Dayton
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Voting sticker change
bringing controversy, criticism
Voting rights advocates are criticizing possible designs for Ohio’s
voting stickers which include the state motto: “With God, All Things
are Possible.”
The word “God” is included on two of six new voting sticker designs
proposed by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, who is inviting people
to vote to pick the new sticker that voters can wear on Election Day.
Husted spokesman Matt McClellan said the office has had no complaints
about the decision to include designs with the state motto. He said if
people feel strongly about it they should go to ElectYourSticker.com
and vote for a different sticker.
“It’s certainly not trying to push anything on anyone,” said McClellan.
Voting rights advocate Ellis Jacobs questions the decision to use the
word “God” on the popular voting stickers.
“The ones that have the state motto on it would kind of put atheists in
a bind, wouldn’t it?” said Jacobs, senior attorney for Dayton-based
Advocates for Basic Legal Equality. “There are a heck of a lot of
atheists out there.
They shouldn’t be made uncomfortable when they go to vote.”
Rob Scott, president of the Dayton Tea Party, and Dan Andriacco,
spokesman for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati both said they don’t see a
problem with Husted’s sticker proposals.
“The Catholic Church doesn’t believe in a theocracy, but we do believe
that ‘With GodAll Things are Possible.’ That’s Ohio’s state motto as
upheld by federal courts as Constitutional and it’s a good one.” said
Andriacco.
Scott said the Tea Party movement is generally opposed to government
involvement in people’s lives, including their religious lives, so the
use of the God on the sticker might “raise eyebrows” if it were not the
state motto.
“I can see the arguments on both sides, but overall I think the Tea
Party movement would not have a problem with it,” Scott said.
Ohioans of all religious persuasions – and those with none – should
feel welcome in polling places, said Catherine Turcer, director of the
money in politics project at Ohio Citizen Action, a non-partisan
government watchdog group in Columbus.
“People love their stickers,” she said. “It’s like a badge of honor. So
the badge of honor shouldn’t be contentious.”
The ACLU sued the state over the constitutionality of the motto – which
quotes the Bible – in the late 1990s, and lost on appeal at the 6th
Circuit Court of Appeals in 2001.
Mike Brickner, spokesman for ACLU of Ohio, said, given that court
ruling, the issue of the motto on the voting sticker is of less concern
for the group than proposals now in the Ohio Legislature that the group
believes could make it harder for people to vote.
“There’s lots of legislation right now that would seriously curtail
absentee voting,” he said. “And there is also legislation that would
require people to produce a photo ID.”
Legislators supporting those changes say it would reduce the chance of
voter fraud.
Husted took office in January, and as is traditional for the incoming
secretary of state, he launched a redesign of the voting sticker. The
work was done in-house and the campaign has cost less than $1,000, said
McClellan. The state provides the stickers free of charge to boards of
elections. In 2010 the state paid $29,000 for 4.2 million stickers,
most of which McClellan anticipates will have been used up by the time
Husted switches to the replacement stickers in November.
McClellan said about 2,000 people have voted so far and Husted is
hoping the campaign will energize young people to participate in
voting. Online voters can see how their choices are faring. As of
Thursday afternoon one of the stickers with the word “God” had nearly
21 percent of the vote and was running second to a sticker that is a
take-off on the use of a heart shape to signify “love.”
Aaron Ockerman, executive director of the Ohio Association of Elections
Officials, offered a partly tongue-in-cheek reaction to the use of the
word “God” on the voting stickers.
“The United States Constitution says that our rights are given to us by
God, and in our country we consider voting to be a right. Therefore it
seems to me that God wants everybody to vote,” Ockerman said. “I will
leave it to our elected officials to determine whether or not the
taxpayers should fund that message.”
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