Pretty damned blatant.

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If you live in a predominantly Democratic district in Ohio, it looks as though you’re not going to have the same access to early voting as you would if you lived in a predominantly Republican district.

From the Cincinnnati Enquirer:

In Southwest Ohio, elections boards in traditionally Republican Butler and Warren counties have approved special night and weekend voting hours from early October through Nov. 1. Because Democrats did not oppose the idea, there were no tie votes to submit to (Secretary of State, John) Husted, leaving those early voting plans intact.

Husted spokesman Matt McClellan said the secretary of state will not intervene in those counties.

“Local boards of elections can set their own hours for early voting if they can agree on it,” McClellan said.

Only in cases where boards’ tie votes give him a decisive voice, McClellan added, will Husted move to block extra voting hours…

And he has consistently done this. The result? More voting hours will be available to residents of predominantly Republican districts, less to resident of predominantly Democratic districts.

Funny how it works out that way.

Ohio, you may remember, was the state where, among other things, insanely long lines on election day in 2004 led to thousands of potential voters in Democratic districts giving up and leaving without casting their ballots.

From The Washington Post:

…In her city neighborhood, which is vastly Democratic and majority black, the 38-year-old mortgage broker found a line snaking out of the precinct door.

She stood in line for four hours — one hour in the rain — and watched dozens of potential voters mutter in disgust and walk away without casting a ballot. Afterward, Thivener hopped in her car and drove to her mother’s house, in the vastly Republican and majority white suburb of Harrisburg. How long, she asked, did it take her to vote?

Fifteen minutes, her mother replied…

The Republicans want more of that. After all, Ohio responded to the 2004 voting debacle by expanding early voting for everyone and look what happened! Four years later, Democratic voters actually got to cast their ballots and elect the president they wanted.

The GOP in Ohio has made it plain they aren’t going to stand for that again.