Ohio Secretary of State Refuses To Comply With Early Voting Court Order

[cynatnite]

Jon Husted, Republican Secretary of State in Ohio, is refusing to change his restrictive early voting schedule even after a federal court restored in-person early voting to all Ohioans during the three day period before the general election. Husted claims expanding hours before an appeals court hears his case will “only serve to confuse voters.” Husted first restricted the voting hours in Democratic-leaning urban counties to weekdays only, then restricted all counties’ voting schedules after complaints of unfairness. In spite of several counties’ requests to stay open on weekends, when most employed people have time to vote, Husted has flatly refused to accommodate them.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/09/04/793441/ohio-secretary-of-state-refuses-to-comply-with-early-voting-court-order/

Fucking asshole.

[spanone]

1. send in u.s. marshalls to enforce the law

[DURHAM D]

2. AMEN and the UN

[sharp_stick]

4. The UN?

you'd probably have a more effective force if you deputized the local girl scouts.

[LanternWaste]

12. I don't think the Girl Scouts would have made much of a difference in Sierra Leone

I don't think the Girl Scouts would have made much of a difference in Sierra Leone, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Timor-Leste, Liberia, Haiti and Kosovo.

But I guess we all need a bogey-man.

[sharp_stick]

14. Doing a bang up job in Syria too n/t

[LanternWaste]

16. The latter does not deny the success of the former.

The latter does not deny the success of the former.

But again, I imagine we all need a bogey-man, and you seemed to have yours. I suppose your bogeyman would be the Girl Scout were it not fir the existence of the UN, so I guess that's a good thing...

[Zalatix]

39. I also don't think Girl Scouts would go rape people like UN troops did in Haiti

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/haiti-protests-grow-over-mans-rape-by-un-troops-2350375.html

Renewed protests were expected in Haiti last night, amid mounting controversy over claims that UN peacekeepers sexually assaulted an 18-year-old man and then shared a videotape of the incident.

On Monday, several hundred locals gathered outside a UN base in Port-Salut, where the alleged attack took place. Earlier that day, the Haitian President Michel Martelly had described the incident as "collective rape" and called it "an act which revolts the national conscience".

The peaceful protest was prompted by last week's emergence of a 50-second video, shot on a mobile telephone, which allegedly showed a collection of Uruguayan peacekeepers pinning the man down on a mattress and pulling his trousers down.

They shouted "what's the problem here?" to which the man responded "no problem!" Then they laughed as a shirtless peacekeeper stood between the man's legs and appeared to thrust his crotch vigorously towards him before slapping the man's naked buttocks.

[_Liann_]

32. Repugs would be having a y2k brooks-brothers-riot outside his office if parties were reversed

Repugs would not accept this crap. Their paid operatives would be a MOB chanting in front of cameras outside his office door.

[Ter]

22. Oh God no

We'd lose 49 states. The UN should not ever get involved with the US.

[_Liann_]

29. Send in UN BLACK HELICOPTERS to take repugs to Natl Forest FEMA Camps...

[Ter]

37. And watch militia membership rise 5,000%

Not good.

[_Liann_]

38. You are as crazy as Glenn Beck to take it seriously. It was a JOKE, dude.

[Ter]

40. Ok, I understand now

But you make it like I was supposed to know...

[_Liann_]

41. WHAT? You don't KNOW that there are NO NATL FOREST FEMA CAMPS, that insane Beck made that up???

[Ter]

42. The far left believes in FEMA Camps too

Ever go into the Conspiracy forums here? And Beck didn't make it up, Jesse Ventura first reported it over two years ago on his show, and Beck got it from there.

[annabanana]

7. yup. That's what you have to do to protect the people.. . n/t

[Horse with no Name]

36. Absolutely. Or the National Guard

He has no jurisdiction over Federal matters.

[sharp_stick]

3. The court of appeals

should slap this little shit down pretty quickly. I hope the people of Ohio are paying attention to these assholes for the next State elections?

[1StrongBlackMan]

28. Especially ...

those groups that are the target of the obstruction.

[PADemD]

5. Can he be arrested?

[onenote]

18. No.

While i think the intent of the district court order is quite clear, it didn't set a specific timeframe for action and since the issue relates to voting during the 3 days before election day in November, one can't be absolutely certain what either the district court or the appeals court would decide if they were presented with a motion asking that the court's ruling be held in abeyance pending appeal. I would hope that the courts would order the state to take steps to immediately establish uniform voting rules and schedules for the three days preceding election day, but its not necessarily a slam dunk if the court concludes that there would be time to establish those rules after the appeal is heard.

It will be interesting to see whether either side moves for clarification of the timing of the district court order and what the outcome of that motion (if filed) is.

[bigdarryl]

6. What the fuck are they doing running a dictatorship in that state

[atreides1]

8. Why yes they are.

But it was about time someone noticed and called it what it really is!

I like to refer to Ohio as the Southern State that no one knew about...

When and if they renew the Voting Rights Act, they should add Ohio and any other Republican controlled state to the list of states that still need to be monitored by the Federal government...to ensure that the voting rights of all Americans are protected!!!

[AzDar]

9. Huh. Perhaps some help from the Feds would be appreciated?

[standingtall]

10. How can he do that?

Pretty clear to me he is breaking the law.Unless some other judge has ordered a stay. Just because he doesn't like it doesn't give him the right to break it.

[still_one]

11. "early voting would confuse people". How stupid does he think people are

The justice department better do something about this

[LanternWaste]

13. I'm guessing that as long as Husted is able to suppress voting in OH in the short run

While I'm certain that eventually his actions will be countered, I'm guessing that as long as Husted is able to suppress voting in OH in the short run and boondoggle both the courts and the voters, he (and the GOP as a whole) will consider this a victory.

[AtomicKitten]

15. "What are you prepared to do?"

[Poll_Blind]

17. This is a FEDERAL judge right? Send US Marshals for him. Contempt of court.

If there's some reason that doesn't work, there should be a million other ways the Federal government can enforce that court order.

PB

[Posteritatis]

19. Uhh, last I checked you don't get to ignore court orders. (nt)

[onenote]

23. Unfortunately, the court's order in this case doesn't set a specific deadline for the state

The issue, I believe, should this be brought to the attention of either the district court or the court of appeals, is whether the state's inaction at this time will frustrate the order being carried out. Since the order relates to voting during the three days preceding the election in November, it is not obvious that inaction in the first week of September would frustrate the order. However, I think it would be advisable for the Obama legal team to seek a clarification from the court as to when, absent any stay of its order, the state has to bring itself into compliance.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

20. Not at all uncommon

when an appeal is pending. Unless the order specifies otherwise, there is most likely nothing illegal being done by not implementing changes until the appeal is heard.

[CatWoman]

24. Ohio Says It Will Appeal Ruling on Early-Voter Limits

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine appealed a ruling by a U.S. judge that threw out a Republican- backed law that cut three days of early voting for most of the state’s citizens.

U.S. District Judge Peter Economus in Columbus ruled Aug. 31 in a lawsuit brought by Obama for America that Ohio can’t give members of the military and citizens living abroad three days more than other voters to cast ballots. He ordered the previous schedule restored, which allowed anyone to vote until the day before an election.

DeWine, a Republican, filed a one-paragraph notice of appeal of the decision to the federal appeals court in Cincinnati today. Jon Husted, Ohio’s secretary of state, joined the appeal, DeWine said in the filing.

The appeals court will next set a briefing schedule for both sides to file papers on their positions, Dan Tierney, a spokesman for DeWine, said in an interview today. No schedule has been set yet, Tierney said.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-09-04/ohio-says-it-will-appeal-ruling-on-early-voter-limits

[abolugi]

21. Damn...

Well... that news comes as a gut kick..
Silly me.. I actually thought we were winning this fight.

[hifiguy]

25. Judges very much frown on contempt of court.

Federal judges even moreso than state judges. Time to send in the marshals unless the District Court order has been superseded by the Court of Appeals.

[earthside]

26. Democrats in the Ohio legislature ...

... need to announce that they are exploring impeachment (or whatever it is called in Ohio) to remove this guy from office for misprision.

[onenote]

30. No. The Obama administration needs to go back to the district court for a clarification of its order

which currently doesn't specify a deadline for the state to comply with its order.

Also, I'm not sure you are using "misprision" correctly.

[earthside]

35. Just to keep up the pressure.

'Election fraud' ... which is what I call these attempts to keep people from voting ... should be combated on all fronts. Of course, the Democrats and Obama should go back to the courts, but the political fight should be ramped up -- make this guy feel the pressure of a public watching him deny people the opportunity to vote.

I was thinking about the "erroneous judgement" definition of misprision.

[malaise]

27. Lock up his ass n/t

[YvonneCa]

31. Are they sure they really want to shine a light...

...on the voting process in Ohio? This could get interesting...

[1StrongBlackMan]

33. Funny ...

a quick trip to the Cleveland Plain Dealer On-line reveal not a single mention of this ... But there was an article asking "Why the Social Security Administration would need 174,000 bullets" ... so I guess the former is excused by the latter. (BTW ... That's about 17,000 bullets per General Counsel field office, that's not a whole lot.

[CatWoman]

34. Rev. Al will discuss this after the break