Justice Department reverses position to support Ohio purging inactive voters in high-profile case

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

Justice Department reverses position to support Ohio purging inactive voters in high-profile case

By Sari Horwitz August 8 at 10:20 AM

The Justice Department has reversed itself in a high-profile voting case in Ohio to side with the state and allow the purging of voters from the rolls for not answering election mail and not voting in recent elections.

In a court filing (1) Monday, Justice attorneys took the opposite position from the Obama administration in a case that involved the states removal of thousands of inactive voters from the Ohio voting rolls.

Civil rights groups last year challenged Ohio's process, arguing that such purges are prohibited under the National Voter Registration Act. The Justice Department under Obama filed an amicus brief siding with the groups, and the Supreme Court is set to hear the case in the next term.

But in an unusual turn, the department filed a new amicus brief Monday arguing that the purges of voters are legal under federal law. This brief, unlike the prior one, was not signed by career attorneys in the Civil Rights Division.
....

Sari Horwitz covers the Justice Department and criminal justice issues nationwide for The Washington Post, where she has been a reporter for 30 years. Follow @sarihorwitz

(1) https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/briefs/2017/08/07/16-980_husted_v_randolph_institute_ac_merits.pdf

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/justice-department-reverses-position-to-allow-ohio-to-purge-inactive-voters-from-rolls/2017/08/08/e93c5116-7c35-11e7-9d08-b79f191668ed_story.html

[jpak]

1. Sessions is burning crosses today

yup

[enough]

2. Of course they did. This is who they are and why they will stand behind any

Republican who is President, doesn't matter who it is.

[elleng]

5. Yes.

[DK504]

3. Time to start suing the crap out of everyone in the Rethug party.

Guess they have forgotten everyone registered to vote is allowed to vote. Assholes.

This in the DOJ that are actually following through on this illegal purge are as unAmerican as the Keebler Elf.

[dbackjon]

4. FUCK TRUMP and Anyone that didn't vote to stop him

seriously - the only way to make America Great Again is if every single one of those fuckers died.

[elleng]

6. Husted, naturally. It's what he does.

'As the top election official in the swing state of Ohio, Husted, like his recent predecessors, has been at the center of a number of voting rights controversies[17] including those over the days and hours of early voting and the rules for filling out absentee and provisional ballots.


Husted convenes the 54th Electoral College from Ohio on December 19, 2016 at the Ohio Statehouse.
While voting rights groups contend his term has been mired with voter-suppression tactics, Husted responds consistently with his mantra that Ohio should be a place where it is “both easy to vote and hard to cheat."[18][19][20]

Shortly after taking office, Husted set uniform days and hours for voting across the state,[21] replacing the prior system that allowed each county board of elections to set their own days and hours for early voting. Chris Redfern, then Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party stated Husted had been looking for a way to chip away at the number of days and hours.” The Cleveland Plain Dealer quoted Husted during a press conference as saying, "The bottom line is the antagonists have made an issue about the fact that voters aren't being treated fairly, that they aren't being treated the same. Today we're treating voters everywhere the same."[22]

Democrats complained that Husted's uniform hours would disenfranchise urban voters with long lines and curtailed access, while Republicans have stated that the directive provides for ample early voting hours.[23][24][25]'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_A._Husted

[Gothmog]

7. The GOP is the party of voter suppression

[bucolic_frolic]

8. Hopefully some hackers will purge all Republicans every October

[SunSeeker]

9. Because the Constitution says infrequent voters shouldn't vote at all!

[TeamPooka]

10. The Jim Crow Justice Dept.

[benld74]

11. HOW is this legal in our country

[byronius]

12. Well, at least they're clear about their intent to disenfranchise and eliminate political opponents.

Usually they try to hide this stuff.

But they're all openly Nazi now.

[MBS]

14. you said it.

[riversedge]

13. " unlike the prior[Obama] one, was not signed by career attorneys in the Civil Rights Division."....

Our only hope is the SC but I do not have even low hope for a positive ruling from them at this point



.................But in an unusual turn, the department filed a new amicus brief Monday arguing that the purges of voters are legal under federal law. This brief, unlike the prior one, was not signed by career attorneys in the Civil Rights Division.

[stuffmatters]

15. Can ACLU & others who originated suit argue it in SCOTUS? Does DOJ reversal quash the suit?

Denying people the right to vote if they haven't voted in two(!) years is a blatant violation of every
citizen's constitutional right to vote. Holder making this an amicus case, and Sessions now making it "unamicus" to his DOJ. does that mean the original parties who brought the suit are now flatlined?

Not a lawyer, don't know how this works. But this is outrageous if Husted gets away with this. Why aren't the voters in Ohio raising hell, sitting in in Kaisich's & Husted's offices, maybe bringing criminal charges against the two of them?

Ohio is the swing state of all swing states. There's that adage, "Nobody wins the presidency without Ohio." And, once again more evidence that " Republicans can only win (eg.Ohio) by cheating."