US District Judge Economus again blasts Ohio over voting

Ten years after the state of Ohio was nationally ridiculed for way it conducted the presidential election, concerns are still being voiced about the voting procedures now in place.

Indeed, a federal judge in Columbus, Peter C. Economus, gave credence to those concerns when he ruled this week that the reduction in the number of early voting days is unconstitutional.

Economus, who served in the U.S. District Court in Youngstown and is now on senior status, ordered Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, as the chief elections officer, to restore an extra week and additional days and evening hours for early voting.

Husted, a Republican, along with Republican Gov. John Kasich and the Republican-controlled General Assembly, eliminated “Golden Week,” thereby reducing the time for early voting to 28 days from the original 35 established in 2008.

The GOP has controlled all the statewide administrative offices since 2011, while the GOP majority in the Legislature has marginalized the Democratic opposition.

The effects of such one-party rule of state government can be seen in the way Ohio’s election laws have been changed to reflect the GOP’s philosophy.

Husted has argued that one of the main reasons for the changes is to prevent voter fraud. But as judge Economus noted in his ruling, the voter-fraud argument “did not withstand logical scrutiny.”

According to the New York Times, there has been virtually no in-person voter fraud documented in the country. In fact, independent studies of Ohio’s voting history support the newspaper’s observation.

And yet, Republicans insist that the changes they have instituted are designed to not only make the system more efficient and cost-effective, but to make it easier for Ohioans to participate in the electoral process.

Not so, said the U.S. District Court judge. The laws on the books are unconstitutional because they violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, and are at odds with the federal Voting Rights Act, he wrote.

Previous ruling

This isn’t the first time the judge has found fault with the state’s elections laws. In 2012, he ordered Husted to permit all Ohioans to vote on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday before the general election.

Now, Economus, who determined that the current early in-person voting schedule for the general election disproportionately hurts blacks, homeless and low-income voters, has ordered the state to adopt changes that will get rid of the “barriers” to voting.

Two years ago, in the wake of his ruling at the time, we argued against the state filing an appeal. It has been our position since the debacle of 2004 that Ohio will shed its negative image only when voting is easily accessible to all segments of the population.

It is noteworthy that the secretary of state in 2004 was Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell.

There is a perception in the black community that Republicans are bound and determined to disenfranchise them.

Judge Economus’ ruling has the effect of turning that perception into reality.

Rather than file an appeal, which Husted is doing, Republicans from the governor on down should obey the judge’s order and then develop voting procedures that encourage, rather than discourage, participation in one of the most sacred acts of democracy.