The Secretary of State has set new hours for voting in the November elections. They include two Saturdays before the election. But many people are not happy with the new hours. Ohio Public Radio's Jo Ingles reports.
Secretary of State Jon Husted says Ohioans in all 88 counties will be able to vote early, in person at their local board of elections facility from 8 to 5 Monday through Friday for four weeks before the election. And voters will be allowed to cast ballots from 8 to 4 on the two Saturdays preceding the election. But there will be no in person voting on the Sunday before the election. And Mike Brickner with the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio says that decision will likely disenfranchise African American voters.
Brickner – Certainly we know that there are many programs within the African American community that focus on those voters on Sundays like Souls to the Polls programs that were organized by African American churches that brought parishoners to the polls on Sundays.
Brickner says his organization, which successfully sued over weekend voting in 2012, is looking at its options. There’s another early voting option available for Ohioans. Absentee ballot request forms will be sent to all voters for those who would prefer to vote by mail.
