Growing Coalition of Ohio Citizen Groups Oppose Online Voter Registration

January 24, 2016

Dear Legislator:

S.B. 63, the online voter registration bill, has raised concerns that it may further threaten Ohio’s voter integrity. Ohio’s elections process has been under some scrutiny over the last several years due to an increase in reported voter fraud cases, specifically (SOS Post-Election Voter Fraud Report May 2013) (SOS Report December 2013 Non-U.S. Citizens Register and Vote in the Battleground State of Ohio). Franklin County reported more than ninety cases of double voting in the 2012 Presidential Election as reported in the Columbus Dispatch in June of 2013.

In addition, nineteen indictments were handed down in Hamilton County. A state-wide citizens’ audit of Ohio county BOE’s conducted in the aftermath of the 2012 Presidential Election also indicated a number of irregularities and suspicious activity through eyewitness accounts. What is clear in these reports is that voter fraud is a growing problem in the battleground State of Ohio, and more measures need to be enacted to get out in front of the problem. Although some legislative election reform measures have been passed addressing some of the concerns, more work needs to be done. Ohio is a must-win state for the campaigns, and there are those who would seek an advantage by trying to game the system.

To open online voter registration at this time would be ill-advised. There are a number of questions and concerns regarding the security of the online access and process of voter registration that S.B. 63 proposes. What the general public has learned over the last two years is that no website is secure from hackers.

When the secure websites of The Pentagon, The White House and other government agencies have been hacked, then the suggestion that this website will be safe is purely conjecture and wishful thinking. The list is long of major corporate websites that assured their users their websites were secure, yet have been victimized by the hacker and information contained therein disseminated. The list of victims reported by the media is long indeed, including the industries of banking, entertainment, major retailers, and others. They have all had their websites hacked and information stolen.

When it comes to the value of the voting process in our Republic, we need to proceed with extreme caution before the suggestion of online voter registration is seriously considered.This is no time for a cavalier attitude concerning the voter integrity process in Ohio.

At a minimum, implementation of any such legislative proposal should be delayed until 2017, and a trial run should be conducted to assure that the security of the website can be verified before full implementation.

The following groups oppose S.B. 63 in its current form.

Sincerely,

Christopher Long, President, Ohio Christian Alliance

Jeff Malek, Medina County Conservative Coalition

Ralph King, State Coordinator, Tea Party Patriots

George Momirov, Columbus 9.12

Tom Zawistowski, Portage County TEA Party

Cody Ragle, The Coalition

Lisa Woods, MCFAN (Medina County Friends and Neighbors)

Chuck Laughlin, Geauga County TEA Party

Arzella Melnyk, Grassroots Rally Team of Ohio

Linda Barry, Auglaize County Patriots

Steve Salvi, Ohio Jobs & Justice PAC

Ohio Christian Alliance is a non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting Judeo-Christian values in American government. Ohio Christian Alliance does not endorse any particular candidate or political party. OCA provides educational materials, including voter guides and scorecards.