There are few better examples than Jon Husted to illustrate just how important is the office of the secretary of state in a place like Ohio.
Or how much Ohio needs Nina Turner.
Ohio has always been a swing state in presidential elections. In 2004 it went for Bush by a margin of 118,000 votes, giving him the election without his having to use the Supreme Court. In 2012 it broke Karl Rove's heart, leading him to sputter on Fox News and make Megan Kelly walk down a hall on live television (one of the highlights of that year's election coverage). It is likely to play a very important role two years from now.
Clearly the Democratic Party is aware of that, and in a letter to Ohio Democratic Party contributors and supporters of Nina Turner, Bill Clinton writes:
Be it women's rights, workers' rights, or economic opportunity for Ohio's families, Nina is dedicated to ensuring that everyone has a fair shot at the American dream. She truly understands the struggles of working and middle-class families and, unlike her opponent, Nina has fought to make voting more convenient, simple, and secure.
Throughout his tenure, Jon Husted has used his office in a flagrantly politically partisan manner, in order to disenfranchise, as much as possible, a class of voters that took advantage of early voting in the 2008 election. Husted and the other Republicans know that when all citizens are allowed to vote, they lose.
There are two ways to fight back. The first is to help us elect Nina Turner as Ohio's next secretary of state. She is fighting big money with a grassroots campaign and needs your help. Can you donate $3 or more to her campaign?
The second way to fight back is below the fold.
Ten years ago, Ohio polling places had massive lines. It was a mess, with an estimated 170,000 voters simply giving up because the lines were too long (Bush won the state by 118,000 votes). Ohio fixed that problem and allowed voters to cast ballots up to 35 days before an election. In 2008 there were no problems at the polling places and people got to vote.
But when the Republicans realized that allowing all Ohioans the opportunity to vote resulted in Barack Obama beating John McCain, they decided that the system needed to be fixed. Again.
First, they tried to reduce early voting days from 35 to 11, but eventually had to settle for eliminating the last three days before the election, which included the Sunday traditionally used by many African-American churches to get "Souls to the Polls." In 2012, and again in 2014, that important Sunday will not be available for early voting due to Republican control of the statehouse.
Worse than that, was the effort in 2012 to allow extended voting hours and days for Republican-leaning counties, but not for counties that were majorly Democratic. The election boards in each county consist of equal numbers of Democratic and Republican members. In the Republican-leaning counties, Democrats joined their Republican members in voting to extend hours. However, in Democratic-leaning counties, the Republican members voted against extending voting time, leaving the boards tied.
At that point, the secretary of state used his newly discovered tie-breaking authority to vote against the Democratic board members every time—with the result that those voters in some counties (lean Republican) would get more opportunities to vote than voters in other counties (lean Democratic).
Ohio really needs a Secretary of State like Nina Turner.
"Republicans, where they have control, are trying to make it harder for Democratic groups to vote," as E.J. Dionne states in the Rachel Maddow report on Husted's shenanigans in this video:
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Meteor Blades nailed it two years ago:
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.
Within a week, Husted had backed down on the different voting hours and declared that all
counties would use the same early voting hours:
But instead of doing the right thing and expanding hours in the urban counties to match those of the suburban and rural ones, he has set the hours the same everywhere, at a lower level. That eliminates the Jim Crow aspects, to be sure. It doesn't, however, provide the extra hours that would draw more voters to the polls in the urban districts. For one thing, no weekend voting and very little evening voting. That is nonsensical.
But the hours in 2012 that were allowed were better than the hours this year. Thanks to a certain
Supreme Court quintet, a lower court ruling to protect early voting was put on hold and more restrictive voting hours will be used.
According to SCOTUSblog:
The bar to most Sunday and evening early voting was imposed by Secretary of State John Husted. Both he and the state attorney general, Michael DeWine, are Republicans.
Let me emphasize that first sentence:
"The bar to most Sunday and evening early voting was imposed by Secretary of State John Husted."
Which is why Ohio needs Nina Turner as its secretary of state.
Immediately after the Supreme Court ruling, Husted put out a new directive September 29 outlining the following early voting schedule:
- Weeks One and Two of Voting (beginning with the day after the close of registration for the election, except any holiday established by state law)
- 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on each weekday (Monday through Friday)
- Week Three of Voting
- 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on each weekday (Monday through Friday)
- 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday
- Week Four of Voting
- 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on each weekday (Monday through Friday)
- 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on the Saturday before the election
- 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on the Sunday before the election
- Week of Election Day
- 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on the Monday before the election
All of which would be very convenient if you didn't need to work for a living.
The New York Times reported on the Sixth Circuit decision that was placed on hold by the Republicans of the Supreme Court:
Last Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, ordered officials in Ohio to let voters start casting ballots on Tuesday. The panel reasoned that cutting back on early voting at polling places placed a disproportionate burden on poor and black voters.
The panel said it was mindful that Ohio allows voting by mail throughout the contested period. “The presence of vote by mail undoubtedly ameliorates some of the burdens on voting,” Judge Karen Nelson Moore wrote for the panel. But she added that “African-Americans, lower-income individuals and the homeless are distrustful of the mail” or “would prefer to vote in person for unrelated reasons.”
From
Michael Arceneaux writing for NewsOne:
“Unrelated reasons,” such as realizing that for a very, very, very long period in this country, Blacks were disenfranchised; therefore, being able to vote in person is honoring those who fought so ardently for our collective right to be treated as full citizens, which is a right Republicans across the country want to strip away.
I get that. I really do. African Americans have already paid too high a price for their right to vote. In person, just like any white Republican whose job allows him to come and go as he pleases.
But today, in 2014, it isn't going to happen for most of those who cannot take time off to vote and/or are unable to spend hours standing in line on November 4. However, they can vote by mail.
Ohio offers a no-excuse-needed absentee ballot that can be mailed to the county election official or dropped off during the hours listed above. A ballot may be requested up to three days before the election and must be postmarked no later than the day before the election.
I know that voting by mail may not be a popular choice among younger voters or African-American voters. It is however, very popular among the elderly white voters who want a return to the "good old days" of the 1950s when they were still in charge.
If we want to resist a return to that era of Jim Crow, we may have to use the mail this time, and elect Nina Turner. As secretary of state, she will use all of the power of her office to insure that future elections will be open to all voters.
She is fighting big money with a grassroots campaign and needs your help. Can you donate $3 or more to her campaign?