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A provision inserted in the state transportation bill by the Ohio Senate would create burdens on out-of-state students who want to vote at their Ohio college and university addresses, a Democratic state representative says.

(Robert Higgs, Northeast Ohio Media Group)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A Democratic state representative and advocate for voting rights says a last-minute addition to the state transportation budget would effectively suppress voting by students at Ohio's colleges and universities.

But a spokesman for Senate Republicans, who inserted the provision into the budget bill, defended it as merely regulating vehicle registration laws.

The provision would require people who come into Ohio and register to vote to re-register their vehicles with Ohio after 30 days. If they fail to register the car with Ohio, then their driving privileges under their out-of-state license for any vehicle would be suspended and they would have to obtain an Ohio license to drive.

A joint House-Senate panel will take up the issue Tuesday. If it remains part of the bill, it would likely spark litigation against the state of Ohio, an expert on election laws says.

Rep. Kathleen Clyde, a Portage County Democrat, says that provision could be burdensome on college students, who would be faced with the cost of re-registering their vehicles with Ohio if they want to vote from their campus addresses. That fee, approaching $100, would be a deterrent, she said.

"Not quite the welcome to Ohio that we're trying to give them," Clyde said. "If the reason is to make voting more difficult, I think that is very problematic and sends the wrong message to people that we want to move here and stay here and create their lives here. It also sends the wrong message to Ohio voters and about our respecting their right to vote."

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the right of college students to vote from their college addresses.

The changes would not mesh with the state's requirements for establishing residency for purposes of qualifying for in-state tuition rates, said Jeff Robinson, a spokesman for the Ohio Board of Regents.

That is a much more complex analysis that would consider several factors beyond voter registration and driver's license, he said. Among those factors are whether the student is still claimed as a dependent by out-of-state parents and if the student is paying taxes in Ohio.

John Fortney, a spokesman for the Senate Republican Caucus, defended the language, brushing off the notion of voter suppression as political posturing.

He described the language as strictly an effort to get people to get a valid driver's license after becoming an Ohio resident so that they can drive legally. The language of the amendment defines residency as occurring 30 days after registering to vote.

Labeling the measure as a poll tax for voter suppression is political spin, he said.

The House voted unanimously to approve legislation containing the state transportation budget. But the registration issue was not a part of that bill. The provision was inserted with a bundle of other amendments by a Senate committee.

It and other differences between the bills passed by the two chambers of the General Assembly will be before a conference committee Tuesday afternoon. The legislature needs to complete the transportation budget this week so that it will take effect with the beginning of the new biennium.

"I'm hopeful that the provision wasn't well thought through and now that some of the provisions and their potential impact are out there, the Republicans will have the good sense to remove it," Clyde said.

If the provision were to remain in the legislation and become law, it almost certainly would spark lawsuits against the state of Ohio, said Daniel Tokaji, a professor at the Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law and an expert on election issues.

"The basic argument here would be that this is somehow trying to intimidate or coerce people who were trying to register to vote," Tokaji said. Such action would have the potential to violate the National Voter Registration Act (known as the motor voter law) and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

"I would not be at all surprised if we saw one or more lawsuits should this get enacted in Ohio law," Tokaji said.