VICTORY in Ohio - GOP Relents, will allow uniform early voting for all

VICTORY in Ohio - GOP Relents, will allow uniform early voting for all

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer;
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted calls for uniform early voting hours
(cleveland.com)

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted says he will order all county boards of election to keep the same early voting hours for the November election.

Husted said he will direct boards of election to be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday -- but not weekends -- during the first three weeks of early voting, which begins Oct. 2. For the last two weeks, the hours will be 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday though Friday.

The people have made their voices heard, the outrage and the Republican-skewed early voting has led the Ohio Secretary of State to relent, and call for uniform early voting hours across all counties.

Previously, early voting had been extended in Republican-leaning counties, but curtailed in Democratic-leaning counties.

It's a small victory, but a victory never the less. This is all anyone has ever asked for, uniform, consistent rules for one and all. Now if we can only eradicate the fraudulent electronic voting systems and voter-purges of valid citizens from the ranks of eligible voters.

You're right in that it's a small victory, but it is a Good Thing! All citizens of the state should have equal access to vote.

OK, all of you ACORN (or whatever they are calling themselves these days) and SEIU people, remember, vote early, vote often!

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


There you go!! I told you Husted was thinking about making the change. Glad he did. It makes sense.

People will still bitch about it not being enough. It never is. ( you mention fraudulent elec. machines... Fraud can occur at any level with any technology. What do you suggest? Hand counts? 2 for you 1 for me) Next comes the push for 24/7 voting eh?

Time for me to get some rest. I've got a Paul Ryan Victory rally to attend tomorrow morning. See you there!!

ETA
You forgot to mention how the process works in OHIO in your OP. No need to always blame the GOP. The early voting hours were determined by the county board of elections in each county. Two Dems and Two Reps cast the vote and 24/88 counties had voted to have early voting hours extended.. prior to this ruckus.

Glad its settled... On to the next...

Im glad to see the pressure put on him made a difference. While I would have liked to see it go the other way at least now the rules are actually uniform. For at least making it uniform he deserves some applause. But it should be noted that while the hours are now uniform The Republican side still lost less by going with less open hours as opposed to if they had equally extended them all equally.

reply to post by jibeho


My, you're a bitter little man, eh?

One voter-suppression tactic foiled, on to the next.

Of course the solution posed by Husted was to keep the more restrictive hours in place for all counties, meaning cities like Cleveland can still expect to see 8-hour long lines on election day. Most of the rural Republican counties don't see the massive queues like the cities do.

Ultimately, the goal should be for everyone to have a chance to vote. A simple concept. It's why Ohio passed the early voting law in the first place.

A host of state and federal Democratic lawmakers and groups including the American Civil Liberties Union in recent days called on Husted to set uniform rules.

"You have claimed to advocate for 'uniform standards' that treat all voters the same," said a letter to Husted signed Monday by five Ohio senators, including Nina Turner of Cleveland and Tom Sawyer of Akron. "Unfortunately, it has become abundantly clear that all voters in Ohio are not being treated the same in regards to early voting and any notion of 'uniform standards' has been thrown out the window," the letter reads. "That is unacceptable and must be rectified immediately."

Husted had vowed to "work with local elections officials to find a thoughtful solution."

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern said Husted's directive was too restrictive and still deprived voters of their rights.

“Each moment we get closer to Election Day, Republicans find more ways to chip away at the number of days and hours Ohio voters have access to the polls," Redfern said in a statement. "Now Secretary of State Jon Husted has eliminated weekend voting and slashed hours across the entire state, taking away the right to 35 days of early voting that’s written into Ohio law."

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Now if we can only have state issued picture ID to vote!


I still find it ridiculous that one side of the political spectrum makes such a bold embrace of voter fraud and corruption to allow the various political machines to let wide-scale voter fraud occur in the name of "disenfranchisement"

How is it disenfranchising anyone to present ID to prove who they are to vote?

You have to have picture ID to drive, open a bank account, get in a bar, buy booze, cash a check, get a job, generally anything now-days.

Who does not have a picture ID.... really, Who does not have a picture ID that can legally vote (and vote once)?

Please show me a legal voter who does not have ID and why they cannot get one?

reply to post by infolurker


Take PA - over 750,000 voters do not have government issued ID. Elderly especially. Depending on the state, it can cost $10-25 for the ID, for something they wouldn't have any other use for.

The Pennsylvania Transportation Department estimates that approximately 9 perent of registered voters -- or 750,000 people -- lack state-issued photo IDs in the state and will not be able to cast a ballot this November. And it should come as no surprise that a majority of these folks are the poor, the elderly, people of color, the disabled and young folks.

PA Voter ID Ruling a Slap in the Face to Democracy

But glad to see you are a fan of the bureaucratic Big Brother government ID requirement.

Originally posted by JIMC5499
OK, all of you ACORN (or whatever they are calling themselves these days) and SEIU people, remember, vote early, vote often!

There has been 86 convictions for voter fraud since 2002, does your argument hold any water?

Originally posted by JIMC5499
OK, all of you ACORN (or whatever they are calling themselves these days) and SEIU people, remember, vote early, vote often!

yeah, because a republican would never do anything wrong when it comes to the presidential elections!

i am to the point where i dont care who wins this election. i am just ready for it to get over with. the political season in america seems to make everyone an idiot.

reply to post by LDragonFire


Actually it's a lot lower than that - only 10 cases of in-person voter fraud since 2000.

Analysis: In-person vote fraud near zero

A national public-records search raises questions about legislatures' push for stronger voter-ID laws.

A new nationwide analysis of more than 2,000 cases of alleged election fraud over the last dozen years shows that in-person voter impersonation on Election Day was virtually nonexistent.

The analysis of 2,068 reported fraud cases by News21, a Carnegie-Knight investigative-reporting project, found 10 cases of alleged in-person voter impersonation since 2000.

But to claim that "in-person voter" fraud is rampant, is how the neocon agenda will push through bogus voter ID laws, which will also pave the wave for the Real ID Act.

Originally posted by Blackmarketeer
reply to post by infolurker

 

Take PA - over 750,000 voters do not have government issued ID. Elderly especially. Depending on the state, it can cost $10-25 for the ID, for something they wouldn't have any other use for.

The Pennsylvania Transportation Department estimates that approximately 9 perent of registered voters -- or 750,000 people -- lack state-issued photo IDs in the state and will not be able to cast a ballot this November. And it should come as no surprise that a majority of these folks are the poor, the elderly, people of color, the disabled and young folks.

PA Voter ID Ruling a Slap in the Face to Democracy

But glad to see you are a fan of the bureaucratic Big Brother government ID requirement.

OMG - Huffington post article!

OK, let's be real. Bank account = ID, Cashing Social Security Check = ID.
.

Originally posted by LDragonFire
There has been 86 convictions for voter fraud since 2002, does your argument hold any water?

It just shows that they haven't gotten caught, or if they were caught, they were not prosecuted.

I'll give an example. My Mother lived with me for over 20 years. Every Election Day I would take her to vote. The process for voting where I live is that you state your name, they look it up in a ledger, assign you a ballot number, write it in a space next to your name, give you a ballot, you vote, hand back the ballot and they color in your name with a hi-lighter. My Mother's name was always three names down from mine. I went in right when the polls opened last Election Day, gave the woman my name and when she turned to the correct page, my Mother's name had already been assigned a ballot number and was HI-LIGHTED! This was November 2011 and my Mother died in August of 2010. When I commented on this, I was told to take it up with the Bureau of Elections and if I didn't drop the subject I would be removed from the poll by the police. I called the Bureau of Elections and was told to send a letter stating what happened and they would look into it. I never got a reply and when I went to their office, I was told that I was mistaken. I requested that they show me the ledger and was told to leave immediately.

You figure it out. This year, I'm taking a camera and if it happens again, I am going to try to get a picture of the ledger page.

Even today's Right wing does not want to make it that easy for future historians to label the lot of them in history books 100 years from now as Constitutionally traitorous hypocrites. The Ohio attempt to have different hours from different parties was simply unadulterated attempt to deprive certain Americans of their right to vote. And don't give me the "they followed the law" crap. Only the morally and ethically bankrupt need strict laws to guide their behavior. The rest of know right from wrong and can adhere to it without a law.

reply to post by pajoly


I guess reading comprehension isn't your strong suit. There was no "different hours for different parties". There was extra time for active and reserve military personnel, whose duties might conflict with their voting. That's it plain and simple.

reply to post by JIMC5499


You are overlooking the fact that all counties and all Ohioans had the same exact "early, in-person" voting hours. Then the GOP eliminated early in-person voting hours for SOME Ohians, and kept them in place for others (military), which set up a two-tier system of voters (The DNC sued on the grounds it was a violation of the 14th amendment). Then the GOP Secretary of State (John Husted) voted in favor of his party to restrict early in-person voting hours in Democratic-leaning counties, while Republican-leaning counties expanded their early in-person voting.

To top it all off, is the egregious GOP lie that "Obama was suing to eliminate early voting for the military". (rated "false" by Politifact)

reply to post by JIMC5499

Originally posted by JIMC5499
There was no "different hours for different parties". There was extra time for active and reserve military personnel, whose duties might conflict with their voting.

Yes, so one party (active military) had certain days they could vote and the other party (all other Ohio citizens, including veterans) had a different set of days. Different hours for different parties is correct.

I have since found out that many minorities get help from their church on Sunday (2 days before election day) to vote. It's called "Souls to the Polls". My guess is that this is why the GOP wanted to remove the 3 days before election day. So these people would not get to vote on Sunday and wouldn't be able to get a ride on Tuesday. Pretty damn low, if you ask me.

Ohio Souls to the Polls

After record voter turnouts in the 2008 election, 34 states have introduced legislation to limit voting. In Ohio, H.B. 194 seeks to cut the state’s early voting period by more than half, and to prohibit voting on the last Sunday before Election Day.

THIS is why Ohio only took those three days from the citizens...

Unfortunately, in Florida

In 2011, the Florida Legislature passed a new law (HB 1355) that made a variety of changes to rules for early voting. The legislation cut the number of days of early voting from 14 to eight, and it eliminated voting the final Sunday before Election Day. In 2012, that means that Floridians can early vote Sunday, Oct. 28, but not Nov. 4 -- two days before Election Day.

Florida Souls to the Polls
:

Hopefully, they will get the word out and vote on Oct 28...