CINCINNATI — City Council on Tuesday voted down a proposed ban on "vaccine passports," leaving the door open for private businesses to require their patrons to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

Republican Betsy Sundermann, who introduced the ban as a motion and became the only vote in its favor, argued it would provide clarity for Cincinnati companies considering vaccine passport requirements.

"Businesses have the right to know what we're going to do," she said. "It's not our role as government to force especially private businesses to require those. Our restaurants are struggling right now, our small businesses. We'd be asking servers and bartenders and grocer clerks to verify medical documents."

Every other member of City Council voted against a ban. Democrat Chris Seelbach argued it didn't make sense to consider a ban on a policy that was not widespread within the city and had not been formally proposed within City Hall.

"I am not going to support something that's banning us from doing something that we haven't even talked about even considering doing," he said.

Others, such as Republican Liz Keating, worried that implementing a ban now could tie the council's hands if health officials recommended vaccine passports in the future.

"I think, out of principle, making a decision about something we don't know in the future what health commissioners are going to advise, I just think it's irresponsible," she said.

Sundermann's proposed vaccine passport ban was a partial response to New York City's requirement that people show vaccine status there.

No single vaccine policy is banned or enforced by state law in Ohio. Some individual venues and private businesses in Cincinnati, including the Taft Theatre, Music Hall and Andrew J. Brady ICON Music Center, have instituted their own proof-of-vaccination policies.

Video above: Pennsylvania senators want to prohibit vaccine passports

Vaccine passports being developed to verify COVID-19 immunization status and allow inoculated people to more freely travel, shop and dine have become the latest flash point in America's perpetual political wars, with Republicans portraying them as a heavy-handed intrusion into personal freedom and private health choices.

They currently exist in only one state — a limited government partnership in New York with a private company — but that hasn't stopped GOP lawmakers in a handful of states from rushing out legislative proposals to ban their use.

The argument over whether passports are a sensible response to the pandemic or governmental overreach echoes the bitter disputes over the past year about masks, shutdown orders and even the vaccines themselves.

Vaccine passports are typically an app with a code that verifies whether someone has been vaccinated or recently tested negative for COVID-19. They are in use in Israel and under development in parts of Europe, seen as a way to safely help rebuild the pandemic- devastated travel industry.

They are intended to allow businesses to more safely open up as the vaccine drive gains momentum, and they mirror measures already in place for schools and overseas travel that require proof of immunization against various diseases.

But lawmakers around the country are already taking a stand against the idea. GOP senators in Pennsylvania are drawing up legislation that would prohibit vaccine passports, also known as health certificates or travel passes, from being used to bar people from routine activities.

"We have constitutional rights and health privacy laws for a reason," said Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, a Republican. "They should not cease to exist in a time of crisis. These passports may start with COVID-19, but where will they end?"

Benninghoff said this week his concern was "using taxpayer money to generate a system that will now be, possibly, in the hands of mega-tech organizations who've already had problems with getting hacked and security issues."

A Democratic colleague, Rep. Chris Rabb of Philadelphia, sees value in vaccine passports if they are implemented carefully.

"There's a role for using technology and other means to confirm people's statuses," Rabb said. "But we do have concerns around privacy, surveillance and inequitable access."

Republican legislators in other states have also been drafting proposals to ban or limit them. A bill introduced in the Arkansas Legislature on Wednesday would prevent government officials from requiring vaccine passports for any reason, and would ban their use as a condition of "entry, travel, education, employment or services."

The sponsor, Republican state Sen. Trent Garner, called vaccine passports "just another example of the Biden administration using COVID-19 to put regulations or restrictions on everyday Americans."

President Joe Biden's administration has largely taken a hands-off approach on vaccine passports.

At a news conference this week, Andy Slavitt, acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said he considered them a project for the private sector, not the government.

He said the government is considering federal guidelines to steer the process surrounding vaccine passports. Among its concerns: Not everyone who would need a passport has a smartphone; passports should be free and in multiple languages; and private health information must be protected.

"There will be organizations that want to use these. There will be organizations that don't want to use these," said Dr. Brian Anderson of Mitre, which operates federally funded research centers and is part of a coalition working to develop standards for vaccine certifications to make their use easier across vendors.

Anderson noted the Vaccination Credential Initiative is not making recommendations on how — or even if — organizations choose to use the certifications.

In Montana, GOP lawmakers this week voted along party lines to advance a pair of bills that would ban discrimination based on vaccine status or possession of an immunity passport, and to prohibit using vaccine status or passports to obtain certain benefits and services.

And a freshman Republican state lawmaker in Ohio spoke out about the concept, saying more restrictions or mandates are not the answer to every COVID-19 problem.

"Ohioans are encouraged to take the COVID-19 vaccine for the health and well-being of themselves and others," Rep. Al Cutrona said. "However, a vaccine should not be mandated or required by our government for our people to integrate back to a sense of normalcy."

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday issued an executive order that said no governmental entity can issue a vaccine passport, and businesses in that state can't require them. He said he expected the Legislature to pass a similar law.

His order said requiring "so-called COVID-19 vaccine passports for taking part in everyday life — such as attending a sporting event, patronizing a restaurant, or going to a movie theater — would create two classes of citizens."

Related video: Florida Gov. DeSantis signs executive order prohibiting vaccine passports in state

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, a newly elected member who has embraced and promoted a range of far-right political positions, told her supporters on Facebook earlier this week that "something called a vaccine passport" was a form of "corporate communism" and part of a Democratic effort to control people's lives.

And a GOP lawmaker in Louisiana has teed up a bill to keep the state from including any vaccination information on the Louisiana driver's license or to make issuance of a driver's license subject to vaccine status.

In New York, a government-sponsored vaccine passport called the Excelsior Pass is being introduced. A smartphone app, it shows whether someone has been vaccinated or recently tested negative for COVID-19.

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo touted the idea as letting an event venue usher, for example, use their own smartphone to scan a concertgoer's code.

New York officials have not released specific details about how the app will work, access someone's vaccination or testing status or protect a user's name, date of birth or the location where their code was scanned. The app's privacy policy says data will be "maintained in a secure manner" and won't be used for sales or marketing purposes or shared with a third party. But some privacy experts say the public needs more specifics to ensure its information is protected.

Albert Fox Cahn, founder and executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project at the Urban Justice Center, a New York–based civil rights and privacy group, warned the Excelsior Pass creates a new layer of surveillance without sufficient details about how it collects data or protects privacy.

"We basically only have screenshots of the user interface and not much more," Cahn said of Excelsior Pass.

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Associated Press writers Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Columbus, Ohio; Marina Villeneuve in Albany, New York; Candice Choi in New York; Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; Amy Beth Hanson in Helena, Montana; and Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, contributed.

DENVER, Colo. — Vaccine passports--a document proving you’d had your COVID-19 vaccine--aren’t widely accepted across the country, but for one bar owner, it’s how he believes he is keeping his business alive and his customers safe.

Bar Max in Denver, Colorado prides itself on being a warm, welcoming space for craft cocktails, good conversation and community. “We don't do screens,” said Bar Max’s owner Marshall Smith. “We don't give out the Wifi password.”

Yet, finding that community and togetherness during COVID-19 has been nearly impossible.

“We're still, you know, barely hanging on,” said Smith.

The long time bartender took over and bought the bar just months before the pandemic hit.

“It's hard to show up, hard to be here and then just hope,” said Smith. “And there were definitely days we would not get an order, and that's depressing.”

Bar Max was able to survive by packing Smith’s unique cocktail creations to-go and serving customers on the small patio in front of the restaurant. But for more than six months, no one came inside for a drink. Smith made the choice for safety reasons, but it wasn’t an easy one.

“It was a struggle. It was, it basically sucks the joy or most of the joy out of bartending,” he said.

However, Smith felt the pressure of keeping himself, his customers, and others around him healthy.

“I have asthma. I have underlying health conditions, so I definitely didn't want to get sick,” said Smith. “And even more than me, I have older parents. I have a brother who I care for.”

He almost gave up and just shut down the bar, but a few weeks ago, he felt hopeful for the first time in a while.

“It was the first day, the first day that every adult could have access to the vaccine,” he remembered.

After months of not having anybody come inside the bar to enjoy a cocktail, Smith had an idea to get people in and keep them safe: every time customers come into Bar Max, Smith asks for proof of vaccination in order for patrons to enjoy a drink inside.

For those who are not vaccinated, Smith offers patio seating outside or all of his drinks to-go.

“A vast majority of people have been very supportive,” said Smith. “They want to show proof. They're excited about it. They're happy to be in a space where they can actually relax.”

Now, Bar Max looks like it did before the COVID-19 pandemic. It's bustling and filled with neighbors reconnecting.

Friday, Colorado Governor Jared Polis announced the statewide mask mandate is lifted based on new guidance from the CDC. Governor Polis said individual businesses may continue to require masks or not and can also mandate vaccine passports. He said the state will not implement a statewide vaccine passport system.

“You can come in, sit inside and be without a mask,” said customer Maureen McGuire. “I thought, well, that sounds wonderfully normal. I would love to experience that again.”

McGuire got her second vaccine two weeks ago and decided to celebrate by coming to Bar Max.

“We were just talking to this young gentleman, and that's something we haven't been able to do--talk to other people spontaneously in the community. That's pretty exciting!” said McGuire.

Smith said not everyone is supportive of this policy. He’s gotten plenty of backlash, but it won’t change his mind. The customers who do support him are who he cares to keep safe.

“I have zero concern that that's going to lose business for me,” said Smith. “I am absolutely keeping people out, keeping people out who are potentially a threat to the health and safety of me, my employees and my customers.”

He hopes in the months to come, more places will embrace a vaccine passport of some kind. He said the Colorado governor’s announcement gives him hope that will happen. Recently, Gov. Jared Polis said if 80% of patrons in a business can prove they are vaccinated, people can be without masks. And as of Wednesday, the CDC loosened their guidance on mask-wearing, saying those who are vaccinated no longer need to wear masks in most places, including bars and restaurants.

Smith believes this and policies like his own will help businesses get back to normal.

“We all need to talk to each other and be able to connect, and bars, restaurants are a crucial part of that,” said Smith.

The sight of people smiling and the laughter floating through the air proves, with some new rules, life can go on after a year apart.

“And you know what? If you're awkward from being locked down for a year, that's fine,” said Smith smiling. “We don't have any judgment. Come practice here!”