· October 16, 2012

Husted issues directive statewide on in person absentee voting on last weekend before election

After the U.S. Supreme Court refused Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted’s latest attempt to block in-person early voting on the weekend before Election Day in Ohio, Husted has come to his senses and has issued a directive regarding the matter to county boards of elections: The hours set in Secretary Husted’s directive are:

• Saturday, November 3, 2012 – 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
• Sunday, November 4, 2012 – 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• Monday, November 5, 2012 – 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Husted has taken Ohio voters on a quite unnecessary ride this election season with repeated attempts to block so-called ‘last weekend’ in person absentee voting. Today’s move is a welcome one for voters. After all, the job of secretary of state is to make voting easier – not harder. Husted took some lumps over ‘last weekend’ voting because it is a tradition in many African American communities. At times he has looked intransigent over the past several weeks as court after court rejected his arguments to limit voting access on the final weekend. The 6th Circuit Court said the state could not “justify reducing the opportunity to vote by a considerable segment of the voting population”, especially “when there is no evidence that local boards of elections will be unable to cope with more early voters,” just last week. It remains to be seen whether or not the Ohio GOP will continue what has become a national scale effort by Republicans to continue to push limits on voter rights. Let’s hope the confusion and mayhem sown by Husted during this cycle doesn’t portend greater challenges ahead.