This week on the War on Voting: Ohio gets weekend voting hours, man busted for tossing registrations

Jon Husted jacks up Ohio early voting again

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted's appeal of lower court's ruling that the state's early voting on the three days before election cannot rescinded. Which, in a just world should have meant opening the polls for the same number of hours as in the past two elections. But Husted, ever eager to do all he can to suppress the vote in areas where early voting has typically drawn out large numbers of Democrats, chose to do what he has done all year. Ari Berman writes:

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted swiftly limited early voting hours on those crucial three days to 8 am'2 pm on Saturday, November 3; 1'5 pm on Sunday, November 4; and 8 am'2 pm on Monday, November 5. That means Ohio voters will have a total of only sixteen hours to cast a ballot during those three days. And before the weekend before the election, Ohio voters will still not be able to cast a ballot in-person on nights or weekends.

In 2008, the most populous counties in Ohio allowed more time for early voting'both in terms of days (thirty-five) and hours (on nights and weekends in many places). For the three days before the election, early voting locations were open for a total of twenty-four hours in Columbus's Franklin County (8-5 on Saturday, 1-5 on Sunday and 8-7 on Monday) and 18 and a half hours in Cleveland's Cuyahoga County (9-1 on Saturday, 1-5 on Sunday, 8:30-7 pm on Monday). During those final three pre-election days in 2008, 148,000 votes were cast and 'wait times stretched 2 1/2 hours,' reported the Columbus Dispatch

Nonetheless, those abbreviated early voting hours are more than would have been available if the courts hadn't slapped Husted down. The long-term solution is putting someone else in his job. No matter where you live, please sign up to help get Democratic voters to the polls in swing states with our partners at Workers' Voice, a new political action committee from our friends in the labor movement.

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