Removal of Ohio Dem election officials recommended

ANN SANNER

Asso­ci­ated Press

COLUMBUS — A state hear­ing offi­cer on Mon­day rec­om­mended that two Democ­rats be fired from an elec­tions board after they pushed to set early vot­ing hours on the week­ends in their county, vio­lat­ing an order from Ohio’s elec­tions chief.

Sec­re­tary of State Jon Husted ini­tially sus­pended Thomas Ritchie Sr. and Den­nis Lieber­man from their posi­tions on the Mont­gomery County Board of Elec­tions and then tem­porar­ily lifted his sus­pen­sion last week so the Dayton-area board could con­tinue its work.

The two mem­bers appeared at the sec­re­tary of state’s office last week for a hear­ing on whether they should be removed. At issue is whether they failed to act con­sis­tently with Husted’s order on early vot­ing times by vot­ing to extend hours into the weekend.

Ohio is one of 32 states, plus the Dis­trict of Colum­bia, that allow vot­ers to cast early bal­lots in per­son with­out hav­ing to give a reason.

Husted, a Repub­li­can, has directed elec­tion boards in Ohio’s 88 coun­ties to have the same early in-person vot­ing hours on week­days and have no hours on weekends.

The board mem­bers’ actions are among a series of dis­putes over early vot­ing in the pres­i­den­tial bat­tle­ground state. The issue has essen­tially bro­ken down along polit­i­cal party lines, with Democ­rats favor­ing longer hours and Repub­li­cans opposed.

Hear­ing offi­cer Jon Alli­son, who was appointed by Husted, told Husted in a report issued Mon­day that the board mem­bers acted in vio­la­tion of his direc­tive and the law.

“I believe that the facts war­rant removal and rec­om­mend that the Sec­re­tary take such action,” Alli­son wrote.

Husted’s office said a deci­sion on the mem­bers’ removal will be made on Tuesday.

When a vacancy occurs on an elec­tion board, the polit­i­cal party of the mem­ber nom­i­nates a replace­ment and the sec­re­tary of state con­firms or denies the appointment.

Lieber­man and Ritchie con­tended at the hear­ing that they abided by the direc­tive. They said Husted’s order addressed reg­u­lar busi­ness hours, not week­end hours. Their attor­ney, Don McTigue, said a “rush job” by the sec­re­tary of state’s office resulted in an ambigu­ous direc­tive that is now being used to dis­ci­pline his clients.

Alli­son said in his report that “no rea­son­able per­son” could con­clude that the direc­tive is ambigu­ous and per­mits week­end voting.

The Demo­c­ra­tic board mem­bers said on Mon­day that they will await Husted’s deci­sion and then talk to their attor­ney before decid­ing what to do next.

“What’s really not fair is what is hap­pen­ing to vot­ers in Mont­gomery County and all across this state,” Lieber­man said in a state­ment. “They are being denied the chance to vote on week­ends, and that’s wrong.”

Before Husted’s direc­tive, local elec­tion boards, each made up of two Repub­li­cans and two Democ­rats, were set­ting their hours. Week­end and evening hours var­ied. Husted, in his role as chief elec­tions offi­cial, broke any ties.

Mont­gomery County, in south­west Ohio, had been among the coun­ties that had estab­lished early vot­ing hours before Husted’s directive.

Lieber­man made a motion at the board’s Aug. 17 meet­ing to uphold Husted’s order and set week­end vot­ing hours in line with what the board had pre­vi­ously agreed to. He and Ritchie voted to add hours, and the two GOP mem­bers were opposed. That sent the mat­ter to Husted, who sided with the hours in his directive.

Husted has accused the board mem­bers of refus­ing to imple­ment the law in favor of estab­lish­ing their own days and hours.

“While they are free to dis­agree with my deci­sion, they are not free to dis­obey the law,” Husted wrote in a state­ment last week.

Posted by AP News on Aug 27 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.