Ohio universities often issue students proof of residency letters to help them vote. Many of these students are from out of state or another county.
The provision would make students who receive these letters eligible for in-state tuition, which could cost Ohio colleges millions of dollars.

The measure’s proponents say it would give students better tuition rates.

But OSU senior Kenneth Meyers, of Kansas, said that is the wrong way to go about reducing tuition. And Kenneth said he fears universities will stop providing the documentation.

“If they find out they can’t vote here in Ohio then maybe they’ll miss the deadline and they can’t vote in their home state. So, this should be something we celebrate and make easily accessible,” Meyers said.

OSU junior Michael Flannagan, of Maryland, said the provision is a blatant attempt to stifle the college vote.

“We are subject to the same laws in Ohio. We are subject to the same taxes, to the same sales taxes, we are subject to the same rules of Ohio. Try to use money as an excuse to take away our right to vote is wrong.”

Ohio State said it continues to analyze the measure. University spokeswoman Gayle Saunders said “the financial impact to OSU would be of concern to us.”

Last fall, nearly 1,200 out-of-state freshmen were enrolled at OSU.

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on Wednesday sided with Husted in ruling that a lower court over-reached when it ruled provisional ballots cast at the wrong precinct and those cast in the wrong location all together should be counted.

The federal court said there’s a sharp difference between “right-place/wrong-precinct” ballots, which are often attributable to poll workers directing voters to the wrong precinct, and “wrong-place/wrong-precinct”, which is often caused by voters showing up at the wrong location.

The court also wrote “The expanded injunction opens the door for steering last-second voters to convenient (though incorrect) polling places, in the hopes that some of the votes will count.

“This perverse incentive did not exist with right-place/wrong-precinct voters; voters who make the effort to arrive at the correct polling place would have no reason to miscast their vote at the wrong table or in the wrong line.”

It was not immediately clear if the voters’ rights groups that filed the original appeal would file another appeal.

But ballots will be counted regardless of postage.

Franklin County Board of Elections Ben Piscatelli says this is the first election he can recall where it costs more than price of one stamp to send in your ballot.

“The ballot is two pages for everyone in the county because there’ s been some lengthy wording on issues this year that required everyone to have a two-page ballot,” Piscatelli says.

Return postage varies by county, and Piscatelli says it’s easy to see on the instructions that come with every ballot. But even if voters only stick a single stamp on the return envelope, Piscatelli says their vote will be counted.

“The Post Office has pledged to deliver this material, whether or not correct postage is on it or not.”
Piscatelli says they discuss possible reimbursement with the Post Office after the election. Piscatelli says Franklin county has not seen the same problems as Cuyahoga county, where a printing error gave thousands of ballots hard-to-read name and signature boxes.

Franklin county voters can cast early ballots at the old Kohl’s store at the corner of Morse and Karl Roads beginning at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Democratic State Senator Nina Turner of the Cleveland area says Democrats around the state are holding “Sleep Out the Vote” events tonight.

“So anybody can go to their respective counties, primarily the large counties, and meet your elected officials, sleep out if you want to, and be the first in line to cast your vote at eight in the morning,” Turner says.

All 88 county boards of elections are preparing to mail out absentee ballot applications to all voters. It’s a first for Ohio. Secretary of State Jon Husted made the change to bring uniformity to all Ohio counties.

The Franklin County Board of Elections rejected a request to remove 308 people from the county’s list of registered voters for reasons such as providing incomplete address information and being registered at a vacant lot. Board employees were able to provide reasons to leave all the names on the rolls.

The challenges were submitted by the Ohio Voter Integrity Project, the state arm of the national True the Vote group that has lodged similar complaints across the country.

The group claims bipartisanship, but it has been accused of targeting college students and black people, groups that have traditionally voted Democrat.

Click the play button for more details from Ohio Public Radio’s Jo Ingles.

Secretary of State Jon Husted on Tuesday dismissed Democrats Thomas Ritchie Sr. and Dennis Lieberman from their positions on the Montgomery County Board of Elections.

Husted, a Republican, has directed election boards in Ohio’s 88 counties to have the same early in-person voting hours on weekdays and have no hours on weekends. He said the board members violated this order when they when pushed to extend the times into the weekends.

The county Democratic Party has 15 days to select board replacements. County chairman Mark Owens says Democrats will start their search while the ex-board members continue to discuss options with their attorney.

Secretary of State Jon Husted initially suspended Thomas Ritchie Sr. and Dennis Lieberman from their positions on the Montgomery County Board of Elections. Husted then temporarily lifted his suspension last week so the Dayton-area board could continue its work.

A state hearing officer recommended Monday that Husted remove the board members for failing to act consistently with his order.

Husted, a Republican, has directed election boards in Ohio’s 88 counties to have the same early in-person voting hours on weekdays and have no hours on weekends.

The board members contend they abided by the directive, which they say was ambiguous.

And the group says it plans to file a court suit to make sure that happens before the November election.

The President of Judicial Watch says Ohio has a big problem that could affect the integrity of the vote in November. The grou’s Tom Fitton says the state’s voter rolls need to be purged before then.

“Federal law requires that state take reasonable efforts to maintain accurate voter rolls, and our analysis of Ohio shows that evidently is not being done,” Fitton says.

“Several counties have over 100 percent of their eligible population on the rolls. Many others have near 100 percent, which shows us the basic steps to clean up the rolls are not being done. We’ve warned the Secretary of State about this and made him aware about it and haven’t gotten an adequate response so (groups) True the Vote and Judicial Watch are planning to file a lawsuit to help insure clean election rolls on election day.”

Fitton’s group has been part of the True the Vote effort that’s backed purging of voter rolls in some other states. He says there are likely many illegal immigrants on the voter rolls.

“The easiest thing,” Fitton says, “is to start removing dead people from the voter rolls. When you get over 100 percent, that’s a sign that even dead people aren’t being removed.”

The chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party wonder why dead people need to be removed from voting rolls.

“And why because dead people will show up at the polls?” says Chris Redfern.

Redfern says there have been less than a dozen prosecuted cases of voter fraud in Ohio during the past 10 years.

Redfern says Fitton’s group is just trying to disenfranchise voters.

“With all due respect for these outside thug groups, when they are unapologetic at their attempts to disenfranchise the voters, when they don’t retreat from statements like the ones that have been attributed to organizations like True the Vote, when they say they want Ohioans to to feel like they are “driving and seeing the police watching them when they are casting their ballot.

“That kind of intimidation was commonplace 45 or 50 years ago in the south. We don’t need the kind of antics that have been long ago been pushed away to live another day in Ohio.,” Redfern says.

Fitton’s group held a summit over the weekend in Columbus to talk about plans to purge the voter rolls. More than 100 people attended.

The lawsuit is expected to be filed in the coming days. A federal judge recently ruled Florida could continue to purge voters from its rolls. The U.S. Justice Department is appealing that case to stop the practice.

The commissioners say restricting voting hours discriminates against Franklin County residents and limits their ability to participate in the election process.  The Board, last year, had added the extra $2.8 million to cover the cost of extended voting as part of their 2012 budget.

In 2008, 52,000 people in Franklin County voted early and in- person in the November Election.