How Can He Get Away With This?

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted is as committed to voter suppression as most of us are to breathing.  But I did have to give him some small credit awhile back when he came out in favor of mailing absentee ballots to all of Ohio's 7.7 million registered voters.

That was three years ago.  Husted couldn't get it together until now, just in time for the big 2016 general election.  And his version of voting convenience is a peculiarly Republican one:  Before his mass mailing, Husted preemptively purged over 1 million names from Ohio's rolls of registered voters.

He did this to protect us all against the Republican's favorite boogey-man -- the non-existent problem of voter fraud.  Of course, the GOP knows their chances improve with low turnout, especially when those not turning out happen to be likely Democrats.

The million "suspicious" names he targeted had either changed their address, or had not voted in 2012 or 2014.  Most are in typically Democratic/minority/lower income precincts.  And Husted did this despite a recent federal appeals court ruling that he could not legally discriminate against those who had not voted recently.

Husted's attitude is, "Oh, sorry.  And fuck off.  If you one million people care to vote, just re-register by contacting my office or your local board of elections.  See?  No problem!" 

How can he get away with this?  It's like I said just a few days ago:  We have to watch these bastards every second!

http://bustergammons.blogspot.com/2016/09/we-have-to-watch-these-bastards-every.html