COLUMBUS - Fired Montgomery County Elections Board members Dennis Lieberman and Tom Ritchie Sr. are calling on Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted to resign as Ohio Ballot Board chairman after missing a critical deadline for the November elections.
"SOS Husted is guilty of nonfeasance. It's pretty simple. He's the Ohio Ballot Board chairman. By August 23, he was supposed to call the board for a meeting to prepare the ballot language and the argument against Issue 2. He didn't. He should resign," Lieberman said.
"After 17 years of public service on the board, SOS Husted fired me because I wanted to let people vote on the weekends," Ritchie said. "During the same week he was conducting a witch hunt against Dennis and me, Husted was derelict in his duty. The Ohio Constitution designates him as Ohio Ballot Board chairman. He is responsible for calling meetings and getting the job done. His inaction is inexcusable."
On Thursday, August 30, Ohio Ballot Board members Fred Strahorn and Mark Griffin sent Husted a letter pointing out he had missed a critical deadline. Husted was a week late in either designating someone to write the argument against Issue 2 for voters to review or ensuring the Ballot Board developed the language.
Strahorn and Griffin cite the Ohio Revised Code in their letter to Husted: "3519.03 requires the Ballot Board members to take action or face dismissal from their posts."
"Husted's a stickler for detail except when it comes to policing himself on the job," Lieberman said.
"Now if this deadline would have had anything to do with shutting down the polls on weekends or in the evenings, intimidating or harassing voters in urban areas, suppressing the vote or reducing voter turnout, Husted would have been a week early instead of a week late," Ritchie said.
