General elections are wide open, allowing voters from any party, or no party, to back whichever candidates they choose. One bill requires voters declare their party 30 days ahead of an election, while the other would require it by Dec. Unaffiliated voters would not be able to choose when voting to cast a partisan primary ballot under the proposed changes. Ohio’s voter database currently shows 1.3 million registered Republicans, 1 million registered Democrats and 5.7 million unaffiliated. Unaffiliated voters make up the vast majority of the electorate according to the latest Secretary of State data. The change would mean only voters who previously declared a party affiliation would be allowed to vote in partisan primary elections. Ohio lawmakers have filed two measures that would establish a closed primary system.
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