Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald wants the county’s congressional delegation to help stop Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted from banning the Board of Elections from processing mail-in absentee voter applications.
Husted said Friday he is considering prohibiting Cuyahoga County’s Board of Elections from processing applications from people who wish to vote by mail if FitzGerald’s administration goes forward with a plan to mail applications to all active registered voters in the county.
Fitzgerald says the secretary of state’s remarks raise issues about voters’ rights and voter suppression that merit a review by the U.S. Department of Justice. He said his office will forward a transcript of Husted’s remarks to members of the delegation so they can help raise the issue.
“Jon Husted may not like the fact that we are offering our constituents better service by sending everyone an application to vote by mail,” FitzGerald said Sunday at a news conference outside the county’s elections board. “But that doesn’t give him the right to threaten to disenfranchise our citizens and create confusion.”
FitzGerald said he considers the secretary of state’s Friday comments as an attack on the Federal Voting Rights Act and hopes Husted changes his mind.
“We would all be better off if he walks that statement back,” FitzGerald said.
Full Article: Ed FitzGerald, Jon Husted spar over mailing voter forms | cleveland.com.