Key Points Against Voter Suppression Bill - HB 194

This law is part of a more comprehensive strategy to further restrict the rights of those who do not vote Republican. The content below, repurposed from this PDF, provides the talking points agains the law.  If you haven't already, put your name on one of the petitions circulating seeking the repeal of this law. 

VOTER SUPPRESSION BILL – HB 194

1. SEVERELY RESTRICTS VOTING RIGHTS & OPPORTUNITIES

• Dramatically reduces In-Person Early Voting from 35 days to 12 days (10 weekdays, 2 half-Saturdays)
• Prohibits In-Person Early Voting during the busiest 3 days of early voting (Sat/Sun/Mon)
• Cuts mail-in voting from 35 days to 21 days making it harder to receive and return a ballot in time
• Implements more aggressive registration purging without adequate assurances that qualified voters are not being removed from the rolls

2. NEEDLESSLY DISQUALIFIES ELIGIBLE VOTES

• Stricter Requirements - Requires that votes be thrown out if every single field – including full social security number – is not completed on a provisional or absentee ballot envelope.
• Throwing Out Ballots - Throws out ballots where voter intent is clear, such as when a voter fills in the oval by a candidate’s name and also writes in the same name. There were 12,207 of these votes in 2008.
• No Solution to Poll Worker Error - Instead of finding a solution to determining poll worker error in provisional voting, the bill presumes voter error instead of error by trained poll workers. Poll worker error will continue to cause ballots to be thrown out.
• Creates more provisional voting - Increases the number of provisional ballots, which are less likely to be properly counted, by eliminating the requirement that poll workers will be required to direct voters to their correct precinct and by prohibiting poll workers form helping voters complete forms.

3. ELIMINATES LOCAL CONTROL & REQUIRES “ONE‐SIZE‐FITS‐ALL” APPROACH

• Prohibits setting up satellite locations for early voting unless 3 of 4 members approve
• Prohibits setting early vote hours that make sense for the county even though some counties have fewer than 15,000 residents and others have more than 1,000,000 residents.
• Prohibits mailing of absentee ballot request forms to all registered voters to shorten election day lines and add convenience for busy working voters as well as elderly voters
• Prohibits paying for postage for ballot return to ensure voters complete voting process