In a state whose politics are as competitive as this one’s, the secretary of state — Ohio’s chief elections officer — has a special duty to ensure that voting processes are efficient, honest, and fair. For the most part, Republican incumbent JON HUSTED has done that, both statewide and in Lucas County. He has earned another term in the office.
Over the past four years, Secretary Husted has focused usefully on purging the state’s electoral rolls of dead and ineligible voters and eliminating duplicate registrations. As the nation watched this battleground state during the 2012 presidential election, Ohio conducted clean, prompt voting. During Mr. Husted’s term, Ohio has moved up in rankings of the effectiveness of states’ election processes.
Mr. Husted has been a loud, and often lonely, voice within his party against Republican lawmakers’ efforts at vote suppression. When GOP lawmakers alleged that widespread voter “fraud” in Ohio required a system of photo identification — a proposal that could have disfranchised many low-income voters — Mr. Husted provided statistical evidence that no such fraud exists.
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The secretary has properly criticized the outrageous Republican gerrymandering of the General Assembly and Ohio’s U.S. House delegation, which cements GOP control of both institutions out of all proportion to the party’s popular support. Mr. Husted told The Blade’s editorial page that he will promote a statewide ballot initiative on redistricting and invite voters to act if lawmakers continue to refuse to do so.
As a member of the Republican-dominated state Apportionment Board, Mr. Husted acquiesced in the party’s gerrymandering of the legislature in 2011, although his vote was not decisive. But he understands the issue’s importance and appears sincerely committed to bipartisan redistricting reform.
Mr. Husted, a former speaker of the state House, has urged lawmakers — unsuccessfully — to allow Ohioans to register to vote online, an option that almost half of American voters already have. That advocacy needs to continue until the Republican-controlled legislature finally acknowledges the value of his proposal in saving money and improving electoral security.
Secretary Husted has acted decisively to clean up the chronic mess at the Lucas County Board of Elections. This year, he properly fired three of the board’s four members and ordered other reforms.
He says he has had to spend more time on the Lucas board than on every other elections board in Ohio combined. That attention likely will have to continue, but he has done the heavy lifting.
Less positively, this page has repeatedly challenged Mr. Husted’s efforts to restrict the days and hours of in-person early voting in Ohio, in the name of imposing an artificial uniformity across the state rather than making the process as accessible to all voters as it needs to be. Ohioans who vote early and in person are more likely to favor Democratic candidates. Still, the U.S. Supreme Court last week upheld the state’s new limits on Ohio’s early-voting timetable.
Mr. Husted argues with a fair degree of plausibility that Ohio’s extended period of early voting — which starts today and continues for four weeks — and ease of casting an absentee ballot by mail prevent anyone from being disfranchised. But given Ohio’s notorious history of problems at polling places on Election Day, all options need to be maximized.
The secretary of state’s office also handles registrations by new Ohio businesses. Mr. Husted, a former chamber of commerce executive in Dayton, has worked effectively to reduce filing costs by encouraging online registration, and says he plans to build on these efforts.
Mr. Husted’s chief challenger in this year’s election is Democratic state Sen. Nina Turner of Cleveland (Libertarian Kevin Knedler is also on the ballot). Senator Turner offers both an inspiring personal narrative and a cogent critique of Mr. Husted’s performance.
Ms. Turner properly asserts that the state should “err on the side of more access” to the ballot, not less. She also has useful ideas about expanding the ability of the secretary of state’s office to act as a resource to promote voter turnout, especially among younger Ohioans, as well as economic development.
In the end, though, Senator Turner does not make a conclusive case for replacing the incumbent. The Blade recommends the re-election of Secretary of State JON HUSTED.
First Published October 7, 2014, 4:00 a.m.
