Freedom isn’t free as the old saying goes; you have to fight for it.  It seems there is always some asshole trying to steal something from someone whether it’s a petty thief or a political operative trying to manipulate the laws to benefit his party.  In this case -Secretary of State Jon Husted (R-OH) is an embarrassment to his state.  Certainly – IACWE leans left … no question about that but first and foremost – I care about good governance.

What the Secretary of State is doing IS political.  They devised a way to manipulate the state laws to benefit their party so Republican dominated counties had extra hours and extra days for early voting while Democratic majority counties were told (by the Secretary of State) that they were not able to expand their early voting hours to the same times as those Republican dominated counties.  Rachel Maddow covered these tactics which can also be found in countries like Zimbabwe, Russia, Kenya, Belarus, and Ukraine HERE; they’ve been trying to rig the election.  When enough public pressure was exerted … the Secretary of State announced that ALL counties would follow the same rules and would have reduced early voting hours.

Well – the Obama campaign sued in federal court and won.  The federal judge ruled that the state of Ohio would have to restore the 3 days of early voting just prior to the election (source) and now the Secretary of State is saying … nope.  Not so much.  Husted wrong a memo which you can find HERE; an excerpt:

“Announcing new hours before the court case reaches final resolution will only serve to confuse voters.  Therefore, there is no valid reason for my office or the county boards of elections to set hours for in-person absentee voting the last three days before the election at this time.”

He neglected to mention that he’s a huge ignoramus who is more interested in protecting his party than doing the right thing for his state.  But that means he’s defying a court order by a federal judge without legal authority.

Talking Points Memo explains HERE:

In its filing Wednesday, the Obama campaign pointed out that Ohio had not sought an actual stay of Economus’ decision, and instead “appears to believe it can issue [a stay] on its own authority.” The Obama campaign said Husted’s memo does not “identify the legal basis for this extraordinary action,” and argued that the memo conflicts with a well-established principle that orders based on a court decision are to be respected until an appeals court rules on the matter.

“Plaintiffs respectfully request that the Court act as appropriate and necessary to enforce its Order issued August 31, 2012,” lawyer Donald J. McTigue writes in the motion.

President Obama can win the election without Ohio but Mitt Romney can’t.  If President Obama wins Ohio … he wins the election.  Politics is a dirty game and someone should be suing this guy Husted in court for his personal actions; it isn’t ok to disregard a judge’s order … there needs to be consequences.

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