Are Ohio Democrats in ‘Disarray’ Over Amy Acton’s Support for Voter ID?

Support for voter ID looks to be dividing Ohio Democrats. Dr. Amy Acton, their nominee for governor, has come out in support of Issue 3 for the November election.

On Friday, Acton told Signal Statewide that she accepts the possibility that Ohio’s voter ID law may become enshrined in the state constitution.

“This amendment has overwhelming support from Ohioans across the state. As this doesn’t change what is already law, as governor, I will support it,” Acton told Signal Ohio.

“At the same time, as both a candidate and governor, I will fight to ensure that all eligible Ohio voters, regardless of party, can access the required identification easily and at no cost, so they can exercise their fundamental right and have their voices heard,” she added.

While the amendment is popular, many state Democrats, including Kathleen Clyde, chair of the Ohio Democratic Party, have criticized the policy.

The Daily Signal reached out to the Ohio Democratic Party for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Voter ID has also pitted the Democrat and Republican nominees for secretary of state. Democrat state Rep. Allison Russo opposes Issue 3, while Republican Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague promoted it and predicted it would pass “overwhelmingly.

In a statement to the Daily Signal, Sprague’s campaign reiterated that support while criticizing both Acton and Russo.

“Amy Acton is in favor of Issue 3 only because she’s seen the polling and knows Ohioans overwhelmingly back photo ID as the most effective way to secure our elections,” Dalton Throckmorton, campaign manager for Sprague for Ohio, told the Daily Signal. “In doing so, she has left Allison Russo, who spent her career voting against photo ID, stranded on an island and having to explain why she’s against secure elections.”

Russo, meanwhile, reiterated her opposition to Issue 3, which she voted against in the General Assembly.

“My position is clear and unchanged. I oppose the constitutional amendment because it is unnecessary, and I believe locking it into the Ohio Constitution is overkill, plain and simple,” a statement from Russo to the Daily Signal said.

“But we’re a big tent party. Unlike Republicans, who fall in line even if it forces working people to pay higher gas prices or lose their homes due to high property taxes or enter into a prolonged war without end, we are the adults in the room, and we can have differences of opinion. That’s democracy,” she continued.

State Sen. Jane Timken, who sponsored the Ohio Senate resolution to put Issue 3 on the ballot, says voter ID has sent the Democrats into “disarray.”

“It’s a desperate political calculation [for Acton] to distance herself from her own Democrat party that is taking orders from socialists who support open borders and men in women’s sports. They [democratic socialists] want to end the U.S. Senate, the Supreme Court, and the Constitution. They demand photo ID for [New York City Mayor Zohran] Mamdani’s grocery store but not for voting in our elections,” Timken told the Daily Signal.

“They are in such disarray. Her running mate, David Pepper, is on the record opposing photo ID,” she added.

Pepper provided opposition testimony against Senate Bill 153, which would strengthen Ohio voter registration rules.

As Acton noted, Voter ID is already state law. However, Republicans like Timken and others argue that it must be added to the state constitution to make it permanent and difficult for a future legislature to repeal.

Acton has already come under fire from Democrats over her support for protecting women’s sports, which she called “settled law” after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld state laws on the matter.

The Daily Signal also reached out to the Acton campaign for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.