‘If It’s Not Broke, Don’t Fix it:’ Statehouse Republicans Using Anti-Voter Bill to Cut Popular Day of Early Voting

June 2, 2021

Columbus, OH — As Ohio House Democrats kick off their weeklong Freedom to Vote Town Hall Tour today, every day this week the Ohio Democratic Party will be digging in deeper to a harmful provision included in statehouse Republicans’ anti-voter legislation that takes Ohio backward in the fight for voting rights.

Today, ODP is focused on a provision in the bill that will cut a full day of early voting on the Monday before Election Day. In 2020, more than 50,000 Ohioans took advantage of Monday’s early voting, an 86 percent increase from 2008. Each election cycle, the Monday of early voting is used by more Ohioans, leading voters to question why Republicans are playing politics with Ohioans’ right to vote.

“There’s no excuse for Republicans ripping the rug out from under Ohio voters and taking away one of the most popular days to vote in our state. The latest attacks on early voting are right in line with the longtime Ohio GOP anti-voter playbook: chip away at Ohioans’ voting rights in the name of a problem that doesn’t exist,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

As former Montgomery County Board of Elections official and current State Rep. Willis Blackshear, Jr. told the Dayton Daily News about cutting the Monday of early voting: “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” Blackshear continues: “I don’t see why we need to take that out all of a sudden. It’s worked very well for us these last years.”

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