OHIO — Innovation Ohio Education Fund is calling on state leaders to modernize its election system with policies that will increase voter registration and turnout rates.
What You Should Know
- The survey compared voter turnout and voting policies in Ohio to four other Midwestern states
- Ohio ranks last among five Midwestern states for voter turnout at 7-11% in the 2018, 2020 and 2022 elections
- Researchers analyzed state policies such as registration types, sweepstakes, early voting and prepaid mail-in ballots and compared turnout in four other states with Ohio
- See the full report here
The nonpartisan group released the second part of a report on Ohio's missing voters. It focused on voter policies currently in place that may or may not promote voter turnout.
Desiree Tims, President and CEO of the Innovation Ohio Education Fund, said the goal after learning how many people weren't registered to vote, and then how many people were, but didn't vote, was to find out why. So they looked at Ohio's voting and clearance policies. Timms explained that “When we look at automatic voter registration, for example, in 2019, Michigan now has more people registered to vote than Ohio and has experienced between 6 and 11 percent. higher attendance, despite the smaller population. We saw that Iowa and Wisconsin also have higher turnout than Ohio, but they have automatic voter registration.”
When they looked at mail-in absentee ballots, he said, many people realized they needed mail-in ballots to mail their ballots to the board of elections. “So a lot of people dropped their envelopes in the boxes, but it never made it to its destination because it didn't have that stamp.” He believes that if Ohio provided postage, it would remove the barrier to voting.
65% of Ohio's eligible voting population is registered to vote, placing Ohio 26th among all states, based on U.S. Census data from 2023. Tims noted that now it's about determining how to participate more people. “Right now, we have a 'use it or lose it' policy. If you do not vote consistently, you will be removed from the electoral rolls. More than 2 million eligible people in Ohio could be registered to vote, but aren't. We know that 64% of them are under the age of 50.” “We must ensure that everyone can participate in our democracy,”
