Ohio Secretary Of State Sued Over Weekend Voting Curbs

[Kolesar]

Source: Bloomberg

Ohio’s Republican secretary of state was sued by his Democratic predecessor over a directive that makes early-voting hours uniform in all 88 of the state’s counties in part by eliminating weekend balloting.

Secretary of State Jon Husted issued the order Aug. 15. Former Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, together with the advocacy group Fair Elections Ohio and a voters’ referendum committee, claimed Husted violated their constitutional rights in a complaint filed today in federal court in Columbus.

Husted’s action revived portions of a repealed Ohio law, effectively reinstating parts of the statute that curbed or eliminated weekend early voting, the plaintiffs said. They seek a declaratory judgment that the directive and other actions are unconstitutional. Husted set uniform hours for in-person absentee voting after the Ohio Democratic Party said times were being expanded mostly in Republican-leaning counties.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-25/ohio-secretary-of-state-sued-over-voting-hours-directive.html

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Fair Elections Ohio contends that Husted's ruling has been superceded by the petition campaign to overturn HB194. See paragraphs three and four
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http://www.progressohio.org/blog/2012/08/fair-elections-ohio-files-suit-in-federal-court-over-husted-hb-194.html
PRESS RELEASE FROM FAIR ELECTIONS OHIO:

ProgressOhio Blog

Fair Elections Ohio Files Suit In Federal Court Over Husted, HB 194
By Bret Thompson on August 24, 2012 1:45 PM

The following statement was issued this afternoon by Greg Moore, Director of Fair Elections Ohio on behalf of the Fair Elections Ohio Committee and the hundreds of thousands of voters from across the state of Ohio who supported the repeal of HB 194. The attached complaint was filed this morning in Federal District Court in Columbus, Ohio.

"With the public controversy on early voting based on the recent action of the Ohio Secretary of State, along with his refusal to submit HB 194 for consideration by the Ohio Ballot Board last week, an untenable situation has been created."

The Secretary's weekend bans on voting that were the practical result of HB 194's shorter absentee and in-person voting period that were stopped by the referendum were, in effect, reenacted in the Secretary's recent actions to constrict early in-person voting hours to exclude weekends. (HB 194 would have stopped in person early voting on the weekends of October 6-7 and 13-14 and on Sundays all day and Saturdays after 12:00 noon, as well as the last 3 days before the election).

Refusing, as Secretary Husted did to put the issue on the ballot, despite clear state constitutional requirements to do so, is a federal constitutional violation of due process and the first amendment. On the same day, Secretary Husted reinstituted parts of HB 194 by banning weekend voting by directive power that carries the force of state law.

We wish to express our thanks again to the hundreds of thousands of citizens throughout the state of Ohio who signed our petitions last year and who have continued to stand with us in our efforts this year to ensure that all attempts to suppress the vote of Ohio citizens are defeated. Today's filing is just one more development in our continuing drive to ensure our voices and those of thousands of Ohioans are heard on the state's voting rules and in voting on and before Election Day."

Copies of the filings are available here:

Federal Suit [pdf]
http://progressohio.pnstate.org/site/R?i=8C2xdRvh5gkwBEIDxq2UEw

Exhibit 1 from Suit [pdf]
http://progressohio.pnstate.org/site/R?i=GNQz0au_oqBIqwhrUrekdQ
***
Ohio GOPs have repeatably been outplayed by Jennifer Brunner, a woman who knows the voting laws and actually does her "homework".

[JohnnyRingo]

1. This is a part of Kasich's voter restriction that has been overlooked.

Last year Kasich and his Republican Senate eliminated much of the early voting hours and registration deadlines were shortened. In the wake of the SB5 anti union victory, Ohio Democrats passed a petition and found an overwhelming number of signatures to send his voter restrictions to ballot this fall.

Kasich and the Republicans immediately dropped the restrictions thereby preventing the measures from being voted on in November. Now that the deadline for petition is safely over, Kasich had Husted shorten the voting hours directly from his office as Secretary of State.

Kasich is a dirty Fox News bastard who will hopefully see only one term. Unfortunately, that's six long years, enough time to steal James A Rhodes' reputation as Ohio's worst governor.

[FarPoint]

2. I wish more attention and activism

Would occur regarding this abuse of power. The problem is that there are so many outrageous GOP crimes against the citizens that we cannot plug all the holes. I posted some of this in thw Ohio's forum.

[Botany]

3. Jennifer Brunner

[elleng]

4. THIS is why Brunner sounded like such a dud couple days ago,

when interviewed about Ohio crap. Several DUers were upset/concerned/annoyed. She didn't want to discuss because this suit was in the works!!!



http://www.democraticunderground.com/125176221#post3

[JackHughes]

5. Republicans in Ohio are criminals

Republicans in Ohio -- as in Michigan and elsewhere -- are treating the 2010 elections as an "electoral coup."

They are ignoring the law. They are criminals.

They should be treated as such.

[davidpdx]

6. $20 says the US Supreme Court rules in favor of the Republicans

before weekend voting starts....