Online Voter Registration available Jan. 1.
COLUMBUS – Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced his office will launch the state’s new online voter registration system at midnight on January 1, 2017.
“Raise a glass of champagne, offer a toast, get online and register to vote,” Secretary Husted said.
At Secretary Husted’s request, the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 63, which authorizes the use of online voter registration in Ohio. The bill allows the system to be made available to Ohioans as early as January 1, 2017.
Secretary Husted has long been an advocate for online voter registration in Ohio, which has proven in other states to save between 50 cents and $2.34 per registration, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. Between 2011 and 2016, the state could have saved between $3.7 million and $17.3 million.
“Online voter registration is more convenient, more secure, more accurate and less costly than the paper voter registration alone and I am proud that we will finally be able to provide this service to Ohio voters,” Secretary Husted said.
Online voter registration is more secure than paper registration alone as the online system will immediately check a voter’s eligibility prior to accepting the registration. With an automated system, the risk of human error is also significantly reduced.
This appeared in OhioMBE – Jan 1, 2017
