"It is a necessity that every American has the ability to participate in our democracy and the right to vote"

WASHINGTON, DC-- Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11) hosted the Stand Up for Voting Rights press conference on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 with 13 members of Congress and numerous civil rights leaders, including Rev. Jesse Jackson, to draw attention to recent restrictive voting measures that have passed or are pending in legislatures across the nation, especially in Ohio.

Click here to view highlights from the press conference

Click here to view the entire press conference

Click here to view photos from the press conference

Ohio Photo ID bill (pending):

Pending in the state legislature is one of the most restrictive voter ID bills in the nation. Former law allows voters to use a current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck or government document with a current name and address as proof of identification.

This legislation:

1. requires that anyone voting at the polls bring a driver's license, passport or other government-issued identification card that shows the person's current address and contains a photo. Otherwise, the person would cast a provisional ballot and then have to provide a photo ID to elections officials within 10 days to have the ballot count.

• Demographics: Voter ID laws have a disproportionate and unfair impact on low-income individuals, senior citizens, racial and ethnic minority voters, voters with disabilities and others who do not have a government-issued ID or the money to acquire one. The Supreme Court has held that a state cannot value one person’s vote over another and, unfortunately, that is exactly what these laws do.
• Identification: Research shows that 11% of U.S. citizens – or more than 21 million Americans -- do not have government-issued photo identification. As many as 25% of African American citizens of voting age do not have a government-issued photo ID, compared to only 8% of their white counterparts. 18% of Americans over the age of 65 (or 6 million senior citizens) do not have a government issued photo ID
• Cost to Voter: Although some states issue IDs for free, the birth certificates, passports, or other documents required to obtain a government-issued ID cost money, and many Americans simply cannot afford to pay for them or do not have time to obtain them.
• Cost to States: States incur sizable costs when providing IDs to voters who do not have them. Given the financial strain many states already are experiencing, this is an unnecessary allocation of taxpayer dollars.
• During 2011, thirty-four states introduced legislation that would require voters to show a photo ID to cast a ballot.
  Approximately thirteen states introduced bills to end Election Day and same-day voter registration. As many as nine states introduced bills to reduce early voting and four proposed draconian reductions in absentee voting opportunities. Two states, took steps backward by reversing prior executive actions that made it easier for citizens with past felony convictions to restore their voting rights.
  Congresswoman Fudge is preparing a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder urging the Department of Justice to investigate whether photo ID laws violate the Voting Rights Act.

Ohio HB 194: Changes to Voting

The legislation:

1. eliminates the requirement that poll workers direct voters to the correct precinct;
2. shortens early voting and no Sunday voting
3. increases size of voting precincts: voting precincts in cities but not rural areas would be required by law to be
   made bigger in many cases, which could result in longer lines on Election Day;
4. eliminates the ability of counties to provide return postage on absentee ballots;
5. makes the voting process much more burdensome, confusing, and inefficient for voters, poll workers, and election officials.

The following organizations and leaders attended the press conference:

Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rainbow PUSH Coalition

Janaye Ingram, National Action Network

Barbara Arnwine, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

Laura Murphy, American Civil Liberties Union

Hilary Shelton, NAACP

Rafael Collazo, National Council of La Raza/Democracia USA

Nicole Austin-Hillery, Brennan Center for Justice