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Jon Husted: truly the man with the most important vote in Ohio. His vote can carry the whole state for Mitt Romney
As a consequence, Republicans cut early voting back for the upcoming election from 35 days to 11 days, with the three days right before the election eliminated.
Now, in heavily Democratic cities like Cleveland, Columbus, Akron and Toledo, early voting hours will be limited to 8 am until 5 pm on weekdays beginning on October 1, with no voting at night or during the weekend, when it’s most convenient for working people to vote. Republican election commissioners have blocked Democratic efforts to expand early voting hours in these counties, where the board of elections are split equally between Democratic and Republican members. Ohio Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted has broken the tie by intervening on behalf of his fellow Republicans.Say what? Unequal access for the boards? It's unequal access for voters at issue, sir. But you knew that.‘I cannot create unequal access from one county board to another, and I must also keep in mind resources available to each county,” Husted said in explaining his decision to deny expanded early voting hours in heavily Democratic counties. Yet in solidly Republican counties like Warren and Butler, GOP election commissioners have approved expanded early voting hours on nights and weekends.
To repeat: Republicans in wealthier suburban districts will be able to vote at night, on weekends and other off-hours during those 11 early balloting days. Working-class Ohioans, Democrats or leaning that way, will find that early-voting hours in their counties are more likely to be available when they're on the job and can't get away. Which, of course, goes counter to the purpose of early voting.
As Abe Zaidan has noted in regard to these shenanigans:
No county will be impacted more than Cuyahoga, where Democratic officials, organized labor and some clergy are outraged by the GOP's handiwork. "It's Republicans' dirty little secret," declared county Democratic Party Chairman Stuart Garson. "What they are saying is, 'We don't want you people voting'."Husted and other Republicans can try to label this nothing more than a local affair adjudicated totally within the rules the state has set forth. Move along. Nothing to see here.
In fact, it's the new Jim Crow.
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