How badly is Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted trying to throw the election for Romney? Badly enough that on Saturday, in violation of a judge’s order, he plans to throw out potentially tens of thousands of provisional ballots.
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, whose decision to try to restrict early voting was thrown out first by an Ohio judge, then a federal appeals court and denied a hearing by the U.S. Supreme Court, will be back in court again this month after he issued a last-minute directive on provisional ballots that not only contradicts Ohio law but is also in violation of a recent court decision and the opposite of what Husted’s own lawyers said he would do.
As reported by Judd Legum at ThinkProgress, Husted ordered election officials not to fill out a section of the provisional ballot that verifies what form of identification that the voter produced and that, if it is incorrectly filled out, the ballot will automatically not be counted. However, under the law establishing the provisional balloting procedures, according to the lawsuit filed against Husted on Friday, it is election officials that are supposed to record the type of ID provided, not the voter — and that election officials are supposed to attempt to resolve any questions on the spot.
Husted has until Monday to respond to the suit, and the court has said that it plans to resolve the issue before provisional ballots are counted on November 17, 2012.
So yes, if Ohio is close, and close enough to decide the election overall, then this is the story right here that will determine the Presidency. It amazes me that this guy is repeatedly allowed to violate federal court judges and Ohio state law, and do whatever the hell he feels like doing.
I personally hope President Obama’s electoral tour de force rolls Romney so hard that Ohio is just another icing state on the 350 electoral vote cake. But no matter what, Husted’s actions here are odious, repugnant, and oh yeah, illegal. It’s voter suppression to help the GOP, period. Let’s call it what it is, folks.
The good news is at this point the extraordinarily desperate GOP is resorting to patently obvious nonsense like this, and it’s being discovered before Tuesday’s vote. People are at least aware of it, especially here in Ohio (I hope).
We’ll see. The obvious remedy to this is VOTE.
The Republic of Stupidity
Let’s not forget election fraud, while we’re at it…
Robin G.
At what point does he go to jail? I’m asking seriously.
JPL
Thanks.. Why is this guy in office? I know everyone is busy on the ground but do you have updates on Brown’s and Obama’s chances to win it outright?
James E. Powell
How come we can’t have our own Brooks Brothers riot over this? I’m not there, but why doesn’t our side try the pitchforks and torches response? I mean, the whole ‘right to vote’ thing does have some resonance, no?
bullsmith
Why is trying to vote illegally a crime but this isn’t? Seem to be a hell of lot more legitimate votes thrown out every election than fraudulent votes cast. By an exponential factor.
It’s almost like some of these folks don’t believe in the basic principal of democracy.
PsiFighter37
@Robin G.: IOKIYAR. Come on, these guys NEVER do time.
That said, he’s a jackass. I hope the OH Democratic Party gets its act together and throws out all the fools running state government. And Ohioans should’ve learned after Bob Taft & Ken Blackwell that you NEVER give the keys back to the Klown posse once you take them away.
Robin G.
Also, the Dems are getting poll watchers into every voting locale, right? Who will be tweeting constantly and keeping lawyers on speed dial?
Yutsano
@PsiFighter37:
Normally I’d agree with you, but Husted is openly defying a judge. This is NEVER a smart idea.
PreservedKillick
@bullsmith:
Democracy = voting for the republican.
Legitimately elected = a republic official.
Anything outside those bounds is communism.
PsiFighter37
@bullsmith: Democracy is only good when your side wins. It’s rank Republican hypocrisy, just like with every other issue.
@JPL: Brown will smoke Mandel. I was talking to an Obama voter today who was uninformed about the Senate race, but as soon as I mentioned Mandel’s name, they said they would vote for Brown. People here absolutely hate that prepubescent prick.
Robin G.
@PsiFighter37: Yeah, but there’s surely got to be a point where some judge is going to at least nail him with contempt of court. It’s not like this is even subtle.
PreservedKillick
@Robin G.:
Sounds more like they will have lawyers at every voting locale.
This is going to be a fucking zoo.
Villago Delenda Est
Husted needs to be thrown in jail.
Without any protection from the general population.
SuperHrefna
The ONLY good thing about Sandy is that it keeps me from obsessing too much over election news like this (because I have no power, nor am likely to get it back anytime soon, thanks LIPA! Once I day I find wifi & save BJ threads as pdfs to read later, so yeah I am still obsessing over the election, just not as much. Kinda…)
The Republicans know they are losing, and they are losing because the majority of the people reject their vision of America. It’s not that people suddenly became liberal (sadly), it’s that the GOP has left sanity to drown on a beach somewhere and fully embraced teh crazy. So all they have left are lies & crime.
MikeJ
@Robin G.:
If I were the judge there would be a warrant out for him.
lamh35
Question, are early voting tallys published as soon as polls close Tues? what I mean is, do they count tem soon as voting is over Tuesday, & release the numbers, or do they release them county by county on Tues?
Baud
Once again, if a Democratic SoS did this, it would be national news.
eemom
@PsiFighter37:
That dumbass self-fulfilling phrase really, REALLY needs to be retired from the lexicon.
Srsly, fuck that shit.
Nora
You just do NOT blatantly violate a court order like that. No judge in the country is going to be lenient with a guy like that. Contempt of court at the very least.
JPL
@eemom: It’s true.. I would love to retire it but it’s true.
blingee
According to OFA there are supposedly about 2500 lawyers volunteering to blanket the state on Tuesday documenting all this stuff at polling stations and directing people who are intentionally being misinformed.
This is all a result of what happened in Florida in 2000 so Dems learned from that. In other words they are on it. Hopefully it is not so close that we are subject to another delay in determining a winner like with 2000.
Baud
@eemom:
INOKJBYAR
It’s not OK just because you’re a Republican.
PsiFighter37
@Baud: IOKIYAR. Goddamn, simple answers to simple questions and all that jazz.
PF37 +1 (not digging this Smithwicks I ordered)
redshirt
@eemom: Oh so contrarian!
PsiFighter37
@eemom: Until it actually starts happening, until I see it with my own eyes, I’ll believe it.
Fuck, people like Mark Sanford and David Vitter committed far worse sins against their significant others, but Anthony Weiner gets torched out of office for tweeting his junk around.
Until the GOP develops a sense of shame, I won’t believe it will ever end. Heck, Nixon only resigned because he knew he would lose. Think that fucker would’ve resigned otherwise?
Violet
Is Husted an elected official or an appointed one? How can the good people of Ohio be rid of that pesky turd?
AkaDad
If you Liberals were smart you’d be trying to get vote-by-mail referendums up in every state. You got 2 years until the next election to get it done.
The Dangerman
The SoS isn’t doing this without orders…
…and a RICO case after the election would appear to be warranted. Paraphrasing a popular saying, arrest them all and let God sort it out.
PreservedKillick
@The Dangerman:
Yes. This is too blatant.
Follow the money.
General Stuck
When it comes to voter fraud and dems yelling that republicans are exaggerating a rare event into passing broad vote suppression laws, the wingnuts have a full proof heads we win tails you lose narrative.
concerning a single case of a woman trying to vote twice in NV.
wingnut logic. It is a thing to behold.
Elizabelle
Hello from Manassas VA. Dave Matthews, Bill Clinton, PBO up soon. Thousands upon thousands of psyched people here. Gates opened 2 hours late. Pledge now. To the US. Not Norquist.
Donut
@eemom:
You complain about the dumbest shit sometimes.
Aaaarrrrrrrggghhh. Why do you fucking care? Would it be okay to say, “it is okay if you are a Republican,” long-form, in your book? Do I need your god damnd permission to use a fucking acronym that describes a god damn real, observable phenomenon? Do you like it when people respond to you with the same tone you use with them? SRSLY?!?!? Jesus FUCKing Ka-ryst on a stick!
Yutsano
@Violet: He’s elected from what I understand. But Ohio does not have a recall mechanism. So they’re stuck with him until his office is up for another vote.
freelancer
Jesus Christ, there’s a shootout in Manhattan, KS right now. This game is ridiculous already.
Baud
@Elizabelle:
Cool. I name you the official BJ correspondent for the rally.
dmsilev
@Violet: Elected. In 2010, I believe.
Chris
@General Stuck:
So far most of the “voter fraud” I’ve seen has been from Republican government officials and the PACs trying to violate the law in ways the voter IDs would do noting to address.
JPL
@Elizabelle: Keep us updated. CSPAN is going to cover it starting at ten so we need you to then…
kay
@lamh35:
They release early voting totals with the rest of the numbers. Early votes in OH are ( technically) absentee ballots. They’re called in-person absentees. They scan all of the absentee ballots at Bds of Elections and release vote totals after the polls close.
Also, on the subject of this post, Subodh Chandra is a great lawyer. He’s the voting rights lawyer who sued on behalf of the unions in this case. He’s smart as hell and incredibly aggressive.
We should be concerned about this, but not freak out. There is going to be litigation on provisional ballots if this is close. Just reconcile yourself to that. We have lots and lots of election lawyers here. We’re ready.
If we win by more than half a point we won’t need to battle over provisionals, but they are going to sue on every issue just in case.
One more thing. Sherrod Brown is a former OH sec of state. He knows as much about OH election process as anyone in the country, and he is ON the ballot. We have two people who have a huge stake here, Obama and Brown. You’re not outnumbered and you’re not victims. You’re well-represented.
Violet
@Yutsano: @dmsilev: So he came in on the teabagger wave, huh? Figures, given the way he’s acted. I hope he gets voted out the next time people in Ohio have an option.
mamayaga
@General Stuck: How does wingnut logic explain how voter ID, elimination of early voting, restricted voting hours, etc — all the “remedies” they want to impose — prevent this kind of fraud?
Baud
@kay:
You remain awesome, Kay. I’m glad you’re in Ohio.
Peter
I really hope this shit hangs over the heads of every Republican SoS candidate in Ohio for the next fifty years.
TR
This asshole needs to be frog-marched.
Ruckus
@kay:
Thanks!
I don’t think we can say that enough for all you do, so… Thanks!
General Stuck
@Chris:
You are correct. I posted this as an example of the mendacious right wing mind on the topic of maintaining a free and fair vote required to run a democracy. It is smartass snark worthy for them that which is playing with fire. The sanctity of the vote is the only thing likely keeping us from murdering each other en masse in a country with a lot of nuclear weaponry and other nightmarish things. It is not a laughing matter and it pisses me off.
arguingwithsignposts
@kay: That’s all good to know, kay. Is there any chance of Ohio fixing this stupid fucked up system before next time? (not that there aren’t stupid fucking systems in many states, but Ohio seems to be trying to win the sweepstakes trophy).
arguingwithsignposts
@mamayaga:
does not exist.
Yutsano
@arguingwithsignposts: Nonsense. It always falls back to SHUT UP THAT’S WHY!! Impeccable wingnut logic. You can’t deny it lib!
Redhand
This miserable fuck should be indicted. I would assume there is a federal criminal statute that applies.
Ohio Mom
One of the very small upsides of living in a very Republican suburb is that all is quiet and calm at my polling place. There are always enough working machines, I’ve never seen a line.
There’s always a prominently posted map of the area, with each precinct outlined and labeled so you can find your street and confirm which table you’re to sign in on. I’ve never gone to the wrong table but I’m pretty sure if I did, every at the other tables would start looking up my name and help me out. Usually one of my kid’s classmate’s mother is working one of the tables so I get to have a friendly little newsy chat, too.
Meanwhile, at the downtown Cincinnati Board of Elections, where Democrats are known to vote, there are blocks-long lines for early voting.
Ruckus
@TR:
I was thinking more like crucified, you know nails through limbs and all that. He might bleed out but that seems like a small price to pay.
Or he could be hung(by some sensitive body parts if that sounds better) from a lamp post so that everyone can see him and do unsanitary things to his corpse. Worked in Italy a few decades ago.
gbear
@kay: Thanks for that update Kay. We Dems seem to be used to being kicked to the curb. It’s been great reading this evening about how incredibly smart our side has gotten over the last two years in the face of an opposition that has gone absolutely (& stupidly) bananas.
murakami
@kay:
Thank you Kay. That’s very reassuring.
redshirt
FETID TANG would be a great band name. The first album cover would be some astronauts in space, all queasy after their bad Tang drink.
lamh35
@kay: thanks kay
MikeJ
Flipped over to cspan to see if they had pre rally stuff on. Instead, a goober from reason.com telling us what the youngsters *really* want.
trollhattan
Send in the National Guard. Bully pulpit, bitchz.
Tonal Crow
@AkaDad:
You mean so that Republicans can just throw away Democratic ballots without the public ever finding out? GOP that bull. We need hand-filled paper ballots deposited and counted at the precinct in full public view from beginning to end. Only people who can’t vote at the precinct should be allowed to vote absentee, and all absentee ballots should go into a huge transparent ballot box affixed outside the main entrance to City Hall.
PeakVT
Isn’t this the the third time Husted has basically defied a judge? Could a judge put a restraining order on him limiting him from issuing any orders relating to ballots until the election is over? That seems warranted, I think.
arguingwithsignposts
@Yutsano:
It’s something, but it’s not logic. :)
JPL
Zandar and Kay, Thanks. Try to keep us sane until election day. Since we are BJer’s it will be difficult though.
Mr Stagger Lee
@arguingwithsignposts: Problem with Ohio, outside of NE Ohio, Columbus, Cincy, maybe Toledo,
It is a red state, and I mean YEEEEEEHAAAAWWWW!!! Red. This is going to take generations if ever. The first congressman I remember was none other than John Ashbrook,(died in 1982) who was a whack job who would no doubt feel at home with the tea party. (he thought Nixon was a commie stooge)
The Dangerman
@freelancer:
If you’re looking for a shootout, the LA Colisum is place for it tonight (and, really, that goes for most any day of the week). Ducks and USC either have great O’s or terrible D’s.
AA+ Bonds
That sure will help show those Republicans; it’s the rest of it we need to be worried about
Linda
@JPL:
He’s in office because in 2010, everybody in Ohio was pissed off about the economy, and forgot that Republicans were selfish, duplicitous shitheels. Then, when they tried to bust unions, cut off funding for Planned Parenthood, drain the waters going into the Great Lakes for water bottlers (really, a water bottler was the sponsor of the bill, but Kasich was shamed into vetoing it and putting in a slightly less onerous one to sign), and successfully fought for the right to carry concealed weapons in bars, people squealed like stuck pigs. It was like telling kids there was no Santa. One of the reasons that the “Obama firewall” has held up so well is that 2012 is too close to 2011 for people in Ohio to have amnesia.
kay
@arguingwithsignposts:
I sort of disagree that Ohio’s system is unusually fucked up. Swing state voting systems get a lot more scrutiny than red or blue states. You don’t know if your state system is weak until it’s tested. If you have a 60/ 40 result in presidential elections, it’s never tested.
I hate provisional ballots for a lot of reasons, but that’s a long story.
This is a fight. If it comes down to provisional ballots it is going to be brutal. I think we win by two or three, so no battles over provisionals needed, but I also think they should sue on each and every issue as it arises, which is what they have been doing for the past year.
gbear
@kay: MN has one of the most squeaky clean election systems in the country and look at the beating that took to get Franken certified to go to DC…
Matthew Reid Krell
@MikeJ: In fairness, you have to start with a show cause order, drag his ass into court, and hear his explanation. THEN you issue the warrant and find him in contempt.
mai naem
This shit better not be forgotten after the election if Obama wins. This shit has to be followed up even if Obama wins Ohio. This mofo should not be able to get away with it. Also why why why do we not have some standard shit for federal elections throughout the country. I don’t get it. Who the fuck is Kelly Wallace? She’s on MSNBC with Chuckee Cheese who BTW mofo had Charlie Cook on who said Baldwin and Carmona are going to lose. I hate Chuckee Cheezwiz.
MikeJ
@Matthew Reid Krell: Either way, the judge could have an order in the the hands of the county sheriff ordering Husted brought in if he was so inclined and had ten minutes to draft it.
eemom
@Donut:
You know what’s even dumber than complaining about dumb shit?
Yeah! Complaining about someone else complaining about dumb shit.
The scroll key is your friend.
Elias
Portland, OR news reporting that a Clackamas County (Portland suburbs) election worker is today under felony investigation.
Reports state that this worker was filling in unfinished ballots for Republican candidates. Clackamas County has one of the only swing seats for Oregon’s tightly contested legislature (the House is actually an even split) and major state races have been decided by a couple hundred votes there.
Even though the fraud is known, it may be impossible to repair the damage. How do you tell a legitimate vote from the fraud?
AkaDad
@Tonal Crow:
Tampering with the mail is a Federal crime. It works just fine in Oregon.
kay
@Baud:
Chandra has himself been discriminated against even within the OH Democratic Party because his name is not “Smith” or “Brown”, IMO, but I’m right :)
He has twin daughters. He wants them treated equally.
He feels very, very strongly about this. Obama and our voters could not have a better advocate.
eemom
@Donut:
And it’s not the acronym that bothers me, it’s the concept. Which, IMO, is pretty fucking obvious to anyone of ordinary skill in the reading arts. FTR.
Redshift
@eemom: Ooh, now it’s getting all meta…
kay
@JPL:
I haven’t been posting because we talk about it all day here, and I can’t maintain that level of interest 12 hours a day. Democrats are just crazed here.
I canvassed by myself today in this tiny town and it was kind of nice it was so quiet. “Sporadic voters” is the big thing. We’re haranguing “sporadic voters”, who are people who vote for Democrats WHEN they vote, which is (apparently) ” sporadically” whatever the fuck that means.
Anyway, our “staging” is all done and the lawyers are all set, and God willing we’ll win by 5 points and none of this will matter :)
Speculum Spatula
@eemom:
You know, eemom, you could do a lot better to just try to get along with people here.
Why are you always so goddam oppositional?
redshirt
@eemom: LOL. Contrarian to teh Max!
Triassic Sands
It’s become a tradition for Ohio’s Secretaries of State to be undemocratic thugs who try to steal elections. In recognition of this, I’ve made it a tradition to send the Ohio Secretary of State an email telling him exactly what I think of him and his corrupt politics.
No, I don’t think it does any good, but sometimes it does feel good to tell a crook you know he’s a crook.
Another Halocene Human
@General Stuck: Emboldened, no doubt, by the wingnut wurlitzer trumpeting just how easy it is to commit voter fraud, but too stupid to realize the real fraud is voting at multiple addresses or an address where you no longer live, like a real 1%er.
Oh, and caught, the old fashioned way, no ID check required.
kay
@gbear:
I followed it. I remember wingnuts accused a GOP state court judge of unethical practices and he had to defend himself in the WSJ.
I also remember Franken had MINNESOTA lawyers and Coleman’s lawyer was disrespectful and arrogant to the state court judges. I once lived for a time in Minnesota and I know they pride themselves on being a “good government” state, so I was pleased that Coleman’s lawyer was insulting the state system.
Good going, dumbass!
Another Halocene Human
@Tonal Crow: I don’t vote at the precinct any more. I early vote in the county building. The other two early vote locations are libraries. The precinct is a church. FUCK. THAT. SHIT.
You hear me, Rick Scott? NOT VOTING IN A CHURCH ANY MORE.
Oh, and our precinct locations get shuffled all the time without warning and are often hard to get to. My last one was okay (although it was a wacky charismatic wingnut church, which made precinct working on GLBT issues… interesting) but some of the others have been on the other side of highways, etc.
The county building is super easy to get to, especially on public transit.
Let me just add that having grow’d up in Massachusetts, I had no awareness of how thoroughly a state/county could fuck up things like precincts, wards, voting locations, representative democracy, etc.
eemom
All snarking aside, that IOKIYAR — the concept — really does bother me, and for the reason I stated: that it’s a self-fulfilling prophesy. “Life’s a bitch and then you die.” Fuck that shit.
Anya
I was doing GOTV in Cleveland’s Cuyahoga County, all day today (Okay, from 11am to 7pm). I am beat but really hopeful. Except for three people who insisted on voting on election day, every single person we spoke with (even on the street) was fired up and ready to vote early. My partner was a Cuyahoga local and she kept emphasizing the voter suppression angle. One of the people we saw on the street told us that his church rented 4 buses to be used on Sunday to drive voters to the polls. FOUR BUSES!
The parts of Cleveland I saw today are depressing to the point that I don’t actually blame people if they’re bitter and apathetic, but they’re really sweet and motivated to vote. They know that the republicans are working so hard to suppress their votes, and that’s motivating them even more.
To sum up, Ohio is ready and Mr. Husted will be disappointed on election night.
This trip is making me so uncomfortably aware of my over privilege.
Another Halocene Human
@mai naem: Good luck with a Republican congress and a partisan Supreme Court that hates Civil Rights Movement era reforms.
Another Halocene Human
@Anya: I was last in Cleveland a decade ago and it looked like shit and I mean definitely looked like human hands had come in to destroy what they had wrought, probably (I mean, this was my facile surmise) because of race, though I’m right about that, right?
kay
@Anya:
I’m so glad to hear that. I was complaining today (as is my custom) that they hadn’t sent us any people to the rural counties, but then I was reminded that they covered all our phone calls in the urban counties, so all we have is doors.
I forgot we haven’t done any phone calls :)
Another Halocene Human
It’s too bad The Moar You Know apparently has a life and isn’t hanging around because xe would definitely dig this thread.
Kate in TX
@Anya:
Had a very similar experience doing GOTV in Cleveland today..lots of enthusiasm and everywhere we canvassed people had voted or were planning to…Sunday being a big day for many people. (what staging location were you working out of? I’m at Buckeye and 124th)
I would agree on the level of poverty, abandoned houses and general economic despair in the neighborhoods I visited here; very depressing.
I was told by the field organizer that there are 1100 of these “pop-up” staging locations/mini Obama HQ’s on the ground in Ohio alone- the OFA work is amazing to see in action.
OK, back up and at it in the morning..on to victory!
Anya
@Another Halocene Human: Whatever the reason, it’s making me really angry. I am sure there are a lot of poor people who are white and live in similar conditions. I am just numb right now. I don’t know what to say. Why aren’t we appalled that our fellow citizens live in these conditions?
@kay: I’ll ask the OFA office tomorrow if there are any plans for rural areas. I am sure the Cleveland office is busy with the GOTV efforts here but we need to crush these assholes.
Key, I hear from the OFA folks that Brown is going to cruise to victory. What do you think?
Anya
@Kate in TX: Shaker Square
kay
@Anya:
We have all the shifts covered but 7 on election day, so I think we’re all right. We had 140 shifts over 4 days to cover, which is just huge for us, but we’re almost there. There are only about 8000 Obama votes in the whole county, so I don’t expect we’d be a top priority. If we get desperate we can ask Toledo. They’re closer.
I too think Brown is going to cruise. Something turned in the last two weeks. I think he wins easily.
They spent 20 million dollars losing a Senate race. 20 MILLION dollars. Freaking insane.
A moocher
@Speculum Spatula: hyper-meta-ctl-shift Troll has arrived. Back into the museum with you, next to the Lisp Machines.
Anya
@kay: I am so amazed about how many volunteers are here. I met folks from Texas, California, NY, Washington, Rhode Island, Chicago, you name it. Who said we’re not as enthusiastic?
MikeJ
@A moocher: Hey, what’s wrong with lisp machines? You got something up your cdr?
kay
@Anya:
It does seem calmer than 2008, though. Maybe because we’ve done it before There isn’t that frenetic, buzzy energy. We’ve only had one couple from out of state, nice people, from Masschusetts, but we had ZERO out of state helpers in 2008 in this county, so if I were a campaign pro I would say our out of state volunteers are UP 200%! :)
I still haven’t seen a single Romney canvasser. I assume they’re organizing at churches or bank board meetings or something.
redshirt
I am feeling great about the results, but still want to crush our enemies into dust – don’t let up. Don’t rest until Wednesday. Send these Repukes into the oblivion they well deserve. Only a few days more…
karen
How can he be stopped? He’s basically just saying “Fuck you” to the judge, he’ll cheat, how can it be proven? He added malware to the voting machines at the last minute (something he calls a special patch). And now True the vote ate the ones who are providing the provisional ballots?
Please, someone talk me down from this because I am really scared about what he’ll pull next.
karen
Kay and Zandar, do you think the lawsuit will make a difference?
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Speculum Spatula: That’s just so precious, coming from you.
priscianusjr
@Robin G.:
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Anya: Reminds me of PA in 2004. We had carloads coming in from DC and Maryland the last weekend. This year it’s very quiet. I think Virginia glommed all the excess volunteers (which is as it should be this year). We Pennsyltuckians will have to manage by ourselves.
Speculum Spatula
How is it the obvious remedy to vote in an election where there is no guarantee your vote will be counted correctly or counted at all?
They disappear into the magical void of voter tabulation software and then what?
The ostrich act around here re vote counting is bizarre.
Rick Santorum's Leaky Faucet
Like I keep saying. I’m against the death penalty. But I can make an exception for this shit and racketeering
Gus diZerega
Husted has proven himself an enemy of the constitution, the rule of law, the American people, and common decency. He deserves everything that can appropriately happen to such a person.
Everything.
Batocchio
I’ll echo it: Why isn’t he in jail? What he’s doing cannot be legal, and he needs to be prosecuted, stat. It’s good that some Ohio papers are covering this, but all the Ohio media outlets need to make a huuuuge stink about this.
joel hanes
@Nora:
You just do NOT blatantly violate a court order like that.
One would like to think so.
And yet I seem to remember both Karl Rove and Harriet Meier defying, not just a court order, but Congressional subpoena. Without consequence.
debbie
Husted is the kind of conservative everyone should fear. Not the self-righteous foaming of a Michelle Bachman so you know where they stand and you know what you’ll get, but a seemingly affable kind of guy who in fact is a back office manipulator, much like Dick Cheney was.
Husted managed to get bipartisan support when he was elected. He’s been flying below the radar, planning all of his nonsense since his first day in office.
chaosium
@eemom: “That dumbass self-fulfilling phrase really, REALLY needs to be retired from the lexicon.
Srsly, fuck that shit.”
Yes, let’s throw a fit over the phrase and not the reality it represents, that’ll show the Republicans who get everything they want.
Mr Furious
Doesn’t count if it’s an “activist” judge!
TenguPhule
IOIYAR.
But seriously, where is a CIA hit squad when you need them? Examples need to be made.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
@Ohio Mom:
There’s always a prominently posted map of the area, with each precinct outlined and labeled so you can find your street and confirm which table you’re to sign in on. I’ve never gone to the wrong table but I’m pretty sure if I did, every at the other tables would start looking up my name and help me out. Usually one of my kid’s classmate’s mother is working one of the tables so I get to have a friendly little newsy chat, too.
Meanwhile, at the downtown Cincinnati Board of Elections, where Democrats are known to vote, there are blocks-long lines for early voting.
Gee, but wasn’t Bush vs Gore decided on what the Supreme Court said was “unequal treatment” of voters?
Mmm – you have to wonder about the mechanisms by which Republican districts get such better treatment. Is there any way for a Democrat in a position of power to skew it the other way – supply resources to Democrat areas at the expense of Republican districts?
Lex
@Robin G.:
If it had been MY court order he had violated, that point would have been 9 a.m. ET this morning, for contempt of court, as in: “Good morning, defendant Husted. I hope you brought a toothbrush, bitch.”
And I don’t just mean until the order was rescinded; I mean for a minimum of six months. That was the kind of blatant executive-branch malfeasance that cries out for contempt-of-court incarceration, if not impeachment.
Husted’s behavior also appears to be a violation of 18 USC 241, conspiring to deny citizens their civil rights, which carries a max penalty of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. But IANAL.
There also might be Ohio statutes his behavior violates. I don’t know.