The Rachel Maddow Show has been closely following voter-suppression efforts, most notably in Ohio, where Ohio's Republican Secretary of State, Jon Husted, has been threatening to fire Tom Ritchie Sr. and Dennis Lieberman, two Democratic members of the Montgomery County board of elections.
And what is it, exactly, that Ritchie and Lieberman did to earn Husted's wrath. The Democratic officials committed the crime of voting to expand voting hours in their county.
Today, Husted followed through on his threat.
The two Democratic members of the Montgomery County Board of Elections have been fired, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted said in a letter released Tuesday afternoon. [...]
Husted said in his letter that board members are free to express their discontent with any directive or advisory issued, "but they cannot disobey them." [...]
The move by Husted, the state's chief elections official, was the latest in a series of flare ups over when Ohioans can cast an early ballot in person in the presidential battleground state. The issue essentially broke down along political party lines. Ohio is one of 32 states, plus the District of Columbia, that allow voters to cast an early ballot by mail or in person without having to give a reason.
The full text of Husted's letter is now available online here (pdf).
To put it mildly, the firings are tough to defend. Take a few minutes to review Rachel's segment on this from last week, posted above, which also included an interview with Ritchie and Lieberman.
Remember, voting in Montgomery County, Ohio, went very smoothly four years ago, with local officials running a relatively hassle free, trouble free election. Democrats and Republicans on the local board of elections expanded early voting opportunities, and turnout went up considerably.
The problem -- if you want to call it that -- is that President Obama won in Montgomery County and in Ohio statewide, leading Buckeye State Republicans to start changing the rules, making it harder for voters to participate in their own democracy.
But what makes Montgomery County special is the efforts of Ritchie and Lieberman.
When Ohio Republicans decided to create new voting restrictions, they saw it as imperative to narrow the early-voting window. After a series of controversies, Husted eventually ordered every Ohio county to adopt the same hours-of-operation for early voting in the weeks preceding the election.
But, and this is key, the directive only applied to weekdays, leading Ritchie and Lieberman in Montgomery County to push once again for the weekend voting opportunities that worked so well for the community four years ago.
And for that, they were fired. Husted doesn't just want to make it harder for voters to participate in the election, he's also comfortable firing those who want to make it easier for voters to participate in the election.
This just isn't right.
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Are you kidding me? So you allow Americans to vote per their rights and you get fired! Sure the GOP has a solution to a problem that does not exist, but are sitting on their hands when it comes to REAL problems - economy, jobs, wars, etc. I guess the GOP just proved they are actually not Job Creators since they just fired two people.
This is politics and "fairness and impartiality" don't really matter, but why isn't it emphasized that the Republicans who also voted for the extended hours were not fired? I'd like to know why not. Why just punish Ritchie and Lieberman?
"...he's also comfortable firing those who want to make it harder for voters to participate in the election."
Are you sure that's the way that last sentence should be worded?
Wonder how much Romney or the Koch bros paid him to do that? F'n Repugnants know they can't win otherwise!!
If anything, the voters of Ohio now have a DUTY to show up to the polls in droves! Show this guy that his manipulations cannot and will not work!!!!
And it ends here like that it cannot end here like that the people of Ohio need to stand up and say like that famous scene in Network tell the Republican officials "Im mad as hell and not going to take this anymore"
The GOP speak about the Obama and the Democrats as pushing "socialism", but it reeks of "Fascism" here in Ohio...if the journalists and TV stations would cover it, maybe we could recall Husted...seeing as the Governor is absent on this...
do they still teach idealism in our schools respecting voting rights?these are the
very people the Birchers warned us against, and they are the remnants of the Birchers!
i think its time that a lawsuit is filed to question these gop operatives onw here and how this is coordinated, i have been writing a suggetsion for a piece of federal legislation that would make it harder for the states to do this.
the fireings wouldnt be upheld in court
Maybe they should also include "political affiliations" in the discrimination law? "Prove it" they will say... all under the "voter fraud" illusion... they are not even trying to hide what they are doing... and people are still voting Republican! How can you not see what these people have become? The party is not what it used to be! The entire "party" is doing their part to try and get R&R & a Majority of R's in office to do their bidding! Blinded by their Romney fueled hatred for Obama... "they are doing everything they can to get him out of office"... starting from the day they took office!
We have to do something about this NOW!
What is wrong with weekend voiting? This is very petty. I suspect this busted by Husted will not hold up if appealed through the courts. These men were elected by the people. The firing was characterized as purely insubordination. But, is this due cause when these men are excersising the will of the people. And the State official was exercising the rule of fiat with no justification for the ruling. The previous way worked well, but it was changed for dubious reasons. I do not think this will hold fup in court?
Weekend voting makes it easier and more likely for working people to vote, especially lower-income workers, and increases voter turnout. All bad things from the Republican point of view.
"Husted doesn't just want to make it harder for voters to participate in the election, he's also comfortable firing those who want to make it harder for voters to participate in the election."
*those who want to make it easier.
I don't see how this is DISOBEYING anyone if the rule only applied to weekdays. And no one should ever be fired to for hoping to extend voting hours. Husted needs to be ousted.
The good news through all this is if people think someone is trying to cheat them out of a vote they may be MORE LIKELY to vote. I hope these voter suppression tactics bite the Republicans in the .
besides discrimination, they are breaking RICO statutes and operating a BUNCO scheme. technically they are all breaking federal laws in regards to influence peddling.
I would think at some point this would have the opposite of the intended effect, which is to suppress the votes of those who don't vote the way you would like them to. It seems as if the more publicity there is about keeping people from the polls the more mad they get and the more determined they get to actually go and cast a vote.
your not supposed to use your office or job position to influence elections or outcomes of federal policy making.
obama
It is unbelievable the audacious arrogance these jack-booted thugs show in their criminal flouting of the oath they took to serve and represent their citizens. It is stomach-turning at what a organised crime ring the GOP has become.
This is just another effort by idiot RepubliPukes and their ultra right wing homophobic Tea Turd allies to make it more difficult to participate in one of the easiest and basic democratic things we all can do. They are going bat@!$%# and trying anything and everything to suppress those that wont vote for their pathetic party.
This is why I am a Democrat, if it does not go in favor of the republican party then they make up unfair rules.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57500545-503544/ron-paul-i-dont-fully-endorse-romney-for-president/?tag=re1.channel
The Republicans stated over a year ago that there should only be one party in this country and it should be the Republican Party. It seems the Democrats and even good Republicans do not see what has been and is transpiring in this country. It is the take over of the government. The tactics are the same that the Nazi party used in 1930s to take over the legal government in Germany. People, the Fourth Reich is alive and viable. History will repeat itself if you all do not get out the word and get the votes out against all Republican candidates. You have already seen the results in Republican control states what they are capable of. The Fourth Reich started to seize the Republican Party in the late 1960s covertly. Conspiracy? No. In 1962 at the age of 22 I was told this scenario by someone who was going to DC and picked me up as a hitchhiker going to Boston. I told him it was not possible that the constitution is our protection. As we are now seeing this person knew what was being put forth in the political system and is now happening.
While I agree that the Republican party has become totalitarian, you're going to have to provide a proper citation for the assertion "The Republicans stated over a year ago that there should only be one party in this country and it should be the Republican Party." I think that's going to be very difficult, as the Republican Party is made up of individuals who retain their individuality. Membership in the GOP does not convert those individuals into an undifferentiated, mass man. So at most I expect a sourced quotation from some one single person in the Republican establishment or a serving Republican politician.
I dispute this with you Monk (well sort've- the whole Republicans-aren't-monolithic-entities thing I don't dispute). Do not you recall how frequently it was proclaimed that George W. Bush was on a mission to make his party (the Republican Party) the permanent party of power? I certainly recall that being spoken on the TV machine time after time again. True I do not recall off hand President Bush 2 stating as much in his speeches, but I do recall political analysts and other pundits roundly discussing that one of Bush's main goals was to make his party the permanent party of power at the national level.
Am I recalling incorrectly?
You're recalling incorrectly. I believe that you are actually remembering the allegation that Rove is supposed to have said that he intended to create a permanent Republican majority. He denies ever having said it. But let's not confuse statements with intentions.
I have no doubt that a great many Republican Party activists and politicians would very much like to lock the GOP into power permanently. The policies that they have been pursuing in recent years clearly testify to that. However, I am not aware of any individual Republican--still less the party as a whole--openly declaring that they are out to subvert American democracy and replace it with a single-party system. That may be what they are after, but I don't believe they have ever said so in so many words.
Therefore, if there was any authoritative Republican Party pronouncement within the last year to the effect that the GOP is trying to create a single-party dictatorship (that I somehow managed to miss), I want definitive proof that such a statement was actually made.
Ah. I suppose perhaps I misunderstood the context of the conversation then. First you are correct that there hasn't been such a declarative statement within the last year. That too I was not disputing. I was disputing the notion that Republicans had never stated that they had the goal of establishing their party as the only national party. In my recollection I remember people saying that Bush was attempting to establish this during his presidency. Perhaps it was Rove and I've just obfuscated the two inside of my own head. That certainly won't be the first time I've confused my own fantasies with reality. On another note I'm quite terrified that there are vampires in my neighborhood /nod. ;-)
I was not intending to argue that Republicans have ever openly argued that they want to subvert American democracy. I have heard Republican voters assert that they want to end democracy because they believe only in republics (perhaps they had too much literalism with their wine?), but I've never heard a Republican representative state as much. What I recalled hearing, however, were Republican officials arguing they were on track to become the only major national political party in the US. Presumably this argument wasn't on the basis of subversion or anything illegal, but because they felt they had the more compelling argument/policies. That was the argument I was attempting to make.
Apparently I failed on this blog ;-)
Oh, yeah, Republicans often claim that the US is not a democracy, it's a republic. I'm not absolutely certain what they mean by that, although "conservatives" are generally leery of majority rule (going at least as far back as the nullification crisis). Your spot on with the literalism remark. They are picking up on the the fact that many of the founders' make a distinction between democracy and republics, and that the latter word is applied to the US, but they mistake the intended meanings.
For the founders, 'democracy' was intended to mean a direct democracy such as ancient Athens in which the citizenry and the government were one and the same thing. For 'republic' was meant a representative democracy in which the citizenry elects a government to represent their interests. What right wingers fail to realize is that the founders were using the words 'democracy' and 'republic' in a specialized way no longer in common use, and they use their misunderstanding to justify their antipathy toward majority rule.
Once again time for Ohio to have to fight back against having our rights taken away. Get ready State house for a lot of company to show up in Columbus...UBELIEVABLE