Weeks Before Election, Concerns Remain in Ohio and Pennsylvania

by Pablo Ros  |  September 28, 2012

In an electoral year in which we could very well see an unprecedented threat to voting rights, much attention has been focused on recent events in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania’s voter ID law could keep as many as 1 out of 5 registered voters in Philadelphia from casting their ballots on Election Day, and 1 out of 10 statewide.

Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson has until Oct. 2 to decide if the state’s voter ID law should be blocked, based on whether voters have “liberal access” to the mandated forms of personal identification. Simpson has already once ruled in favor of the law, but was asked by the state Supreme Court to reconsider.

Ohio

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has exceeded himself in trying to come up with new ways to suppress voter turnout in Democratic-leaning areas.

Husted’s dirty tactics have included trying to limit early voting hours on weekends, dismissing two Democratic members of the elections board, and trying to confuse voters with deliberately misleading wording on a ballot measure regarding redistricting.

That ballot measure, known as Issue 2, would depoliticize the task of drawing the state’s legislative and congressional maps. It accomplishes that by taking it away from elected officials and placing it in the hands of a 12-person commission.

Michigan

AFSCME is also keeping an eye, among other fights, on a proposed amendment up for a vote in Michigan that would enshrine certain collective bargaining rights in the state constitution.

This ballot initiative was approved after the Protect Our Jobs coalition, of which AFSCME Council 25 is a leading member, collected more than twice the required number of signatures for certification. Since Obama voters are supporting it 66 percent to 27 percent, its fate might hinge on voter turnout.

AFSCME will continue to fight against efforts to limit voter turnout wherever they persist.