First Posted: 2/16/2015
LIMA — There’s always room for improvement in the voting process.
“Everything we do, we want to push to be better to put Ohio in a great light,” Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted said in a visit to The Lima News on Monday.
Online voter registration is “the one area in election administration where Ohio is falling behind,” Husted said, as the legislature has been “dragging their feet.” Husted said he believes the new General Assembly and change in leadership will improve the process.
The “paranoia of the unknown” has been a deterrent for some in the state, in fear of the Internet’s insecurities, fraud, voter suppression, and others. Husted assures people the Internet is the better way.
Husted’s office is working with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to add an extra step to the process, matching your signature at the polling location to the signature in the BMV’s database. The signature would be in addition to your name, date of birth, address and your driver license number.
For those without a driver license, “you would still have to do it the old way,” Husted said.
The online process is secure, efficient and saves money, Husted said.
“The paper system is less secure than the online system,” he said.
U.S. President Barack Obama’s recent implementation of the Immigration Accountability Executive Action plan allows “up to 5 million non-citizens to remain in the United States and receive Social Security numbers,” Husted said.
To combat confusion and potential fraud, Husted wrote a letter to Obama calling for the name, address, date of birth and last four numbers of that person’s Social Security number for anyone who is receiving a Social Security card under the action plan.
The system allows for cross-checking, ensuring the validity of the voters’ identity, maintaining the “integrity” of the polling process, he said.
There were 291 noncitizens on the voter rolls for the 2012 presidential election, Husted said, of which, 17 had cast ballots and were referred for prosecution and further investigation.
