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Jon Husted

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MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry had a message for Ohio Secretary of State and Katherine Harris wanna-be Jon Husted, if he thinks minority voters in Ohio are going to forget about what he did when he's up for re-election in his state -- Jon Husted’s voter suppression will haunt him:

Dear Ohio Secretary of State Husted,

It’s me, Melissa. May I call you Jon?

How are you feeling today? Still a little sore, I’d imagine. Getting beaten so forcefully with all that backlash had to sting a bit. Probably gonna leave a mark. After all, you spent the better part of this year throwing the full force of your power as secretary of state into restricting the right of some Ohioans to vote. And on Tuesday, it boomeranged back upside your head something fierce.

After Ohio governor John Kasich and state Republican legislatures tried to restrict early voting the weekend before the election, President Obama’s campaign sued to restore early voting for all Ohioans. When a district judge agreed with the Obama campaign, you gave us the first indication of just how far you’d go to stop people from voting.

Not only did you appeal that decision, you also ordered county election boards to “defy” the judge’s order and “not” restore the early hours. Fortunately that judge called your bluff and ordered you into court to explain yourself.

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Ken Blackwell, the Republican former Ohio Secretary of State who presided over President George W. Bush's 2004 win, on Tuesday suggested that "groups that turn out high numbers of voters" -- instead of restrictions on early voting -- were to blame for long lines in African American precincts.

During an election night appearance on MSNBC, Blackwell explained that the county boards of elections had not deliberately placed too few voting machines in black precincts.

"They have to make practical decisions," he told host Chris Matthews. "They make decisions based on turnout patterns of elections, they put those voting machines and then what happens? There's tremendous organizational effort by Democrats and various groups, labor groups. And they get a great turnout. What does that cause? That causes long lines. Nobody is out there deliberately trying to suppress the vote."

"There are people deliberately trying to suppress the vote, let's get that straight," Matthews interrupted.

"I think there was a tremendous turnout in African Americans," Blackwell insisted. "Did they have to stand in line? Yes. Why? Because there was a tremendous organizational effort to turnout the vote."

MSNBC host Al Sharpton pointed out that Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted had worked to cut back early voting hours, including the Sunday before election day when many African Americans go to the polls.

"He did end up cutting early voting hours," host Rachel Maddow agreed. "In terms of the state of Ohio right now, part of the reason there's long lines is that early voting hours got cut after they tried to cut early voting days. So we don't need to put that on you, that wasn't your decision, but that is what happened in the state."

"I thought it was a bad move to try to take away -- to try to block the tradition of voting on the Sunday before elections," Blackwell agreed. "That was his call. But the reality is we've had long lines due to the success of groups that turn out high numbers of voters."



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We've got stories that continue to come out about voter suppression everywhere from Arizona, to Colorado, to Pennsylvania to you name it, and stories like this one just coming out this week -- Florida 'Glitch' Wipes Out 1000 Early Votes In Black Area.

And this recent news from Ohio where their Secretary of State Jon Husted is doing his best to become the next Katherine Harris or Ken Blackwell -- Last-Minute Ohio Directive Could Trash Legal Votes And Swing The Election.

But never mind all that. If people don't like it that the Republicans are doing their best to keep them from voting or their votes from being counted, well that's too bad according to Mitt Romney's number one neocon fan-girl -- Wash. Post's Jennifer Rubin Dismisses Voter Suppression Concerns As "Sour Grapes".



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It seems Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted isn't finished doing his best to suppress the vote in his state and cause as much chaos and confusion as humanly possible between now and election day -- Husted To Appeal Ohio Early Voting Ruling To Supreme Court:

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced Tuesday that he will appeal a court ruling which restored access to early voting during the three days before the election.

An appeals court ruled Friday that Ohio must treat all voters the same as it treats military members or people who live overseas. Husted called the ruling “an unprecedented intrusion by the federal courts into how states run elections” in a press release on Tuesday.

“This ruling not only doesn’t make legal sense, it doesn’t make practical sense,” Husted said. “The court is saying that all voters must be treated the same way under Ohio law, but also grants Ohio’s 88 elections boards the authority to establish 88 different sets of rules. That means that one county may close down voting for the final weekend while a neighboring county may remain open. How any court could consider this a remedy to an equal protection problem is stunning.”

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that “while there is a compelling reason to provide more opportunities for military voters to cast their ballots, there is no corresponding satisfactory reason to prevent non-military voters from casting their ballots as well.”

President Barack Obama’s campaign and state Democrats had challenged Ohio’s effort to shorten the early voting period for those who weren’t in the military or based overseas. Early voting was available in the three day period period in 2008, and minority voters were more likely to vote during that period.

Read on for the response from the Obama campaign.



Ohio Secretary Of State Husted Backs Down On Early Voting

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Here's one for the good guys. It looks like we found a judge who wasn't too happy with having the Ohio Secretary of State thumb his nose at a court order -- Ohio Secretary Of State Backs Down On Early Voting:

After being summoned to court by a federal judge, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted on Friday backed away from his order that would have banned counties from planning for early voting.

Husted’s original order had essentially ignored a ruling by U.S. District Judge Peter Economus, who declared that the state couldn’t take away early voting in the three days before the election. Economus sided with the Obama campaign, which sued Ohio to get the early voting re-implemented.

In a court filing on Friday afternoon, Husted said he “apologizes to the federal district court” for creating what he called the “misimpression” that he was ignoring the order. “The Secretary would never intentionally contravene an order issued by the federal district court or any other court — and this case is no exception,” the filing said.

Ohio also requested a stay of the court’s order until their appeal is heard with the Sixth Circuit.

Politics Nation's Al Sharpton who reported on the story for MSNBC, asks what happened to the party of Lincoln and Douglas and reminded everyone of just how important that our right to vote is. Here is the op-ed he quoted from when talking about Frederick Douglass: Voter Suppression, Then and Now.