COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — In an escalating dispute, the
leader of Ohio’s largest county asked federal investigators on Tuesday
to determine if new state procedures for providing absentee ballots are
intended to suppress Democratic and minority votes.
Cuyahoga
County executive and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald
announced the request at a Cleveland news conference.
He is
challenging a recently passed law barring county elections boards and
other public officials from mailing unsolicited, absentee-ballot
applications to registered voters, as well as a budget bill amendment
made Monday in the Republican-dominated Ohio House that would strip 10
percent of local government funding from counties that violate the law.
A
vote by the Cuyahoga County commissioners is scheduled for Tuesday on a
proposal by FitzGerald for the county to assert its home-rule powers to
mail early ballots to all voters there.
"As a former FBI agent,
this is not a decision that I make lightly, but a thorough investigation
is clearly warranted to examine the recent actions that would make it
harder for working men and women to vote in 2014," FitzGerald said. "I
am especially disappointed that, unless they get their way, some
politicians in Columbus are willing to hold hostage taxpayer funds that
help ensure public safety here in Cuyahoga County."
Secretary of
State Jon Husted said in a phone interview before FitzGerald’s
announcement that a reasonable resolution was possible. He said Cuyahoga
County’s intentions regarding absentee ballots were redundant and
illegal, but he also criticized fellow Republicans in Columbus for
threatening monetary sanctions.
Under Ohio law, all voters will receive absentee ballots in the mail ahead of the November general
election, Husted said.
"There’s
no reason for Cuyahoga County to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars
and violate the state law for a service that’s already being provided,"
he said. "Having said that, it’s no reason to cut the local government
fund and penalize the people there for the actions of their leaders."
House Finance Chairman Ron Amstutz told reporters Tuesday that the budget amendment could change.
"We are looking at a range of possibilities that would include a different approach or a different
timing even, too," he said.
In
his letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Attorney
Steven Dettelbach, FitzGerald said recent state laws signed by
Republican Gov. John Kasich are circumventing mechanisms the county had
put in place to reach a population heavy with renters, transient
residents and the homeless.
That included same-day registration
and voting, expanded weekday and weekend hours, and mailed absentee
applications complete with postage-paid envelopes, FitzGerald wrote.
"These
solutions were successful," he said. "The State, however, has
jettisoned the very solutions that proved successful in resolving
elections problems in Cuyahoga County."
With nearly 1.3 million
residents, Cuyahoga County is home to about 11 percent of Ohio’s
population. About a third of residents are black and a majority
Democrat.
Husted defended the uniform voting hours that Ohio has put in place across the state.
"The
state law, federal court rulings and common sense dictate that all
voters should vote by the same set of rules," he said. "That’s the
definition of equality. It’s not ‘Animal Farm’: Some people are more
equal than others."
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Associated Press writer Ann Sanner contributed to this report.
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