Too Many People In Ohio Are Voting, Apparently

Ohio's GOP Secretary of State Jon Husted has now officially cut weekends from the state's early voting for 2014, cutting two Saturdays and eliminating all Sunday voting.

Secretary of State Jon Husted (R) released the schedule on Tuesday. During the four weeks leading up to Election Day, voters will be able to cast absentee ballots in person at voting locations that will be open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. on weekdays. The polling locations will also be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the last two Saturdays before the election.

“In 2014, absentee voters will have the option of voting in person for four weeks, or they can vote without ever leaving home by completing the absentee ballot request form we will be sending all voters,” Husted said in a statement. “Our goal is to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat and to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity in the voting process no matter which method they choose.”

If you're wondering why Husted specifically eliminated Sunday voting, well it probably has something to do with this:

Husted’s change would spell doom for a voting method that’s popular among African-Americans in Ohio and elsewhere. Many churches and community groups lead “Souls to the Polls” drives after church on the Sunday before the election.

There’s little doubt that cuts to early voting target blacks disproportionately. In 2008, black voters were 56% of all weekend voters in Cuyahoga County, Ohio’s largest, even though they made up just 28% of the county’s population.

“By completely eliminating Sundays from the early voting schedule, Secretary Husted has effectively quashed successful Souls to the Polls programs that brought voters directly form church to early voting sites,” said Mike Brickner, a spokesman for the Ohio American Civil Liberties Union, in an email.

No Sunday voting, no "Souls to the Polls" push to get black voters to cast their ballots.  It really is that simple.  Eliminate weekend voting, eliminate voting hours after 5 PM, you get fewer working-class Ohians voting who can't take time off because they have to work.

And working-class voters in Ohio tend to vote Democrat.  End of story.  Ohio decided Bush 43's re-election in 2004, folks.  It could happen again, and Husted and the state's GOP is ready for it.