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Group rallies in Columbus for early voting
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
Steve Davis has been reaching out to convicted felons, educating them about their voting rights and registering many to participate in the coming general election.
On Wednesday, he stood a couple of blocks from the Ohio Statehouse, holding a sign and chanting with other protesters, hoping to persuade Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted to open early, in-person polls on weekends.
Granted, registered voters have received unsolicited applications in the mail to obtain absentee ballots. But Davis and others want Husted to reverse course and allow more hours for in-person voting, providing greater peace of mind to eligible Ohioans that their ballots will be counted.
“I know how things can get lost in the mail,” Davis said. “I know how addresses can be missing a number, and nobody’s going to go through the proper procedure. ... to go the extra mile to find out if this person lives here or not.”
Davis was among more than three dozen people who stood outside the downtown Columbus office building housing Husted’s offices Tuesday. They chanted in unison, listened as speakers espoused the importance of additional early voting hours and submitted petitions with upward of 80,000 signatures from people across the country who want weekend voting.
The signatures were gathered online by the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, MoveOn.Org and others, and about 15,000 came from Ohioans, said Rashad Robinson, executive director of ColorOfChange.Org, which advocates on behalf of black voters.
“We know particularly in black communities where folks are working sometimes two or three jobs, where people have kids to take care of, being able to access the polls is something that people need to be able to do,” Robinson said, adding, “This is happening at the last minute, particularly with the intended goal of keeping certain Americans from the polls.”
The groups want weekend hours throughout the state’s month-long early voting period. That includes the final Saturday and Sunday before Election Day, which one federal judge already has ordered Husted to restore, and other weekends in October.
Husted earlier issued a directive ordering all county boards of elections to offer in-person voting during specified weekday hours, with no weekends included. He is appealing a federal judge’s ruling on early voting on the final three days before Nov. 6.
Husted and others also have reiterated that Ohio provides ample opportunities for people to cast ballots, whether through the mail or on one of the 23 days when in-person early polls are open.