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Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted
Husted files
brief on voting ruling
COLUMBUS - Later today, Secretary Husted will be filing a brief with
the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, appealing a recent ruling by Judge
Economus on the principle that all voters should have the same
opportunities to vote, no matter where they live. Regarding this
ongoing litigation, all of the following may be attributed to Secretary
of State Jon Husted:
“Before this lawsuit was filed, Ohio was a national leader in voter
access. After this case is decided, Ohio will still be a national
leader in voter access, not only in the number of days and hours for
early in-person voting, but because I have sent all voters an absentee
ballot application, allowing them to vote without ever having to leave
home.
“As Secretary of State, I have worked to make it easy to vote and hard
to cheat by ensuring that all voters, no matter which option they
choose or where they live, vote by the same set of rules. In doing
that, I have followed the laws as passed by the General Assembly, and
when I had discretion, elected to adopt a uniform and bipartisan
schedule for voting that was carefully developed by the Republicans and
Democrats that run local elections.
“Though I have complied with the recent ruling by Judge Economus, I
must appeal his decision because in allowing counties to set their own
schedules, he has once again opened the door to having a patchwork of
rules across the state, which is in direct conflict with his previous
rulings that insisted upon treating all voters equally.
“Having a myriad of different rules set just before an election will
not only create confusion among the electorate, but more importantly,
it simply isn’t fair to treat voters in one county different than
voters in another.
“With a successful appeal we make sure all Ohioans have plenty of time
to vote while also ensuring every voter has fair and equal opportunity
to cast their ballot.”
Additional information
Directive 2014-28
(Note the Economus 2014 voting schedule is more expansive than the
schedule which served Ohio voters in the 2012 Presidential Election and
vastly more expansive than schedules upheld in other states facing
similar challenges. In North Carolina, for example, voters will be
voting over the course of 10 days vs. Ohio’s current 35 days.)
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