Associated Press
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted (R)
There was an important court ruling on Friday, in which a federal judge ordered Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted (R) to leave the state's early-voting window open for all of the state's eligible voters, overturning a law approved by Republican policymakers last year making it harder for Ohio voters to cast a ballot.
Today, Husted announced he plans to ignore the court's ruling until after the appeal.
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted said in a memo Tuesday that he wouldn't restore early voting hours for all voters in Ohio until an appeals court examines a federal judge's ruling that restored those rights. The state of Ohio filed a notice of appeal with the Sixth Circuit court on Tuesday.
"Announcing new hours before the court case reaches final resolution will only serve to confuse voters," Husted said in his memo. "Therefore, there is no valid reason for my office or the county boards of elections to set hours for in-person absentee voting the last three days before the election at this time."
Via Rick Hasen, Husted's directive is now online (pdf).
To briefly recap for those who haven't been following this story, Ohio officials, responding to Election Day disasters in 2004, allowed voters an early-voting window of three days, which in turn boosted turnout and alleviated long lines. This year, Republican officials wanted to close the window -- active-duty servicemen and women could vote early, but no one else, not even veterans, could enjoy the same right. A prominent GOP official recently conceded he opposes weekend voting in order to block the "African American ... voter-turnout machine."
President Obama's campaign team filed suit, asking for a level playing field, giving every eligible Ohio voter -- active-duty troops, veterans, and civilians -- equal access. Last week, a federal court agreed.
And today, Ohio's Republican Secretary of State -- ostensibly to avoid "confusion" -- said he intends to keep the early-voting window closed until a federal appeals court considers his appeal.
Why, pray tell, is Husted fighting so aggressively to make access to the election more difficult? One can only speculate -- he's given vague responses about cutting costs, but local election officials have rejected this explanation. It also doesn't explain why Husted, the state's top elections official, originally wanted one easier standard for Republican-leaning counties and a different, more difficult standard for Democratic-leaning counties.
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Can you say contempt of Court? His behind belongs in jail. This guy is just another example of don't do as I do do as i say attitude of the tea party and current GOP.
I agree. He should be jailed.
Look at this guys eyes - is that someone you trust? He looks to me like a walking snake. Of course he wants to delay implementing the Court's ruling, that would negate the whole purpose of the rules they implemented - to throw the election for the Republicans in Ohio.
Ignore a Federal Judge on an order for a problem that doesn't exist. Voter fraud is less then .1%. Spend time working on something useful or admit the real reason for this change to voting in the first place.
I wish this behavior were unbelievable. He wants to wait, in my opinion, so that even if he loses the appeal, it's too late to staff the polling places properly and it all goes wrong and people give up. The Federal Judge needs to hold him in contempt and force this to happen.
Husted should be arrested ON CAMERA and charged with contempt of court, and willful violation of the public trust. THEN, he should be stripped of office
So, let me see if I get this. Husted fired to election officials for "not following" a law and now he does something for worse and gets aways with it? Is that about right or am I missing a piece of the puzzle?
He's the white Ken Blackwell
Hey Steve,
HEY YOU STEVE BENEN!
Rachel gets this right, and you keep getting it wrong. Ohio has a whole MONTH of early voting. This new law does eliminate those last 3 days (Nov 3-5), and that is what this lawsuit is about.
I do think the Judge is right and the Secretary of State is wrong. However, you would confuse Ohio voters less if you would acknowledge in your blogs about this that they still open early voting on OCTOBER 2nd.
This is called contempt of court. Federal judges take a very dim when someone tells them no. I've seen a federal judge put a juror in jail for being late more than once. I don't believe this gentleman has ever tried a case in any federal court. The book " In Search of Atticus Finch" quotes a lawyer saying that 50% of his practice is telling his clients they are being damn fools and stop it. This man needs such a lawyer right now.
so this what happen to neddlemyar after " animal house" he was a jerk in the movie and is a jerk now
He has the legal right to appeal the decision. Until his appeal is heard, his original action stands. Obviously this is an attempt at voter suppression, but I keep reading about how this is illegal, or contempt of court. This is our legal system.
All we can do now is hope the higher court rules on the case quickly.
actually no, this isn't our legal system. A court order is in effect. That means the judge himself has to stay his order pending appeal or the court of appeals has to stay the order until they hear it. It is not an option for this man to simply ignore the order. He can ask for a stay. But right now he is legally bound by the ruling.
Interesting, they don't have money to have extended voting, but they do have money to engage high-priced attorneys to appeal for them.
It was noticed Ryan with his hunting, the same as wanting to have legal rape. What does Ryan want to do go hunting for girls and women in the woods? Might as well throw in senior citizens, people of different colors, and LGBT people into the woods too, because that is the very people Ryan wants to put down.
I think its time to put some troops on the ground here and Force this jerk to comply,,, they had no problem shooting kids in Ohio during Vietman,,,, WTF
Perhaps playing rope-a-dope until election day?
I pray a court order is forthcoming to force early voting.
MAybe Nuts Sharon Enhle was right, it may take a Second Admentment Remedy to fix this situation, but it will be the PEOPLE holding the arms, not the wing nut Neo Cons!!
Other news:
www.usdebtclock.org/
$16 trillion....... $5.4 trillion new Obama debt...... thank you Obama.......
A lot of that debt you are hanging on Obama came as a result of his recognizing the money Bush ran up running his war in Iraq. A lot more of it is attributable to the cost of extended unemployment benefits. More still is attributable to the loss of tax revenues that happened after the world's economy nearly went into the tank. Even more is the result of the Bush Tax Cuts and their extension by Obama.
Don't forget the reason why the President kept extending the tax cuts, was because we were not fully out of the recession, and to have them expire would put us back in one.
You're retarded, you should be homeless too, or at least not on the internet..
(Blank) you too.
Metoo999:
Economic Downturn, Financial Rescues and Legacy of Bush Policies Drive Record Deficits.
http://www.cbpp.org/research/index.cfm?fa=topic&id=29
I think we need to see the order. How it was written has a lot to do with whether Husted can wait until after an appeal to comply. If he was ordered to renew the extended hours, then the Judge has a range of options, including sending the US Marshals to throw his ass in the Federal slammer. Again, however, we need to read the order.
Voting, being not only a constitutional freedom,but, the cornerstone of what thsi country was based on should be made to be easy, not hard or complicated. Depending on where you look depends on the numbers but a generally accepted number that in 2008 there were 20,000 cases of voter fraud nationwide. Not enough to swing an election in one way or the other. That number is actually speculation as no one has a real good feel for voter fraud. These laws being introduced to limit availability or ease to vote are being deemed unconstitutional, for good reason. Considering that, in order to create all these voter id cards that are acceptable, will cost voters money should signal something I don't hear, screaming about the cost. You can't charge people for the cards, they must be provided for free. Otherwise, if a fee is charged it results in a poll tax. From a rational and ethical point, these new laws make no sense. From a political viewpoint they make perfect sense. After all, it is very clear the voters that these laws are attempting to disenfranchise are the poor and minorities i.e. Democrats
The judge who ordered the ruling should be the one to hold Husted in contempt. He can give Husted the option to cease and desist, or face penalties.
May Husted rot long in prison for contempt of court. I'm embarrassed to have lived in Ohio.
Ok, so legally what now? I read through about 50 comments and haven't seen a definitive answer. Help?
Husted is basically delaying the implementation of the court order (in effect, a stay). The problem with this is he can not legally declare a stay, only another judge or court can do so. He is violating the court order right now, but he may have cover in that the deadline to extend hours may not have been reached yet. If so, he can probably not have to deal with contempt of court charges until that deadline passes (assuming the court order is still in effect.)
Throw him in jail contempt of court today!
(Using my finest Ohio accent:)
I know that there is an incredible shortage of firearms in this country, especially in Ohio, but maybe with a Telethon or something, we can round up some guns and ammo for a Firing Squad or some such thing, for this particular case.. Let's see some class warfare for real already!
I think that by the judge's action the entire NEW standard (restricted voting hours) would be rendered mute and you would revert to earlier standards (those used as recently as the republican primary). If that is the case, how can Husted say he will not change the rules back? The new rules don't exist and the old rules are back in place until a judge says differently by allowing a stay of his order. Does this sound about right?