This right here may have saved this election. The judge was not kind to the bullshit Ryan-Romney was spreading about Obama trying to curtail military voters either:
Toledo Blade— A federal judge today sided with President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign and ordered Ohio to allow early voting on the three days prior to the Nov. 6 election to all voters.But hours after the decision, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced he will appeal the ruling. That appeal will be made to the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
U.S. District Court Senior Judge Peter C. Economus ordered Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted not to enforce a state law passed last year that closed that window to in-person early voting to anyone but members of the military and their families.
This Court notes that restoring in-person early voting to all Ohio voters through the Monday before Election Day does not deprive (military) voters from early voting,’’ wrote Judge Economus, a Clinton appointee. “Instead, and more importantly, it places all Ohio voters on equal standing.
“The only hindrance to (military) early voting is the Secretary of State’s failure to set uniform hours at elections boards during the last three days before Election Day,’’ he wrote. “On balance, the right of Ohio voters to vote in person during the last three days prior to Election Day—a right previously conferred to all voters by the State—outweighs the State’s interest in setting the 6 p.m. Friday deadline.’’
Is this because early voters tend to vote Democrat? How does this work?
It works because a lot of people who vote Republican don’t have any trouble at all taking time off from work–or from the card game at the country club–in order to vote on a weekday.
Couple this with a system which allocates better voting machines to wealthier precincts. So the lines to vote at poorer ones can far exceed what an hourly employee could stand to be away from the job before the boss–who took a long lunch hour to vote (R), takes notice.
That’s why it’s so damned important, in states which allow absentee ballots to be cast, that people be encouraged to apply for them. I typically vote in my skivvies or less, with a glass of wine at hand. They objected to that at the precinct polling place, though…
It’s also because traditionally black churches use the last Sunday before election day to ‘march’ their congregants to the polls. It is like a big party. This gets more people to vote. The Republicans don’t like that.
Good comments :)