Called Out On The Carpet, Part 2

The saga of Ohio GOP Secretary of State Jon Husted continues, as his quixotic quest to deny early voting rights to Democrats in particular ran into a buzzsaw this week of a federal judge named Peter Economus.  The Judge ordered Husted to show up to explain this whole "I don't have to comply with your court order" thing to restore early voting to all Ohioans, and Friday, Husted's office replied with "We're really sorry about that, I had a cold.  Yeah, that's it."

Ohio Secretary of State John Husted said in court documents filed Friday that he’s really, really sorry for refusing to allow early voting preparations in Ohio, and promises not to do it again unless another court gives him permission.

That was the result of Judge Peter C. Economus’s ruling Friday, which concluded a hearing that saw Sec. Husted rebuked by attorneys for the Obama campaign in a stinging victory over Republican voter suppression efforts.

“Plaintiffs will suffer irreparable injury if in-person early voting is not restored the last three days before Election Day, and there is no definitive evidence before the Court that elections boards will be tremendously burdened,” Judge Economus wrote. “Certainly, the public interest is served by restoring in person early voting to all Ohio voters.” He added that letting all Ohioans have access to early voting meets the standard of keeping voting “uniform, accessible for all, fair, and secure.”

Yeah, that's the sound of a Republican getting smacked the hell down for trying to so obviously stack the voting deck in favor of the GOP.   Husted's office ran away like a bunch of kids trying to toilet paper the school gym.

“The Secretary’s intention was not to create a stay of this Court’s Order,” Husted’s attorneys explain in a court filing obtained by the Election Law Blog. “The Secretary intends to pursue his differences with this Court’s judgment only through the expedited appeal process put in place by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. To the extent that Directive 2012-40 could be read to imply any different compliance disposition, the Secretary apologizes to the federal district court for creating that misimpression”.

Yes.  Because outright voter suppression is "a misimpression".   We're sorry you thought we were trying to rig the Ohio vote.  We're sorry you decided to actually stand up to our efforts to take the vote away from thousands of urban minorities.  We're sorry you misunderstood us. 

Jackass.