"I guess I really actually feel we shouldn’t contort the voting process
to accommodate the urban — read African-American — voter-turnout
machine. Let’s be fair and reasonable." - Jon Husted, Ohio Secretary of State
If you've been following what is going on in Ohio, you know that Ohio voters still do not know whether they will be able to vote during the three days before the election, something they have been able to do since 2005.
Ever since the Ohio election debacle in 2004, when voters stood in the rain and cold for 10 hours to vote because there were not enough voting machines, and still not everyone was able to vote, the county election boards decided to extend voting hours and to also allow voters to vote the three days before Election Day. This alleviated the long lines. This has worked since 2005.
In 2004, George W. Bush won Ohio, but in 2008, Barack Obama won the Buckeye State.
So now Jon Husted, the Republican Secretary of State, is doing everything in his power to suppress Democratic votes. And his actions are very transparent. Originally, he was only allowing early voting for military personnel (who typically vote Republican). Disallowing early voting would have had a disproportional effect on those who lived in the urban areas which were more densely populated and also tended to vote more Democratic. His actions have already been overturned by a Federal Judge. The judge filed a preliminary injunction against Husted, forbidding him from eliminating the three early days of voting, yet he has ignored the judge's decision and has decided to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Everyone has the constitutional right to vote. Clearly, Husted is willing to contort the voting process that has been in place since 2005 to make it very, very difficult for Democrats, and specifically, African-Americans, to vote. His intentions are obvious. He has stated it now. Everyone should be absolutely outraged by his actions, which amount to government-sanctioned discrimination.
First of all, it is NOT Mr. Husted's job to do whatever it takes to make sure a particular candidate wins. His job is to make sure the election is fair. How can he say he is doing the fair thing if this is the way that elections have been run for the past seven years and there has not been an issue with it before? Let the people decide whether Mitt Romney or Barack Obama would be the better president. Is he that unsure about his party's candidate that he has to rely on these deceitful, dishonest tactics to undermine the voting process? Let everyone cast their vote. This is absolutely despicable. Mr. Husted, you should be ashamed of yourself.
