Ohio GOP Secretary of State Ignores Fed Court Ruling On Early Voting

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The Republicans are desperate to get their man elected, and in Ohio, a must win state, that desperation is leading the Republican secretary of state to defy a court order and restrict early voting.  Polls show that early voters are almost 2-1 in favor of Barack Obama, and this scares the hell out of the Right.  Here’s the story from Think Progress:

Two federal courts said that the Ohio Republican Party’s effort to reduce opportunities to vote early must notgo into effect. And the Supreme Court rejected an attempt by Ohio Republican officials to reinstate a GOP-backed law taking away three days of early voting just this week.

Yet despite multiple court defeats, Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted is determined to restrict early voting as much as he can get away with. Indeed, Husted openly defied the first court order blocking the Republican restrictions on early voting, although he eventually backed down after a federal judge ordered him to appear in court personally to explain himself. Now, just two days after the conservative Roberts Court turned away Husted’s bid to reinstate the anti-voter law, he is still finding new ways to cut back early voting:

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted swiftly limited early voting hours on those crucial three days to 8 am–2 pm on Saturday, November 3; 1–5 pm on Sunday, November 4; and 8 am–2 pm on Monday, November 5. That means Ohio voters will have a total of only sixteen hours to cast a ballot during those three days. And before the weekend before the election, Ohio voters will still not be able to cast a ballot in-person on nights or weekends.

In 2008, the most populous counties in Ohio allowed more time for early voting—both in terms of days (thirty-five) and hours (on nights and weekends in many places). For the three days before the election, early voting locations were open for a total of twenty-four hours in Columbus’s Franklin County (8-5 on Saturday, 1-5 on Sunday and 8-7 on Monday) and 18 and a half hours in Cleveland’s Cuyahoga County (9-1 on Saturday, 1-5 on Sunday, 8:30-7 pm on Monday). During those final three pre-election days in 2008, 148,000 votes were cast and “wait times stretched 2 1/2 hours,” reported the Columbus Dispatch.

There is a simple explanation for why Ohio Republicans are so determined to cut back early voting. Early voters are more likely to be minorities and are more likely to have lower incomes. They are also much less likely to have jobs that give them the flexibility to take time off to vote on election day. According to a recent Ohio poll, President Obama leads 57 percent to 38 percent among people who already voted, but is tied at 43 percent with Mitt Romney among likely voters who have yet to cast their ballot.

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Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.
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Dale Fisk
11 years ago

Romney is going to lose Ohio and no amount of lying, cheating, and defrauding will stop that. Barack Obama will go on to win the election and we can put the ole Mittens away until 2016.

Erin Nanasi
Reply to  Dale Fisk
11 years ago

Dale! Ann went on The View and said if Mitt loses, they are out of politics. Between that and Nugent promising to be dead or in jail if President Obama gets reelected, it’s a win win! 😀

E.A. Blair
Reply to  Erin Nanasi
11 years ago

You’re going to put faith in something Ann Romney said? That’s naive. I thought Gingrich and Santorum were politically dead, too and they came back far enough to be primary front runners, if even for a short while.

Used Republicans never die – they work behind the scenes.

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