Toledo Blade...
Early voting’s end angers Democrats  
November 3, 2011 

COLUMBUS — County boards of election must stop early in-person voting as of 6 p.m. Friday, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has advised, prompting Democrats to cry foul. 

The Rev. Jesse Jackson used a rally Wednesday at the U of Toledo to urge students and others to “occupy” the downtown voter-registration center “all day and night” this weekend. 

This occurs as a number of counties are reporting higher-than-usual absentee mail-in and early in-person voting for an off-year election, perhaps driven by interest in high-profile ballot issues such as Issue 2, which affects collective bargaining. 

The early voting issue was created by a voter referendum effort on a controversial overhaul of state election law, House Bill 194, that had a spillover effect on separate legislation, House Bill 224, containing some similar language. The referendum effort has placed House Bill 194 on hold indefinitely, but the latter law passed unanimously and took effect last week. 

As a result, Mr. Husted, a Republican, issued an advisory to boards of election in mid-October that early voting is prohibited during the last three days before Tuesday’s election. The Lucas County Board of Elections had scheduled business hours for Saturday and Sunday but canceled them to comply with last month’s advisory. 

“We’re simply implementing a law passed unanimously by the General Assembly,” Husted spokesman Matt McClellan said. “That’s our role, and that’s what we’re doing.” 

Democrats, however, contend Mr. Husted based his advisory on a law dealing primarily with military ballots that had its legs cut out from under it by the referendum on the first law. 

“It’s not a game of Scrabble,” Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D., Kent) said. “When you take out major chunks … the bill is now unreadable and incomprehensible.” 

At the rally in Toledo, Mr. Jackson told the crowd, “You should be able to vote Saturday and Sunday and Monday. They’re cutting off voting on Friday.” 

The civil rights leader compared it to past restrictions on voting. 

“In 1965, African-Americans couldn’t vote in the South,” Mr. Jackson said. “White women couldn’t serve on juries, farmers who couldn’t pay poor taxes couldn’t vote, 18 year olds could not vote. 

“We fought for easy access to voting. Now, by stopping the voting here on Friday until Tuesday, that’s an attempt to control the process.” 

The Rev. Cedric Brock, pastor of Mount Nebo Church on North Detroit Avenue and president of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, said he would meet with labor, campus, and church leaders today to plan a strategy to occupy the voting center at 13th and Washington streets. 

In Lucas County, roughly half of 16,150 absentee ballots requested as of yesterday had been returned. Elections Director Ben Roberts reported the board has received them at the pace of roughly 170 per day, up from an average of 123 at about the same time before the November, 2010, election. 

“We expect a deluge in the last two days,” he said. 

As of Wednesday, 3,816 had already cast early votes in person, either by machine or paper. 

“Talking to people around the state, things are very strong compared to the other top five counties,” Mr. Roberts said. 

In Wood County, 3,496 people have already voted, up just a bit from the 3,421 who voted early in 2009. But the requests for absentee ballots are up dramatically: 4,788 this year compared to 3,278 at this stage two years ago. 

“Since they changed the way that early voting and absentee voting are implemented with no-fault, this will continue to be a growing part of our business because of the convenience factor,” said Terry Burton, a Republican and the director of the Wood County Board of Elections. 

Mr. McClellan said statewide figures on absentee and early voting won’t be available until after the election. 

Staff writer Jennifer Feehan contributed to this report. 

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