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.
Leave a Comment:
All this from a man who has had his own issues with voter residency/fraud . . . even though it was ultimately resolved in his favor legally . . . anyone aware of the facts in this case believes that he lied about his residency. Here's a link to the story.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/national-govt-politics/husted-takes-residency-case-to-supreme-court/nM4sH/
WTF!
I hope these two can find recourse in a Court of Law! Is it possible?
Efforts to subvert our democracy should be punishable by death. There is little doubt that Jon Husted is a traitor and should be arrested, tried, and executed.
Go ahead, Try and defend this blatant act of voter suppression. It is no less than an act of treason.
I hope the Democrats sue too. This is wrong. Republicans will do anything to suppress the vote.
its an act of patriotism for these two people to not follow an unlawful order. They will not be prosecuted, i think, if the feds ever sue the state for suppression or worse, or even criminal charges.
The election isn't until November. Therefore, without conducting an election during which they attempted to extend hours by operating on the weekend, or actually did so mean this is wrongful termination. All they did was present a motion, second the motion and call for a vote which is consistent with their administrative duties. That nitwit Husted just cost the taxpayers of Ohio a lot of money. I can imagine Lieberman and Ritchie's phone ringing off the hook as I write this. Now I know repukians/teatard are stupid, but this is down right criminal.
alot of money defending husted in civil or criminal courts.
I'll pitch in if needed!
i would want him thrown in jail for federal campaign violations, he misused his office. he is a dirty govt buereacrat.
I can't tell you in words how mad this makes me but I'll give it a try. Voter laws guaranteeing people the right to vote has happened many years ago. And if there were an issue with Voter ID then it would have caught national attention. That attention could have came when there was an extended investigation from the Bush administration who only found 87 direct cases in the whole United States of America! Wow we have such a big big problem that we need all these new laws?
This is more than obvious why these new laws have been enacted since 2010. All of these moves are directly meant to suppress the voting public. There is no way that I could be convinced that there is any other reason for these new laws than to make it harder for people to vote, mainly democratic votes.
I hear people say that hey Everyone should have an ID that would work. Hardly no one doesn't have a driver's license! You need ID for everything. Surely that's not going to effect that many people! However it's been studied that many people, many old who dont drive anymore and have let their license's expire and just didn't renew it. But they still had their voter registration cards and they were still good.. Until things changed.. Some of these voters are literally old enough to find it difficult to find their birth certificates, or they were born at home.. numerous reasons..
A gun license is good enough Id but a student ID isn't? come on people.. heck even a military ID that normally doesn't have an expiration date has been turned away as not a good form of ID... that's just not right, no matter what.
Does anyone in the Republican party feel like this is wrong? Because I'd really like to hear just one prominant Republican come on the air and tell people that these tactics are wrong and that the main important issue would be to have "A FAIR AND EQUAL ELECTION!" but I haven't heard not one. How can I vote or consider to vote for a party doing these things and to not come out in opposition towards it!
Tina T tina.tillman@facebook.com
All democrats in every county in Ohio should say..."screw the republicans" and go against their own state and stand up and all be counted. You can't fire everyone! There is strength in numbers.Democrats need to show some spine and go against the system.
STAND UP FOR FREEDOM AND VOTING!
STAND UP FOR THE FREEDOM OF VOTING.
and also do what ever they can to defy husted's orders. I would not personally obey an unlawful order.
This is the essence of dictatorship. It begins with people like this guy and the Repugs want to install thousands like him all around the country to legitimize their attempts to steal the election the way they did in 2000 - and then tell us "Romney won, get over it...."
Husted is the one who should be fired. How do they get away with this? And how can Ryan complain about how the current White House Administration has created the most partisan atmosphere he has ever witnessed? We can see who has created the partisanship.
this wont happen if everyone in ohio fights back by protesting also doing something like all turning out to vote to overwehelm the cut back elections sytem in the state. Overburdening the secretary's office. That would be the best way is to grind the already weakened system to a halt for hours.
It's the 1960's all over again
i also think any electoral delegates should vote against there party and throw the election, if it turns out to be falsly won my romney.
that is the only thing tea party and GOP people understand is forceful protest and disrupting party activities. People will have to ignore the money. BTW it is technically constitutional for electoral college delegates to not vote for the candidate they were assigned with.
The Sec. of State in Ohio is a simply a dirtbag.
Hopefully the right to vote, early voting, vote by mail can be restored in Ohio - the efforts to restrict voting by the GOP has to stop. The first step is to throw the GOP out.
Its amazing for foriegners watching the US election and voters tampering by other side, when wiull you people get youyr @!$%# together and do like other countries have done? why have state politicans nickel and dime ya to death at election time.
I live in Canada and we have a whole different system , provincial or state officals have only their own elections to deal with, Federal Elections are run by an organization Called Elections Canada , which operates from west to east coast, and intbetween elections it hires enemerators aqnd enemerate the country making up the voters list for the next Federal Election, and when elections called Elections Canada gets ballots printed hires and trains polling staff , distributes ballots to all polling stations ,sends out to all listed voters whats called an elections care with your name address and polling station address and number on it and when you go vote you have to take this card along if you havent goptten a card 2 weeks beflore elections ya have to call them and check and se eif your on list to get that card, when you vote you bruing along this card, a credit card or utility bill, my moms 88 and only photo ID she ever had was when she was younger and they travelled and she had a passport.so she uses her mastercard and power bill and that elections card, and in end Elections Canbada count all ballots and certify the election and voting numbers we dont have ploiticans screwing it around liuke the US has, so grow up and get with it before you dont even have the right to vote anymore just saying!!!!!
That's EXACTLY what we need. We need an impartial, auditable method of executing elections.
The US system has become corrupt - and no manner truly represents the will of the voters.
Start the Civil Rights Violation and the interference with voting rights now. Ohio could be strapped up pretty well by November. Federal intervention welcome, causing other practitioners to think once. Why do I have to think of everything?
We have all the extra ballot boxes ready here in San Francisco, and it is only August. Castro Valley and Union City were a little short but Berkeley had extra.
Part of the whole point of the suit against Ohio is that there needed to be uniformity across counties on early voting. These two elections officials were changing that uniformity. While it is unfortunate that Ohio decided to restrict early voting hours and access, it still needs to be consistent across the entire state in all counties.
Perhaps it's time for the whole country to switch to mail in voting. Of all the states I've lived in, I find Oregon has the most affective system for voting.
i think its time for the govt to take over ohio's election system