WKSU News: Husted looking for other ways to shut down Cuyahoga absentee voting

Friday, August 26, 2011 Husted looking for other ways to shut down Cuyahoga absentee voting The Secretary of State calls Ed FitzGerald's plan unfair to voters in Ohio's other 87 counties by WKSU's STATEHOUSE CORRESPONDENT BILL COHEN	Reporter Bill Cohen

Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted took office in January of this year.

Ohio’s Secretary of State Jon Husted may forbid the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections from filling requests for absentee ballots this November.

He says that’s one option he’s considering if the county tries to work around his ruling that bans any county Board of Elections from mailing out unsolicited applications for absentee ballots.

Cuyahoga County Executive Ed Fitzgerald interprets the ban to apply only to elections boards. He says the county and state should be encouraging voters any way it can. So he plans to ask County Council Monday to approve printing and sending out the ballots on their own. Statehouse correspondent Bill Cohen spoke with Husted this (Friday) afternoon.

Husted explains his problem with Cuyahoga's plan

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That is Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted. Cuyahoga County says nearly half its voters use absentee ballots now, and that’s helped clear up massive snafus that had plagued the county on Election Day.