Yesterday, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted was scheduled to certify the results of the May primary. According to the unofficial results from the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office, the turnout in primary was below 17%, well below any other gubernatorial primary since at least 1986, according to the Secretary of State’s website. In response, Ohio Democratic Party Deputy Communications Director Brian Hester issued the following statement:
“For years, Jon Husted has been working with his fellow Republicans to roll back voting opportunities, and we now see historically low turnout as a result. With his broken promises from his 2010 campaign and his refusal to take responsibility for his own policies, Ohioans are quickly realizing they can’t trust Tea Party value Republicans like Jon Husted.”
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, effective this fall. 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).]
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. [Source: Legislative Service Commission, Final Analysis of SB 205.]
When Husted was asked if Ohio should move away from having the Secretary of State be chosen in a partisan election, Husted demurred and avoided his 2010 campaign pledge to do just that. In announcing his 2010 candidacy for Secretary of State, Jon Husted said, “I’m going to be the first person to run for office with a plan to eliminate the need for it,” claiming that he would move “oversight of the election system to include a bipartisan decision-making process.” [Source: Dayton Daily News (4/2/2009), “Husted begins bid for office.”]
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.”]