Husted dodges responsibility for his policies in campaign year
Yesterday, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted released a press release claiming that recent changes to Ohio voting laws makes Ohio “one of the easiest places to vote in the nation.” In reality, each of the bills cited by Husted actually make voting harder in Ohio. In response, Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern issued the following statement:
“After supporting cutting a week from early voting and unilaterally ending evening and Sunday early voting, Jon Husted now claims that these policies are making it ‘easier to vote’ in Ohio. As a result of many of these changes, Ohio’s turnout in the primary was below 17%, the lowest on record with the Secretary of State’s office. Husted’s claim that voting is easier is completely out of touch with reality.”
BACKGROUND:
Turnout in the May primary was the lowest it has been Ohio since at least 1986. According to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office turnout in this May’s primary was under 17%. [Source: Ohio Secretary of State’s website (accessed 5/27/2014), “Unofficial 2014 May Primary Election Results.”]
According to the Ohio Secretary of State’s website, the unofficial turnout in the 2014 May primary would be the lowest turnout in a gubernatorial primary since 1986, which is the last year the Secretary of State’s office reports primary turnout figures. [Source: Ohio Secretary of State’s website (accessed 5/27/2014), “Voter Turnout in Primary Elections.”]
The legislature eliminated a week of early voting at Jon Husted’s urging. The Republican legislature reduced early voting by a week by eliminating the “Golden Week”after receiving a public letter from Secretary of State Jon Husted urging them to do so. [Source: Columbus Dispatch(10/25/2013), “Husted asks legislators to trim early voting.”]
Not satisfied with the early voting cuts made by the legislature, Husted then unilaterally issued a directive that reduced early voting hours by eliminating most evening and weekend hours. On February 25, 2014, Jon Husted issued Directive 2014-06, (included the ACLU’s lawsuit against Secretary of Husted), in which Husted unilaterally ended Sunday early voting the final two weeks before the election, most evening and weekend early voting hours in Ohio. In a press release from his office, Husted said he decided to take unilateral action because the legislature “has neither . . . introduced nor adopted” these reduced early voting hours he had advocated. [Source: Ohio Secretary Of State’s Office Press Release (2/25/2014).]
(NOTE: Husted’s release this morning did not mention this directive at all.)
Husted’s repeated claim that he sends all Ohio voters an absentee ballot is misleading, at best. While Husted mentions that he is mailing absentee ballots in the general election as his office agreed to do in 2011 in a settlement with Ed FitzGerald he fails to mention that S.B. 205, will prevent the Secretary of State’s Office from doing so in the future unless the General Assembly specifically appropriates money to allow the Secretary to do so. Also, Husted’s plan will not actually send an absentee ballot application to every registered voter. Husted will not be sending these forms to anyone who registers to vote the first six days of October nor any voter who has been flagged as “inactive” because they have not yet responded to a postcard from their County Board of Elections seeking a confirmation of their residency and did not vote in the 2010 or 2012 general election. [Source: Secretary of State Directive 2014-15.]
In 2010, Jon Husted campaigned as a Republican with “Tea Party values.” During the 2010 Republican primary, Jon Husted’s campaign literature promoted him as a candidate with “Tea Party values.” [Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer (4/18/2010), “Husted’s appeal to Tea Party draws loud rebuff.”]