Associated Press
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted (R)
We've been keeping a close eye on the voting-rights controversy in Ohio, where Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted is so opposed to early-voting opportunities, he stated his intention this week to ignore a federal court ruling pending an appeal.
Today, Husted came to his senses. Scott Keyes has the story.
After previously trying to restrict early voting, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted (R) today reversed course on his decision to block county boards of elections from setting their own early voting hours in the days leading up to the November election. [...]
Facing a direct court order, Husted has chosen instead to back down. This afternoon, Husted's office released Directive 2012-42 with a brief message: "Directive 2012-40 is hereby rescinded." As a result, county boards of elections will now be allowed to set their own hours, pending Husted's appeal of the Obama for America v. Husted decision.
At this point, it would seem Husted has a responsibility to start working with counties on uniform early-voting schedules, but as Rick Hasen noted, the Ohio Secretary of State, after apologizing to the court for ignoring its ruling, requested a stay.
In other words, Husted wants the federal district court to agree that its ruling can be put on hold pending an appeals process, though it's unclear if Judge Peter Economus will be inclined to grant this request. (Economus is the one who summoned Husted this week, demanding an explanation.)
I'll update this post with additional information as it becomes available, but at this point there appear to be some ambiguities. Husted was going to block county elections boards from setting early-voting hours, then a court told him he couldn't, and as of this afternoon, he's prepared to honor that ruling. But Husted is also appealing the decision, feels confident of his chances at the 6th Circuit, and hopes the district court judge stays the ruling. If Ohio county elections boards met today to plan for early-voting schedules, I'm not altogether sure how they're supposed to proceed.
That said, the fact that Husted apologized for ignoring a court ruling appears to be a good sign (and will keep him from being held in contempt of court).
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After first trying to just ignore the rule of law, he is now following proper legal procedure by going to a judge and asking for a stay pending appeal. I think the hearing date is still on 9/13/12 (I think) The Judge will probably rule from the bench. I don't know Ohio election law but my guess is that the Court denies the stay. So, the counties will only be in limbo another week.
Ken Blackwell after the fact, polemics aside, if the GOP strangles the dissent, takes control of the executive, the Ben Franklin assertion about the republic will no longer be viable.
QUOTATION:“Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”
“A Republic, if you can keep it.”
Hehehehehehehehe...
This is how cowardly bullies behave. Push back and they wilt. He knows he's wrong.
Obviously his counsel has told him in no uncertain terms that you don't mess with a Federal Judge. I think that is a lesson Husted is going to remember a long time. Requesting the stay is the correct procedure. Who knows, he might get it. He probably won't since the administration is going to oppose the request, but he might. If he doesn't he can then ask the 6th circuit for a stay. If they are as in the bag as he thinks they might give it to the Republicans. My guess is they won't give it given the issue. What surprises me is his counsel apparently didn't tell him that in the first place. I guess he is represented by some member of the Federalist Society who graduated from Liberty Law.
Gee Jon, where's all of that bravado & hubris now that you're in the judges face? Can't hear you, what did you say? Crickets......
If the judge wanted to stay the ruling pending an appeal, he would have done so in the final court order. But he didn't and I doubt the judge is going to issue such an order now.
If the appeal process does eventually restore the new voting law, then it would be to all voters advantage not to have 3 or 4 different voting schedules announced prior to in-person voting, thus creating confusion. It would be additionally sad for someone to plan to vote on a day that eventually is not open for voting and thus miss voting all together.
Regardless of one's position on the Ohio voting law in question, if there is possibility for rulings to go back and forth before voting begins, it makes sense to delay making a final voting schedule.
Not when it involves a guaranteed Constitutional right. It is up to the appeals court to move the case expeditiously.
Wow. Faux concern coming from blob. Not buying it.
There is no harm to the electoral process by expanding hours. No voter will be confused if the expanded hours are put on TV, radio and newspapers. At best, the voter may not realize the longer voting period, but they will vote during the previous hours that are published. So no one is going to lose out on voting. RobDon keeps grasping for straws.
I have thought about this every now and then. Republicans are trying to keep people from voting and overturning current marriages, outlawing birth control and prohibiting women from deciding their childbearing destiny. Maybe they need a new country.
They can establish their own religious doctrines as they see fit with a king or pope or imperial leader. Those that are not willing can stay here (because we have our Constitution to prohibit religion from being established and Regulating Commerce is a Congressional power) and they can pioneer their own.
Mitt can buy some territory somewhere, like in Mexico or Canada or an Island. They can run things their own way with business and profit being the main concern (or was it God being the main concern?).
Or we could accept each others differences and work together more. ;)
Duplicate post somehow happened...sorry.
Yeah, nothing like mooning a United States District Court judge in public and ordering, in writing, your subordinates to ignore one of his orders to get that judge in the mood to grant you a stay of his order. That's totally what I'd counsel my clients to do if they got an order they didn't like.
There are several criteria here for issuing a stay:
I just don't see it happening.
This is all good and well, but what happens to the two commissioners that have lost their jobs over this?
Dear Ms. Maddow,
I'm in Cuyahoga county in Ohio and today in the mail I received my application for my absentee ballot. I didn't have to leave my home or show a photo ID. I can now fill it out and place it in my mailbox and my letter carrier will make sure it gets delivered to my county board of elections. I do not have to provide a photo ID with the application. Any person with a valid social security number can request this application. You don't need a social security card, just a number and only the last 4 digits are required on the application. There is no reason for anyone not to vote in Ohio. These same steps can be taken in any county in our state. Again, NO ID NEEDED and NO TRIP TO THE POLL NEEDED. Why do I still think you'll be claiming voter fraud and voter disenfranchisement on the eve of the election in November.
Of course, absentee and other mail ballots often aren't counted.
For instance, Florida in 2000.
If that's the case then more than 150,000 absentee ballots in florida belonging to members of the military won't be counted this year.
Every time a Republican talks about voter id, I'm reminded that the word "obtuse" has a wonderfully ambiguous double meaning. It can mean "actually dense" and "pretending to be dense."
All of the voter suppression efforts implemented by Republicans have a single, very obvious, goal: make it harder for the working poor to vote so some of them will just give up on it. Make it harder for the people working their guts out at low hourly wage jobs, people who are wearing themselves down to the bone doing hard work and often working more than one job, for ten or twelve bucks an hour to fit voting in with dealing with the serial challenges of a world where being poor means you pay more for everything.
Yeah, for you, its no problem to sit down at your second or third computer, log on to the Internet, download an absentee ballot application, print if off on your inkjet whose ink cartridge costs more than the printer, reach in to your desk to grab one of the stamps you bought at your local suburban megamart or from the shiny suburban post office down the road the other day, and drop it in the mail bin.
And since its no problem for you, its obviously likewise no problem for the person who has no computer, no car, lacks your education, and, most important of all, lacks the leisure and the energy to make detailed, multi-step plans about how to navigate the roadblocks the state has deliberately thrown into your path for the express purpose of making it less convenient for you to vote.
If there was truly a just God, every smug, self-satisfied suburban white collar SUV driving Republican in America would have to spend a month, just a single month, living the life of perpetual, never-ending crisis that a person trying to keep a family housed and fed on twenty five or thirty thousand dollars a year lives, day in and day out. Just a month living in a world where anything that makes it even a little harder for you may be the difference in whether you do something like voting that is important to you but that doesn't have any direct impact on dealing to the succession of crises you're living.
If ever there was a group of people who needed to vote, it's the working poor--which, as it happens, is precisely the demographic the I Got Mine Party sociopaths who pass these laws most don't want to vote.
The people passing these laws know full well what they're doing and who they're doing it to. Whether people like you know, whether you're actually dense or just feigning it, is irrelevant because your moral culpability is the same either way.
So Steve-458256. what exactly is your proposal to help these people cast their vote. Let's start a constructive dialogue on a solution, or just some suggestions. How shall we empower the un-educated, computer illiterate, with no time and no phone to call their county board and request the ballot be mailed to them. How shall we help them fill out their ballot and then place it in the mailbox on their property for their letter carrier to pick up. I'll start by suggesting that the envelopes are postage paid so now a trip to purchase the stamps is no longer necessary. OK your turn..................
I just got my letter from the State of Ohio (Jon Husted) - saying nothing about extended hours - it says most voters vote at the polls on Nov 6 as they have been doing for 200 years! I will be casting an early ballot as I go to the sunshine state for the winter months. Maybe Ohio wanted to get the letters out early to confuse people that do not hear about it on TV or by reading newspapers. I hope when I mail in my vote it does not get thrown into the trash since I will be voting for Obama for the first time.
I have to stress that while Husted's behavior is a shocking almost unprecedented assault on the rule of law it would not be an unprecedented assault on lo stato di diritto o L'etas de droit (sp?). Over here on the European Continent we don't have the concept of contempt of court. So court orders are regularly ignored.
I am delighted by the news, but I note that no reporter over here can report such a victory of law. Or in other words I ask who will be France's Scott Keyes.