In another blow to voting in Ohio, the Secretary of State, John Husted (R) has eliminated weekend and evening early voting hours, a move that basically eliminates "Souls to the Polls" voter drives and negatively impacts voting participation particularly among African-American and senior voters.
In Tuesday's press release, Secretary Husted stated:
“Our goal is to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat and to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity in the voting process no matter which method they choose.”
Of course, what isn't being said is that the decreases in weekend voting and evening hours can lead to longer lines and hours long waits on election day. And, we don't have to look too far back to find evidence of that in thee 2012 election, where due to shortage of functional equipment and reduced early voting hours, voters in a number areas, especially urban areas, were faced with long lines at the polls both on the weekend prior to the general election (the only weekend of early voting not cut by Husted) and on election day.
The full press release can be found here:
http://www.sos.state.oh.us/...