COLUMBUS – Democrats spoke out against the passage of a bill to end same-day voting and registration, saying it’s being rushed through the lame-duck session without giving enough time to fully debate a measure that impacts peoples’ voting rights.

Senate Bill 380 passed the state Senate on Tuesday by a vote of 19 to 11. However, three Senate Democrats took the floor before its passage to speak out against how fast the bill was being pushed toward a vote by the Republican leadership.

State Sen. Tom Roberts (D-Trotwood) said the bill is like a “headline looking for a story” because there were not massive problems with the election.

“This bill is being rushed. The breaks need to be put on. We need to address this in the next session in a bipartisan, comprehensive way,” he said.

State Sen. John Boccieri (D-Alliance) also argued against the bill.

“I for the life of me do not understand why the last three General Assemblies I’ve served in, that virtually every piece of election reform legislation comes after the election rather than before the election so we can have a spirited, robust dialogue and debate before the election, and while people are fully engaged,” he said.

State Sen. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) said the bill is “ill-timed” and the quick movement through committee has compressed debates and opportunities to present alternative bills.

In addition to moving the start dates for absentee and in-person early voting to after the registration deadline, the bill also empowers the secretary of state to permit election observers into early voting locations; allows county boards of elections to set up three polling locations for in-person early voting and requires the secretary of state to issue directives to county boards of elections on how to handle voter registrations that don’t match information on government databases.

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