We tried. Believe us, it was hard, but we really tried.
We write some columns because no one else is tackling the subject. We write others because no one is taking the inside curve. At the same time, we avoid certain topics as too facile for our sophisticated wordsmithing.
To that end, we have avoided spending precious column inches on the bristling brouhaha over at the Lucas County Board of Elections. The latest revelation forces us to act, however, in the interest of the voting populace of ol’ Froggy Bottom.
Tit for tat
Here’s some background. The Board of Elections is charged with operating elections in a fair and balanced way. As such, the board and its employees are designed to be split evenly among the two major parties, that neither can have the upper hand. There are four board members to oversee policy, two from each party. Current members include Democratic Party Chair Ron Rothenbuhler and Democrat and former judge Keila Cosme, who was appointed to the Court of Appeals by then-governor Ted Strickland but lost election to the seat. The Republican seats are filled by Republican Party Chair Jon Stainbrook and his lawyer, Anthony DeGidio.
The ideal of balance should play out through a need for compromise. Each party must give up a bit of its own parochial interest to serve the interests of the voters. In the rare instance that the board can’t reach compromise and deadlocks at two votes each, the Secretary of State, as the state’s top elections official, steps in to break the tie, also in a spirit that places democracy over politics.
If only.
There is a full recent history of dirty tricks perpetrated to try to swing elections. In 2004, then SOS Ken Blackwell notoriously issued conflicting edicts dictating the exact paper weight acceptable for voter registrations to the point that he unwittingly made the forms issued by his own office illegal. Then-elections chair Bernadette Noe and her minions allegedly disrupted voting at central city polling locations on Election Day, some locations ran out of ballots, and similar anomalies occurred across the state. Republican George Bush was re-elected.
Electional imbalance
Fast forward to 2012. The current board has deadlocked on hiring employees, organizing the office, and firing employees. It has deadlocked on the hours an early voting center should be open and where that center should be. In all, SOS Jon Husted, a Republican, has had to break the tie nearly two dozen times, the most of any county in the state.
In so doing, Husted has limited hours at the early vote centers across the state to eliminate weekend voting and restrict daily hours to predominantly normal working hours, making it difficult for working folks to have the time to exercise their right. Husted explained that nothing in the law gives him the right to unify the hours in every county, but nothing stops him either.
One outstanding issue at deadlock is the location of the early vote center. Ds on the board want it where it has been lately, at Washington and 13th downtown. Rs want it at the LC Rec Center out on Key Street in Maumee. You know, that part of town you can’t get to from most parts of the county.
Lessee. Deadlocking on essential issues that will control how easy it is for working folks and those with limited transportation options to vote so a Republican can break the tie. Sounds like a plan, Messrs. Romney ‘n Ryan!
It has gotten so bad on the 3rd floor of Guvmint Center that Husted has appointed two “special masters” to provide constant oversight of the local board. Nothing in law designates that job description or the authority to appoint them. Sounds like some weird D and D title rather than something a sober elections official would specify.
Now the latest. Judge Cosme, probably the most serious of the board members, is stepping down to take another job with the county. The Ds are hoping to fill her staid shoes with long-time party hack John Irish.
Wait, what? John Irish, the Carty Party’s John Irish, who was smack dab in the middle of the A vs. B Dem Party rift several years ago? The guy who was party chair when strippers were hired for the annual golf outing, leading to protests that drove him out? This is the guy who will bring compromise and sanity to the board so the voters are served and Husted will no longer be needed?
Uh huh. Early voting starts October 2nd. We suggest voting by mail.
