Detente, at last, at Summit Board of Elections

The most  profound item on the Summit County Board of Elections agenda Wednesday was

                    #3) "approval to hold general election , November 6, 2012"

 Even with board member  Alex Arshinkoff back, the item was approved without debate.  See:  this board can agree on some things without 2-2 deadlocks.  Otherwise, Secretary of State Jon Husted had eliminated further tension by declaring that it was OK for voters to cast their ballots in the 3 days leading to the Nov. 6 election that the board approved in its brief meeting.

If you are an 11th hour voter, the elections board will offer you these early voting hours:

Saturday, Nov. 3,  8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Sunday , Nov. 4, 1  - 5 p.m.

Monday, Nov. 5, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Whew!  Why was  that so hard for Husted to finally accept?

Keep an eye on appellate court decision on early voting

There's a critical case ensconced in the U.S.Court of Appeals in Cincinnati  that could have a strong  bearing on  the outcome of the presidential vote in Ohio.  The case is an appeal by Ohio
Atty. Gen. Mike Dewine and Secretary of State Jon Usted  of Southern District Judge Peter Economus' ruling that the state's early voting system  is unconstitutional  The chief jujstice of the appellate court is Alice Batchelder, the conservative wife of Ohio House Speaker Bill Batchelder, a Republican.  Both parties have a lot riding on the appellate court's verdict. If  Economus' decision is upheld, three days   will be restored to early voting just before the election.  If not....

With Husted-Dewine: Is Blackwell still with us?

Who would have ever guessed that a case could be made for returning Republican Ken Blackwell to the Ohio Secretary of State's office  considering the mess he made of the voting system back in 2004  and later?  From a controversy over provisional ballots, to challenging  the paper used for ballots to adding Diebold voting machines (in which he held some company stock) that were faulty - seldom  a day passed without having to endure more screwups in his office.

On two occasions, the office accidentally exposed Social Security numbers and names of registered voters.  It first released computer discs bearing  such goody information listing  1.2 million individuals.  Second time around, it gave out the names, addresses and social security numbers  of 5.6 million  registered voters.  Blackwell apologetically called the goofs "accidental". Problem solved.

Well, now we have a secretary of state , Jon Husted,  and attorney general, Mike Dewine,  creating greater confusion.  Earlier reports said Husted, acting under a federal court order,  had rescinded his own order shutting down week end voting just prior to Election Day.   That much he did and cheers went up that possibly we could count on a normal election.  You know, like the 2008 election that had caused so few systemic problems.

But we later learned from published reports all the way up to the national media  that Husted, joined by Dewine, had something more in mind, seeking a stay of the court's decision until the state's appeal could complete its course through the courts; i.e., don't do anything until we get back to you, whenever that may be.  Husted's Special Counsel, William S. Consovoy, said the delay was intended to avoid  confusion. 

Plunderbund reported yesterday that this was the same William S. Consovoy who sought an unsuccessful constitutional challenge to the Voting Rights Act in the South.  Husted obviously didn't pull Consovoy's name out of the hat to advance his  opposition to early week-end voting.

In his appeal, Dewine is now talking state's rights instead of voter fraud, a myth that never went anywhere.  I can't imagine the cost of all of these delaying tactics.  Worse yet, it is increasingly clear that Husted and Dewine are still hoping to prepare a table for a Romney victory in Ohio, candor and  the public interest be damned.

Are you listening, Public?

GOP-style absentee ballots: 'Righting' the system

Well, Nancy and I each received a feel-good absentee  ballot notice  from Secretary of State Jon Husted today.  It was patriotically red, white and blue, with a prominently displayed checkmark that did double duty by serving as the stylized "V" in the My Vote logo.  Underneath it boldly  declared "My Right - My Responsibility".

How good of Mr. Husted to remind me of my right.  How timely, too, so soon after after he and his cohort,  Atty.  Gen. Mike Dewine  decided to drag out their response to a federal court order to restore week-end early voting.  Oh, they will argue, week-end voting hours are not a right, which is like asking you not to count the change from  a suspicious sidewalk vendor.

It's at least interesting to me how quickly guys like Husted and Dewine move in to blur their tracks on suppressing the vote.   Rights and responsiblity?  Make me laugh, guys.  And as conservative Republicans who preach personal freedom from Big Brother,  shouldn't you be practicing what you are preaching by getting off the backs of certain voters?

UPDATE:  THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH JUST REPORTED THAT HUSTED RESCINDED HIS ORDER  AGAINST EARLY VOTING HOURS FOR THE THE LAST 3 DAYS BEFORE THE ELECTION.  (Shucks.  Mike Dewine, the Ohio AG, had threatened  to be so bold as to appeal the order to the U.S. Supreme Court.    That was STRIKE THREE for Mike, who belatedly switched to the losing candidate in the Republican presidential primary, was on the losing side in the appeal to the Supreme court on Obamacare and now this.  If you think of it, send him a cheerful card as the loser. 

The Husted-Dewine axis challenging Federal court order

Man, these Republican guys aren't kidding in their mad-dash campaign to block early voting on the pre-Election Day week end despite a federal court ordering them to play nice and keep the doors open.  Secretary of State Jon Husted (top photo) has boasted of his leadership in ending the 2008 benefit for pre-election voters, and Attorney General Mike Dewine says he will take the issue onward and upward, to the U.S.Supreme Court, if necessary. Some people define leadership in other ways.

Both men, of course, have their eyes on a Romney election that holds a little promise for their own political future.   Dewine began his term with a promise to join others in appealing Obamacare. You have to wonder whether he has nothing better to deal with his time than to  obstruct  anything that might be favorable for the other party.

As for Husted, well, he's got a tiger by the tail with this one and it's too late to run his office for everyone in Ohio rather just those who vote Republican.

Some Ohio newspapers have already called on the Husted/Dewine twins to obey the court order. But Husted has said he will do nothing until the higher court rules on the appeal. Early voting begins Oct.3, fellows.

I continue to ask:  why have these two state GOP officials given the issue top priority in the workaday world?  I have a hunch that they are looking out solely for their political future.  Dewine, after all, has never seen a possible self-serving opportunity that didn't send him up into the the ether.  He's the fellow, you might remember, who abruptly switched his allegiance from Mitt Romney to Rick Santorum in the final weeks of the Ohio campaign when he was downright sure Santorum would carry the state.  You know the rest of the story.

NOTE: My column  on Josh Mandel's bad habits has been posted on Plunderbund.com

In Dayton, time to return 2 Dems to Elections Board

Question for the legal minds, which I'm not:

In the Repubicans' bizarre attempts to restrict voting hours while being less than candid about their motives, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted  fired two Montgomery County (Dayton) Democrats on the Board of Elections because they  decided to  go ahead with  early week- end voting - a practice followed in the 2008 presidential election that went smoothly.  If it wasn't broken, why did he try to fix it?

But now that a federal judge has ruled that Republican Husted's scheme was unconstitutional (except  not in the mind of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, who is appealing it)  shouldn't Husted take the hint and restore Dennis Lieberman and Tom Ritchie Sr. to their board positions?

With the current state of the GOP, you are always missing something in the narrative.

County election board: Husted all alone

Surprise surprise.   The Summit County Board of Elections is sending three more deadlocked 2-2 votes to Secretary of State Jon Husted to cast the deciding vote.   This has occurred so often since County Republican Chairman Alex Arshinkoff was reinstated to his old seat that one wonders why  any board member bothers to vote at all. On most important issues, the board consists only of Husted.

In this instance,  the two Democratic board members want to provide more space at the empty hhGregg building near Chapel Hill Mall to serve a projected 25,000 early walk-in voters  for the presidential election.  Arshinkoff and his compatriot Ray Weber propose  the  vacant second floor at  the Beacon Journal, with less available parking. Make me laugh. Voters would have to pass the BJ's security guard at the entrance to the building and  sign something.  (The procedure hasn't been worked out, I'm told.)  Those who aren't able to walk up two floors would have to wait for the elevator from another era.

Convenient, huh?  But convenience is not what the GOP locals have in mind. Voter suppression is a better way of explaniing it.  

The Republican duo refers to the higher cost of the Democrats' proposal, but that's clearly a ruse.  Across the Land of Freedom and Opportunity, the GOP has devised various plots  to  restrict voting by you-know-who's with Voter ID Laws, shifting precincts  and other nefarious means short of house arrests.  It's intended to, um, wipe out massive  fraud that doesn't exist.  It's no different in Democrat-rich  Summit County, where a Democrat denied is a Republican plus.  This theory began long ago  when it was not uncommon to hear Arshinkoff et al literally pray for bad weather on Election Day to discourage blacks and seniors.  It's still in play.

(When reading this Post, it would be more appropriate to turn off the sound of Sousa's Stars & Stripes Forever. We're not there yet, folks. )