Interestingly, Husted, during his tenure as Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, had supported the expansion of early voting after shepherding a similar initiative into law.

By IKE MGBATOGU
Contributing Writer

COLUMBUS – Dennis Lieberman and Tom Ritchie Sr. share quite a few things in common: they are both Democrats involved in elections; in their jobs with the Montgomery County Board of Elections, they both rubbed their boss, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, the wrong way, and for that, they both became victims of heavy-handed partisan politics.

Recently, both men became former members of the Montgomery County Board of Elections.

Why?

Because Lieberman and Ritchie were fired from their jobs with the Board of Elections by Husted after they opposed his decision to cancel early voting on weekends.  Husted said that he fired them because both men "knowingly and willfully violated Ohio election laws by not following [my directive], which Ohio law requires you to follow."

But Liberman and Ritchie are fighting back.  Last week, they filed a lawsuit in Dayton against Husted for wrongful termination of their jobs.

"We believe SOS Husted was wrong when he unjustly fired us. He violated our free speech and the free speech of other county elections board members," Lieberman said. "SOS Husted fired us and then dared other election board members to try and stand up for the voters in their community."

Husted (who last week was ordered by U.S. District Judge Peter Economus to restore the last three voting days he had cancelled before Election Day) said on his website last week that he was “proud” of his actions concerning the upcoming general elections.  Husted has maintained that his job “is to make the voting process for electing [those] leaders uniform, accessible, fair and secure for all Ohioans.” He added that he is focusing on making sure that elections are about the “candidates and their ideas, not the process by which they are elected.”

But, dismissing all of that as a partisan defense of an indefensible act, a flabbergasted Ohio House Minority Leader Armond Budish decried the dismissal of the two Democrats.

“Secretary Husted’s decision to fire the two Democratic members of the Montgomery County Board of Elections, Dennis Lieberman and Tom Ritchie, simply for disagreeing with him is deeply disturbing,” said Budish, adding that both men “are being punished for standing up for the right to vote and refusing to rescind early voting hours which had been agreed to on a bipartisan basis by both the Democrats and Republicans.”

Interestingly, Husted, during his tenure as Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, had supported the expansion of early voting after shepherding a similar initiative into law.

Budish aptly reminded him of that.

“It would be wise for Secretary Husted to remember that as Speaker of the House, under his direction, the House passed the very law (HB 234) that expanded early in-person voting.”

Mgbatogu is a freelance writer and editor of Onumba.com based in Columbus. He can be reached by email at: Onumbamedia@yahoo.com" target="_blank" title="mailto:Onumbamedia@yahoo.com">Onumbamedia@yahoo.com