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Groups Deliver 80,000 Signatures In Effort To Restore Weekend Voting
By: Michael Locklear
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Several groups delivered 80,000 signatures to the Secretary of State's office Wednesday in an effort to restore weekend voting hours.
Several dozen folks met outside Jon Husted's office building around noon to rally and make the delivery.
Organizers say more than 7,000 Ohioans signed the petition.
Many of those were online.
The petition says in Husted's quest to restore uniform hours statewide, he's robbed every Ohioan of the opportunity to vote during weekends.
“Now, at the last minute, to change the rules at the last minute is the very type of thing that has continued to happen to black Americans in this country throughout our ability to vote," said Rashad Robinson, Executive Director of Color of Change. "You know, throughout Jim Crow, it was all about changing the rules at the last minute, not having a fair, open and accurate system and making the rules murky so that certain folks can sort of have their way.”
The Secretary of State's office has mailed out applications for absentee ballots to all registered voters, but backers of early weekend voting say they don't trust that method.
A federal judge's ruling forces boards of election in Ohio to be open the three days before the election.
The Attorney General is appealing that decision.