A temporary solution that allowed President Joe Biden to appear on this fall’s ballot passed the Ohio Senate on Friday as the Republican-dominated Legislature completed a rare special session.
The vote took place a day later the Chamber approved the measure, together with a ban on foreigners contributing to state election campaigns. The last measure had been required by the Senate, which approved it on Friday. Both bills now go to Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, who is expected to sign them.
The latest bill also expanded the definition of “foreign citizens” to include legal permanent residents of the U.S., also known as green card holders. The provision was added to the House bill, with proponents saying it would fill “a glaring gap” in the bill, but several lawmakers questioned whether it would ultimately lead the courts to find the entire measure unconstitutional.
The special session was ostensibly called by DeWine last week to address the fact that Ohio’s deadline for the November vote is Aug. 7, about two weeks before the Democratic president is formally nominated at the 19th party convention. on August 22nd. in Chicago.
But when the Senate — and then DeWine’s proclamation calling lawmakers back to Columbus — tied the issue to the ban on foreign nationals, the Democratic National Committee moved to neutralize the need for any vote in Ohio. Along with the Biden campaign, it announced earlier this week that it would resolve Biden’s issue with Ohio’s own voting deadline, maintaining a virtual roll call vote to name it. The committee vote on this alternative solution is scheduled for Tuesday.
The Democratic National Committee said Friday that the planned virtual call will still go forward.
On Thursday, Democrats in the Ohio House accused Republican supermajorities in both chambers of exploiting the Biden conundrum to pass an unrelated bill that undermines direct democracy in Ohio, where voters have come out against prevailing positions. of Republican leaders by wide margins on three separate ballot measures. last year. This included protecting access to abortion in the state constitution, reversing a proposal to make it difficult approve such constitutional amendments in the future, and legalizing recreational marijuana.
The political committees involved in the first two efforts received money from entities that received donations from the Swiss billionaire over the last decade. Hansjorg Wyss, although any direct path from him to Ohio campaigns is untraceable under campaign finance laws that were not addressed in the House legislation. Wyss lives in Wyoming.
If the foreign citizen legislation becomes law, it has the potential to affect election campaigns heading into the Nov. 5 vote in Ohio. These include measures proposing changes to Ohio’s redistricting laws, increasing the minimum wage to $15, granting qualified immunity to police and protecting certain voting rights.
