© 2024 Ideastream Public Media

1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115
(216) 916-6100 | (877) 399-3307

WKSU is a public media service licensed to Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Ohio House Minority Leader Meets With National Democrats Urging Passage of Federal Voting Laws

Zoom screenshot of House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes (D-Akron) meeting with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) and others
Zoom
House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes (D-Akron) meets with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) and others during a teleconference to discuss the proposed voting laws that are before the U.S. Congress.

Ohio’s House Minority Leader says Republican state lawmakers are taking a page from a national playbook as they try to reform voting. 

In a teleconference with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and U.S. Sen Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), Emilia Sykes said Ohio’s leaders could make voting easier, for example, by adding ballot drop boxes. But she says they’re going the other direction by making it harder to vote

“These attacks are part of a nationwide effort to push baseless conspiracy theories and the big lie, and they threaten the very foundation of our democracy to protect a delusional man who refuses to accept the results of an election," Sykes said.

Sykes said voting reform legislation under consideration by Congress would protect all voters in Ohio. The “For the People Act” and the “John Lewis Voting Rights Act” have widespread support among Democrats but have failed to gain the support needed to pass.

Republicans at the Statehouse say more needs to be done to protect Ohio's voting system from possible fraud and outside intervention. Recently two voting reforms were slipped into the new two-year budget and passed into law. One new law to prevent collaboration between elections officials and private groups that educate, motivate and advocate for voters. Another bans legal settlements between public officials and third parties that could lead to costly lawsuits. A Democratic lawmaker has introduced a bill that would repeal both of those provisions.
Copyright 2021 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.

Jo Ingles
Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment.