* Is the Ohio Secretary of State denying you equal access to vote? According to an article in
Esquire magazine:
Extended hours on nights and weekends that made it easier for nearly
9,000 voters to cast early ballots in the 2008 presidential race at the
Hamilton County Board of Elections may not be repeated this year because
of Republican opposition. Across Ohio, that is part of a
developing pattern in which extra pre-election voting hours may be
denied to voters in large urban counties — most of which traditionally
vote Democratic — even as extended hours will be available in some
smaller counties with a strong Republican slant... A showdown over the
extra voting hours is expected at the Hamilton County Board of Elections
next week. If
the debate plays out as it has in Ohio's other major urban counties, it
likely will result in a 2-2 tie vote by board members, with Democrats
in favor of extending voting hours and Republicans opposed. That
would place the question before Secretary of State Jon Husted, a
Republican who over the past several weeks has consistently sided with
GOP elections board members elsewhere in casting tie-breaking votes
against extending voting hours during the weeks leading up to the Nov. 6
election...
< Only in cases where boards' tie votes give him a
decisive voice, McClellan added, will Husted move to block extra voting
hours. The
counties where Husted has joined with other Republicans to deny
expanded early voting strongly backed then-candidate Barack Obama in
2008, while most of those where the extra hours will stand heavily
supported GOP nominee John McCain.
If you live in an Ohio county that went for McCain in 2008, you may have longer voting hours. Those counties that supported Obama, can have their early voting hours shortened by Republicans and Jon Husted will allow it.
Write to the U.S. Department of Justice, Voting Section (
Voting.Section@usdoj.gov), and let them know you want an investigation into why certain Ohio counties are allowed longer voting hours.