MSNBC’s Chuck Todd grilled Ohio’s GOP Secretary of State Jon Husted on his recent decision to cut early voting, and it is truly a joy to behold. Photo: Screen grab.
On MSNBC’s The Daily Rundown, Chuck Todd grilled Ohio’s GOP Secretary of State Jon Husted on his recent decision to cut early voting, and it is truly a joy to behold. A flustered-looking Husted insists that he did no such thing, and that Ohio offers far more chances to vote than other states, but Todd calls him on his bold-faced lies.
For those who don’t follow politics in the state of Ohio, let’s flash back to February when Husted cut early voting on Sundays and weekday evenings, leaving voters with only two Saturdays for casting early ballots. In his press release, Husted wrote:
“In 2014, absentee voters will have the option of voting in person for four weeks, or they can vote without ever leaving home by completing the absentee ballot request form we will be sending all voters. Our goal is to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat and to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity in the voting process no matter which method they choose.”
Alas, the press release — actually all of Husted’s press releases — have mysteriously vanished into thin air. Maybe that has something to do with the lawsuit the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) — along with National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the League of Women Voters of Ohio, and several African-American churches — just filed on his sorry, lying @ss.
Sybil Edwards-McNabb, president of the Ohio Conference of the NAACP, states for theACLU’s press release:
“Together these cuts will impact tens of thousands of low-income voters, elderly voters, student voters and African-American voters who turn to early in-person voting as their best option for casting a ballot.”
The press release adds that over 157,000 Ohio residents voted on the days being cut in the 2012 election.
John Husted doubles down on his early voting lies.
In his interview with Todd, Husted shamelessly doubles down on his early voting lies and insists that the state of Ohio offers more opportunities to vote than ever. Luckily for us, Todd was having none of that. Here’s part of the interview, as transcribed by the good folks at Think Progress.
TODD: Why did you make the decision to round down, right? You could have rounded up and said, “I want fair and uniform elections and the standard has been Sundays, we’re going to do these two Sundays, expand the hours, and make sure every voting jurisdiction has the same set of hours.” You could have essentially rounded up and you decided to round down. Why did you do that?
HUSTED: That’s not true, Chuck. Actually, the legislature shortened the early voting period. Because of problems in a swing state like Ohio. But that’s not me, Chuck. That’s the legislature. I have clashed with the legislature.
TODD: Do you think they made a mistake? Do you wish they didn’t do that?
HUSTED: What I want is a bipartisan solution. A partisan solution to these issues never is going to satisfy anybody.
Husted went on to claim that there are two million fewer voters in midterm elections, to which Todd snaps back:
“Well, I don’t understand that decision either [...] Why should a voter have more access to the polls in a presidential year, and not [...] in a midterm year?”
Todd adds that to the average Ohio voter, “the midterm elections are more important to their every day lives.”
Husted then has the gall to once again blame the decision to cut early voting hours — which rests solely in his hands — on the state legislature. Only now, even Husted doesn’t seem entirely convinced.
“The only bipartisan solution that was on the table was a schedule that was given to us by the Democrats and Republicans who run the local elections. And what they wanted was a 28-day schedule that allowed Saturdays [...] and during the presidential election, we WILL have Sundays.”
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