Ohio Democrats State Logo

Ohio Democratic

County Chairs Association

Ohio Democrats Party ODP Logo

Main Navigation

Menu

  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • County Chairs
    • County Chairs of the Year – 2020
    • ODCCA Officers
      • Message from President Janet Carson
    • ODCCA Executive Committee, Regional Liaisons & Committees
    • ODCCA Constitution and Bylaws
    • How Ohio’s 88 counties got their names
    • WHY We Are Democrats!
    • Ohio Democratic Party (ODP)
      • History: Ohio Democratic Party
    • Democratic National Committee (DNC)
      • DNC Chair Jaime Harrison
      • DNC Officers
      • The 2020 Democratic Platform
  • Team
    • President Joe Biden & Vice President Kamala Harris
      • Nominees and Appointees
    • Senator Sherrod Brown
    • U.S. House of Representatives
      • Congresswoman Joyce Beatty
      • Congresswoman Marcia Fudge
      • Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur
      • Congressman Tim Ryan
    • Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court
      • Ohio Supreme Court Justice Michael P. Donnelly
      • Ohio Supreme Court Justice Melody J. Stewart
      • Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner
    • State Senate Minority Leadership – 134th General Assembly
    • State House Minority Leadership – 134th General Assembly
    • Former President Barack Obama
  • Candidates
    • Interested in being a candidate?
      • Main Street Initiative – 2021
      • Candidate Information: Guides, Forms, Links
    • Are You Ready To VOTE?
  • Issues
  • News
  • Events
    • ODCCA
      • ODCCA Meetings & ODP Co-Hosted Events
      • ODCCA & ODP County Chairs Weekly Conference Calls
    • Local County Parties
    • ODP
      • County Chairs Conference Calls
    • DNC
      • 2020 Democratic National Convention – 8.17-20.2020
    • Are you ready to vote in 2021?
  • Contact Us
  • Links
  • Members Only

Jon Husted Fails Ohio Voters

February 19, 2014

Republican Secretary of State has turned the office into a partisan lapdog, not a watchdog for voters’ rights

In response to Secretary of State Jon Husted failure to speak out publicly today against SB 205 or SB 238 as passed by the Ohio House of Representatives, ODP Deputy Communications Director Brian Hester released the following statement:

“After the 2004 elections, there was a bipartisan agreement that Ohio’s election laws needed reform.  Since then, Republicans have worked nonstop to roll back those reforms to prevent people who don’t support Republicans from voting.  As Secretary of State, Jon Husted took an oath to protect Ohio voter’s right to vote, but has clearly failed to lead.  Instead, Husted yet again chose to be a lapdog for his own party.”

BACKGROUND

Three major Ohio editorials have recently made it clear that these bills were being passed for no other reason than deny likely Democratic voters the vote before the 2014 election.  The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s editorial today said that the measures “aim to limit voting by Ohioans who might vote for Democrats” and called passage of the bills “an affront to democracy” that allowed politicians to “pick their own voters.”  [Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer (2/19/2014), “Ohio House Republicans should walk away from bills aimed at decreasing the ease of voting in Ohio”]

The Toledo Blade editorial said the bills “would make it harder to vote among citizens whom GOP politicians would rather keep away from the polls.” On the GOP argument that the bills were need to fight “voter fraud,” the Blade noted “[t]hat argument would be more credible if those who make it could point to specific examples of fraud in Ohio voting that their measures would prevent. But they can’t offer evidence of systematic fraud, because it doesn’t exist.  These bad measures aren’t as blatant as the poll taxes and literacy tests that Southern elections officials used during the civil rights era a half-century ago to keep African-Americans from voting. But their effect is largely, and intolerably, the same, and their approval would seem to invite court challenges under federal voting rights law.” [Source: Toledo Blade (2/19/14), “Don’t suppress the vote”]

The Akron Beacon Journal editorial noted that the Republicans decided that “[r]ather than work in a bipartisan way on a comprehensive overhaul of election laws, the Republican-run legislature has proceeded on its own unfortunate course. This week, the Ohio House is working on bills that push aside important priorities and contain flaws that would make voting more difficult.” [Source: Akron Beacon Journal (2/18/2014), “Election partisans”]

Jon Husted supports cutting early voting days by a week.  According to the Columbus Dispatch, Secretary of State Husted recommends that “early voting would instead start 29 days before the election” but it end during the afternoon “the Sunday before the general election.”  Currently, Ohio law permits early voting for thirty-five days before the general election.  [Source: Columbus Dispatch, (10/24/2013), “Husted promotes limits on early voting.”

Federal courts already ruled that Husted’s attempts to cut general election early voting days are illegal.  In 2012, the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Ohio ruled that Ohio could not cut off early voting the Friday before the general election.  Republicans attempted to reduce the number of days of early voting, but the Ohio General Assembly reversed them after HB 194 was threatened with a referendum campaign.  [Source: Reuters (8/31/12), “Court overturns Ohio early voting restrictions in win for Democrats.”]

The decision to declare Republicans’ attempt to cut off early voting before Election Day was upheld by federal appellate courts.  The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s decision declaring the restriction “unconstitutional.”  “The court acknowledged an argument that ‘low-income and minority voters are disproportionately affected by elimination’ of the three days of polling for many voters and said ‘there is no definitive evidence… that elections boards would be tremendously burdened’ by returning poll access to the standard before recent changes to the state’s laws.”

[Source: CNN (10/5/2012), “Federal court upholds Ohio early voting ruling.”]

According to official records maintained by Jon Husted’s own office, more than 600,000 Ohioans used Early Voting in 2012. [Source: Ohio Secretary of State’s website, 2012 “Absentee Ballot Report.”]

Blog Sidebar

Search the Site

Categories

  • Events
    • DNC
    • Local County Parties
    • ODCCA
    • ODP
  • Issues
    • Federal
    • State
  • News
  • Photo Galleries
  • Uncategorized

Recent Posts

  • Special health care enrollment period through ACA
  • Redistricting Ohio – 2021
  • Keep informed about gerrymandering during 2021
  • What issues may be on the ballot? Who determines what issue is on ballot?
  • ODCCA Events

Archives

  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • November 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • November 2018
  • September 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • March 2013

Trending

absentee ballots Budget Campaign Finance Charter school College Affordability congressional redistricting DNC early voting Economy education Elections Equal Pay Events Fact Check FBI Fraud Governor Governor 2018 heroin Higher Education jobs local government funding Medicaid Expansion Mental Health military ODCCA ODP Ohio AFL-CIO Right To Work SB5 School funding State Auditor State Treasurer taxes unemployment Unions Veterans Voter Protection Voter Registration Voters Rights voter suppression voting rights women's caucus Women's Issues workers

Contribute to ODCCA

Donate Now

Your contributions
DO make a difference!

When you contribute,
you make a difference in Ohio!
Thank You!

Donate Now

Recent News

  • Special health care enrollment period through ACA
  • Redistricting Ohio – 2021
  • Ohio Democratic Party Executive Committee elects chair
  • Georgia turns BLUE!
  • Want to help flip Georgia BLUE? Here are a few ideas!
  • First Presidential Debate to be held in Cleveland! Tuesday, 9.29.2020
  • BidenHarris2020 – We are 1 Team!
  •  
  • View all news

Current Issues

  • Keep informed about gerrymandering during 2021
  • What issues may be on the ballot? Who determines what issue is on ballot?
  • United States Census 2020
  •  
  • View all issues

Pages

  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • Team
  • Candidates
  • Issues
  • News
  • Events
  • Contact Us
  • Links
  • Members Only
Donate Now

© 2014 Ohio Democratic County Chairs Association, All Rights Reserved

Paid for and authorized by the Ohio Democratic County Chairs Association, Amy F. Grubbe/Treasurer, 2810 Hull Road #6, Huron 44839.

Not authorized by any Federal, state or county candidate or campaign committee.