What you need to know about Ohio Politics and Policy
Voters in Ohio not aligned with the ‘cheating’ part of GOP agenda
PPP Poll shows early voting on weekend before election favored by Ohioans There is a trajectory voters in Ohio have been on since 2004 when it comes to open, easy access to the polls – and unfortunately the direction is no longer up. Secretary of State Jon Husted has made a mess of things by forcing counties to scale back early voting hours, providing shoddy guidance to boards of elections and then firing local elections officials who challenge his directives. The state is in court over the whole mess – it’s just been mass confusion from the start. But let’s back up a few years. In the coming days, Innovation Ohio will be releasing some research that puts the Ohio GOP’s efforts to quash voting rights into a national context. The context is this: When more people register to vote and when more of those voters go to the polls, progressive candidates and policies do better on Election Day. Republicans have been waging campaigns in statehouses across the nation to enact voter ID laws, so-called voter fraud provisions and restrict absentee balloting and early voting. If you can’t beat ‘em, cheat ‘em. In a few days, we’ll show you that things in Ohio were a mess once before – during Ken Blackwell’s tenure as Secretary of State. Remember those long lines in 2004? We’re working on a timeline that shows voter participation was up in Ohio until Husted began imposing new restrictions on voters here, restrictions that reduce voters’ access to the polls.
What do voters in Ohio think?
Today, Public Policy Polling released their latest numbers on Ohio. By a wide margin, Ohioans support early voting (58/38). More than half of independents say yes to early voting. Forty percent of rank and file Republicans say yes. Not every member of the GOP in Ohio is in on the con.
Stay tuned. When we release our timeline, we’ll also put together a page of voter resources for you. Stay informed – and don’t forget to register AND vote this year.
For now, here’s a little video of the kind of national attention Jon Husted is bringing to the Buckeye State. Funny – yes. Shameful – also yes.
| The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Democalypse 2012 – Cockblock the Vote – Ohio’s Voting Laws | ||||
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