Judge Blasts Ohio’s Last Minute Disenfranchisement Effort: ‘I Don’t Want To See Democracy Die In The

Source: ThinkProgress

Judge Blasts Ohio’s Last Minute Disenfranchisement Effort: ‘I Don’t Want To See Democracy Die In The Darkness’

By Aviva Shen posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Nov 9, 2012 at 6:00 pm

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted is fast becoming one of the most despised election officials in the country for his many attempts to restrict early voting and throw out legitimate provisional ballots. He’s also alienating federal judges left and right. After Husted issued a last-minute directive that could invalidate thousands of Ohioans’ votes, US District Judge Algenon Marbley did not bother to hide his impatience with the secretary’s hijinks.

Husted’s directive, which was issued at 7 pm on the Friday before the election, openly defies Ohio state law by shifting the burden of correctly filling in a provisional ballot form from the poll worker to the contested voter. As Andrew Cohen at the Atlantic explains, Judge Marbley had already worked out an agreement that placed the responsibility on poll workers and the state, so a vote would still be counted if the poll worker made an error. Husted’s directive snuck around this agreement, apparently infuriating the judge:


Ohio’s attorney was unable to point to any legal justification for ignoring the law and shifting the burden to the voter. Marbley exploded:

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/11/09/1169321/federal-judge-not-amused-by-ohio-gop-secretary-of-states-last-minute-disenfranchisement-directive/