By Kathy Wray Coleman: Rep. Fudge asks U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to examine restrictive voting bills in Ohio that she says will "impede the voting abilities of minorities, students, the elderly"

Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (D-Ohio) (left) and U.S. Attorney

General Eric Holder

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CLEVELAND, Ohio-  Today, Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11), a Warrensville Heights Democrat whose predominantly Black 11th congressional district includes East Cleveland and parts of the cities of Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, and who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus of Blacks in Congress, sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asking him to examine House Bill 269 and Senate Bill 238, two pending bills in the Ohio State Legislature which impose photo identification restrictions and reduce early voting days, respectively.

In her letter to Holder, America's first Black U.S. attorney general, the federal lawmaker said
that the  proposed legislation will impede the voting ability of minorities, students and the elderly. 

“It is clear that these [proposed] restrictive voting laws will impact hundreds of thousands of voters in Ohio, a significant portion of them African American who have voted in record numbers during recent elections,” said Fudge. “Therefore, I strongly urge Attorney General Holder to intervene before these bills disenfranchise so many Ohioans, and obstruct a free and healthy democracy.”

House Bill 269 has a strict requirement for each voter to produce a photo identification card,
although more than 900,000 Ohioans lack such documentation, according to a 2012 Policy Matters Ohio study.

One of every four, or 260,000, eligible African American, and 290,000 senior voters would be adversely impacted, data show.

"Ultimately, this constraint is a poll tax that violates the 14^th Amendment," the congresswoman said.

Senate Bill 238 will eliminate Golden Week, a time Ohioans can register to vote and cast a ballot simultaneously. 

"This practice, used by African Americans and low-income voters at high rates, limits access to the polls to 28 or 29 days rather than the current 35," Fudge said. " Republicans have cited voter fraud as a concern, but not one prosecuted case of fraud has stemmed from Golden Week."

“In a swing state [like Ohio] with a history of legislators manipulating voting laws to limit access, these two recent legislative maneuvers are particularly troubling,” Congresswoman Fudge said. 

Fudge said that, if enacted, House Bill 269 and Senate Bill 238 would effectively disenfranchise voters because of their race, age or economic status. 

"They fly in the face of decades of efforts to eliminate obstacles to voter participation," said Fudge.