The election is Tuesday, Nov. 6.
The ruling is not related to the Obama campaign’s lawsuit against Husted in which arguments were heard on Wednesday in U.S. District Court. The Obama campaign lawsuit is to reinstate Ohio’s in-person early voting for the Saturday, Sunday and Monday before the election. Republican legislators eliminated that voting via a 2011 bill.
Democrats estimate 93,000 Ohioans cast in an in-person ballot on those days in the 2008 presidential election. Judge Peter C. Economus will issue a ruling, although the date is not certain.
For voters in Miami, Clark and Champaign counties, the Husted ruling means more hours to vote in-person at their boards of election, as those counties had not planned any extra hours beyond 4 or 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.
Voters in Montgomery, Greene, Warren and Butler counties will have fewer hours. Boards of election in all four of those counties had already approved weekend voting, ranging from two days in Greene and Warren counties, to four days in Montgomery and Butler counties. Those schedules are now cancelled, and residents will have 10 to 17 fewer hours of in-person early voting there.
Husted said his focus was on “leveling the playing field” among Ohio counties when it came to voting access. He made the same argument earlier this year, when he decided that he will send an absentee ballot application to every Ohio registered voter, rather than having a patchwork of policies among counties on that issue, too.
Prior to Husted’s ruling Wednesday, each county could dictate its own hours policy for in-person voting.
Four of Ohio’s largest counties — Cuyahoga, Franklin, Summit and Lucas — had deadlocked on that issue along party lines. Husted, a Republican, is the tiebreaking vote in those situations, and he denied extra hours, citing counties’ budget constraints and saying there “is sufficient time already available” for absentee voting.
Those four counties traditionally vote heavily Democratic, and there was a national backlash from Democrats who said Republican-dominated counties would have more opportunity to vote.
The Ohio Senate’s Democratic Caucus sent Husted a letter this week saying the voting hour disparity “defies the fundamental values of our democracy and raises suspicion that our voting system is being manipulated for partisan advantage.”
The conflict on early voting involves issues of money, fairness and Election Day efficiency. Many small counties that don’t have large lines on Election Day don’t see any need to spend money for extended early voting. But some large counties are willing to spend on overtime because increased early voting makes it less likely that they’ll have the long lines and angry voters that have haunted some past Election days. Having different policies for these different counties can cause strife, especially if one party or demographic feels it’s being disenfranchised.
“I think we can all agree that voters need to be treated the same way … as best you can,” said Greene County deputy director of elections Llyn McCoy, a Democrat. “But sometimes one size doesn’t fit all.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio called Husted’s decision “a step in the right direction,” but added that “many voters will still have difficulty getting to the polls early without weekend access to early voting.”
Steve Quillen, the Republican elections director in Miami County, disagreed, saying he had hoped for a uniform policy. He said the combination of in-office voting from Oct. 2 to Nov. 2, and the state’s decision to mail every voter an absentee ballot application in September, should solve any concerns about it being too hard to vote.
“They’ve got 35 damn days, so get here to vote,” Quillen said. “I’m sorry, but they can’t make it within 35 days?”
In Champaign County, members of the board of elections were planning to discuss the hours during a meeting today, said Kathy Meyer, elections director. She was unaware of the ruling Wednesday night.
The hours should not pose a significant problem since her staff often stays in the office later than usual to complete work during the election season, Meyer said.
Meyer said the Champaign board is hiring two part-time clerks to help prepare for election day and early voting. Regular hours in Champaign County are from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday.
Mark Oster, director of the Clark County Board of Elections, said his staff will also comply with the state’s wishes.
“However it goes, we’ll do whatever they tell us,” Oster said.
The state decision will also mean longer hours in Clark County. Normal business hours are from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Oster said although it may mean more overtime for his staff, the additional hours will likely not be a significant burden.
Overall, he said the decision will be fine as long as all boards are following the same set of rules.
“If it’s consistent with everybody else, it’s good,” Oster said.
According to information from the Clark County Board of Elections, about 16,800 voters cast their ballots early in the 2008 general election, and 2,243 cast early ballots in this spring’s primaries. In Champaign County, 5,109 cast an early ballot in 2008 and 1,018 cast an early ballot in this spring’s primaries.
Sharon Hastings of St. Paris said she voted early for the first time this spring because of a planned vacation. She said the process was easy, and she will consider voting early again.
“It was convenient, and we could go when we wanted,” Hastings said.
James Asterino of Urbana said he has voted early in several elections and will likely do so again. Asterino said he likes knowing his ballot is counted well in advance.
“There’s a lot of times I’ve voted on the very first day,” Asterino said.
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