Easy to vote? Not so fast.
Secretary of State Jon Husted likes to say that it’s easy to vote in Ohio. In part, he is correct – we
have some opportunities that voters in other states do not. However, many of these conveniences exist
only in spite of the policies pushed by the secretary and his Republican allies in the legislature.
The fact is that voting has become more difficult in the Buckeye State over the past year. Voters have a
week less of early voting, working Ohioans no longer have evening early voting hours that make sense for
them, and it’s even harder for voters to get a referendum or initiative on the ballot.
If it is easier to vote in Ohio than elsewhere, it’s only because current officeholders weren’t able to
completely roll back the accomplishments of their predecessors – not to mention the intervention of the
federal courts.
If Secretary Husted really is so proud of Ohio’s expansive ballot access, why is he working so hard to
reduce it? That’s the real question that voters deserve an answer to this fall. Ohio deserves a
secretary of state who doesn’t just talk about how easy voting is, but actually works to make it happen.

Barbara Baumgartner
Rossford