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***Press Release***

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Mike Rowe

April 30, 2013 (614) 466-5899

Ohio Legislators and Voting Advocates Call for Removal of

Anti-Voter Budget Provision

Language in budget would create roadblocks for college students voting in Ohio

ColumbusToday, State Senator Nina Turner (D-Cleveland) and Representatives MichaelStinziano (D-Columbus) and Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) held a press conference at the Ohio

Statehouse to urge the General Assembly to remove a provision included in the state budget by

House Republicans that would create roadblocks for college students voting in Ohio.

The provision requires universities to charge in-state tuition for any student who is issued a utility

bill by the school that can be used to establish residency for voting purposes.

This is another solution in search of a problem, Senator Turner commented. These students are

integral parts of their college communities and contribute to the economy and vibrancy of our

state. I support lower tuition for all students, but it should not be used to encourage their schools

to cut them out of the franchise.

House Republicans claim the language is meant to lower tuition costs in the state, but the

amendment language creates a perverse incentive whereby schools would be forced to make it

harder for their students to vote, or lose millions in funding. The Columbus Dispatch reported that

more than $100 million is at stake each year, and Innovation Ohio estimates that this figure could

cost schools as much as $272 million annually.

This provision of the budget will have a very harmful effect, is poorly conceived, woefully

misguided, and especially troubling for qualified young electors and universities across the state,

said Rep. Stinziano. In addition, as a former elections official and a Representative with sevencolleges or universities in my district alone, I am concerned that this provision could violate federal

election law and could open the door to costly lawsuits and legal fees.

Since the provisions inclusion into House Bill 59, numerous concerns have been raised as to the

languages constitutionality. The 1979 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Symm v. United States, ruled

that measures designed to hinder the ability of college students to vote with their campus address

is a violation of the 26th

Amendment.

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People have a constitutional right to vote where they reside, Rep. Clyde said. For college

students, thats often on campus. Its illegal to discriminate against them and burden their

fundamental right to vote. What the Republicans are doing is outrageous and its terrible public

policy.

State lawmakers were joined by voting advocates who also voiced their concern over the legality

of the amendment.

It is very disconcerting to learn that our state lawmakers are proposing to make it more difficult

for students attending Ohio colleges to participate in the election process by voting in their college

communities, said Richard Kinsley, Executive Director of the Ohio Campus Compact, a statewide

non-profit coalition of 47 college and university presidents and their campuses working to

promote and develop the civic purposes of higher education. This is a lose-lose-lose for college

students and all Ohioans.

The claim that this is intended only to allow students to pay less tuition is too clever by half and

does not even pass the straight-face test, said Peg Rosenfield of the League of Women Voters. It

is obviously meant to penalize any university that attempts to provide the identification required

for their students to exercise their right to vote.

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