Editorial
Overt Discrimination in Ohio
Published: August 14, 2012
If you live in Butler or Warren counties in the Republican-leaning suburbs of Cincinnati, you can vote for president beginning in October by going to a polling place in the evening or on weekends. Republican officials in those counties want to make it convenient for their residents to vote early and avoid long lines on Election Day.
But, if you live in Cincinnati, you’re out of luck. Republicans on the county election board are planning to end early voting in the city promptly at 5 p.m., and ban it completely on weekends, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer. The convenience, in other words, will not be extended to the city’s working people.
The sleazy politics behind the disparity is obvious. Hamilton County, which contains Cincinnati, is largely Democratic and voted solidly for Barack Obama in 2008. So did the other urban areas of Cleveland, Columbus and Akron, where Republicans, with the assistance of the Ohio secretary of state, Jon Husted, have already eliminated the extended hours for early voting.
County election boards in Ohio, a closely contested swing state, are evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. In counties likely to vote for President Obama, Republicans have voted against the extended hours, and Mr. Husted has broken the tie in their favor. (He said the counties couldn’t afford the long hours.) In counties likely to vote for Mitt Romney, Republicans have not objected to the extended hours.
This is just the latest alarming example of how Republicans across the country are trying to manipulate the electoral system by blocking the voting rights of their opponents. These actions have a disproportionate effect on blacks, Hispanics and other ethnic minorities who struggled for so long to participate in American democracy.
Cincinnati, for example, is 45 percent black, and Cleveland 53 percent. Butler County, however, is 8 percent black, and Warren 3.5 percent. This kind of racial disparity is clearly visible wherever Republicans have trampled on voting rights during Mr. Obama’s term.
In Florida, more than half of black voters went to the polls early in 2008 largely to support Mr. Obama. So, last year, Republican lawmakers there severely curtailed the early voting period. In Pennsylvania and other states that have imposed strict voter ID requirements, the impact will be felt hardest by blacks, Hispanics, older citizens and students, all of whom tend to lack government ID cards at a higher rate than the general population. At the trial in Pennsylvania over the constitutionality of the state’s voter ID law, the plaintiffs introduced clear evidence, compiled by a geographic data analysis firm, that registered voters in Philadelphia who lack government ID cards are concentrated in minority and low-income areas.
In Ohio, as in other states, the Republican Party is establishing a reputation for putting short-term political gain ahead of the most fundamental democratic rights.
- Tom
- Berwyn, Illinois
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There is absolutely no good reason not to encourage the entire nation to vote and participate in our democracy. We have been encouraging people to vote since voting began, yet our statistics are the most shameful in the free world. Any attempt to prevent people from voting, or make it inconvenient for them, has nothing to do with voter fraud. It has to do with the takeover of a free nation by monied interests. Strong words for a very strong effort. They need to be stopped.
- JBL
- California
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Can't everyone just vote absentee any time they darn well please and not have to worry about what time the polls close? Doesn't seem that difficult to me. I know it requires a stamp but that seems doable. After all, you have to spend a few cents to drive or take the bus to the polling place.
- Thomas Payne
- Cornelius, NC
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This is sick. Really sick.
- tom mcmahon
- millis ma
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- Wouldn't it be interesting to have international observers come to oversee the United States elections. We, the U.S. always call for international observers in elections around the globe, a little taste of our own medicine is just what the doctor orders. Exposing corrupt, dishonest and discrimination in our election process would do wonders for us as a so called free democratic republic. For we are sliding away from that ever faster everyday because of apathy. Only we the people can take gov't back, they will never volunteer to surrender it back. Should voting discrimination take place on a wide scale, expect the worst, social unrest.
- Lynn
- New York
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They would have thrown out the Bush election in 2000 and saved us many trillions of dollars, thousands of lives, and millions of jobs.
- Mark Holmes
- San Diego, California
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Republicans are playing a very dangerous game here. To take groups of people, who already feel very desperate given the economic situation we're in, and take away their belief that their vote counts, can invite disaster. It is one thing to feel disenfranchised due to being unemployed, and another entirely to feel that you have absolutely no redress or legitimate representation in our government.
This absolutely needs to be investigated, immediately, and stopped.
This absolutely needs to be investigated, immediately, and stopped.
- Jack
- Boston, MA
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Agree that manipulating elections by using political clout to determine who will most conveniently cast ballots is immoral, and maybe illegal. So all early polling areas in all counties need to be open at least on weekends.
However, this is 2012, and the time has come for everyone regardless of race, color, or creed to have a valid ID in order to vote, and for any other government-related activity.
However, this is 2012, and the time has come for everyone regardless of race, color, or creed to have a valid ID in order to vote, and for any other government-related activity.
- trex
- austin
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Don't look to the current majority on the supreme court for constitutional equal protection in this instance, they're too busy respecting state law over the equal right to vote in a federal election. All we'll get is another Bush v Gore from those kingmakers.
- Chris
- Minneapolis
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What's remarkable is that the Ohio republicans are so utterly brazen about it. Did they honestly believe no one would notice? Or that if it was noticed, no one could do anything about it? In any case, the editorial got it wrong. This isn't merely sleazy politics. It verges on criminal conspiracy. At the very least, Husted should be removed from office for gross abuse of power.
- Cranky Old Prof
- Toronto
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Yes, they think no one can do anything about it. And I fear they are correct. It may be that the US just isn't fully a democracy anymore (although, the vagaries of the electoral college always made that a dicey proposition).
- Lynn
- New York
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but who would remove him? the voters who he is trying to keep away from the polls?
- wwwebconcepts
- houston
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