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Attorney General Mike DeWine
DeWine Rejects
Ohio Motor Voter Automatic Registration Petition
(COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today rejected the
petition for a proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution which would
require automatic voter registration when a citizen applies for,
renews, updates, or replaces an Ohio driver's license, learner's
permit, or identification card, unless he or she affirmatively opts out
of registration.
On February 16, 2016, the Ohio Attorney General's Office received a
written petition proposing to add Section 10 to Article V of the Ohio
Constitution and a summary of the proposed amendment. While the
summary states that the amendment will register citizens "who are
eligible to vote in Ohio," the amendment text itself applies
prospectively to register any person "who will be eligible to vote in
the next statewide primary or general election[.]" This distinction may
mislead potential signers as to who would be registered to vote as a
result of the amendment.
For example, a 16-year-old who obtains a learner's permit after this
year's primary would be eligible to vote at the next statewide primary
election in 2018 so long as she would be 18 years old by November of
that year. The amendment can be read to direct the Bureau of
Motor Vehicles to automatically register that 16-year-old to vote.
Additionally, while the summary includes an explanation of changes to
state law, this provision may represent an additional change.
"For this reason, I am unable to certify the summary as a fair and
truthful statement of the proposed amendment," Attorney General DeWine
stated in his letter rejecting the petition. "However, I must caution
that this is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all defects in
the submitted summary."
The full text of today's letter and of the amendment petition submitted
can be found at www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/BallotInitiatives.
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