WILMINGTON — People may soon be able to register to vote with just one click.
The state is looking to implement an online voter registration website, myohiovote.com, for people to register to vote online.
Ohio Secretary of State John Husted has been a supporter for online registration for awhile now, and is working to get support from all 88 counties in the state, said Beth Hamad, regional liaison for the Secretary of State.
“Online voter registration is not being proposed as a means to eliminate the paper version,” she said. “Individuals who prefer to use the paper voter registration can still do that.”
So far 28 states — 17 which voted Democratic in the 2012 presidential election and 11 which voted Republican — have implemented the online voter registration.
“This has been a bipartisan effort across the board,” Hamad said.
Registering to vote online, Hamad said, is safer and more convenient. Online registration would also save taxpayers and county’ies money.
“There should be no cost to the county,” she said.
For people to register to vote online, they just need their name, address, date of birth, driver’s license number and last four digits of their Social Security number.
After entering the correct information, the system securely compares records with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
If the information a voter entered matches the BMV’s records, the Board of Elections will receive a secure transmission with the voter’s information and signature while the voter will receive a tracking number and a card with their polling place and precinct.
Hamad said the county should save between $8,010 to $37,487, or $0.50 per registration or $2.34 per registration, respectively.
The bill has been passed in the Senate already, Hamad said, and the Secretary of State is just waiting for the legislature.
While the office waits, liaisons are going all around the state gaining support for online voter registration.
In the southwestern regional, the region Hamad oversees, six of the nine counties support online voter registration. Those counties are: Hamilton, Warren, Greene, Clermont, Butler and Brown counties.
In addition to the six counties, the County Commissioners Association of Ohio supports online voter registration.
Statewide, Hamad said there are about 60 county commissioners who have written letters of support for online voter registration.
“Online voter registration is another important step in Secretary Husted’s mission to ensure it remains easy to vote and hard to cheat in Ohio,” she said.
The Clinton County commissioners also support the program.
