Last month, Columbus-area ColorOfChange members held a rally outside the office of Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted and joined allied groups to deliver 80,000 petition signatures. Their demand? Restore weekend voting during the October early vote period. More recently, our members nationwide have been flooding Husted's office with phone calls to push back against his voter suppression efforts.
The Columbus rally kicked off with powerful words from ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson. He was followed by everyday Ohioans fighting for equal access to the polls. Check out the video above.
In August, Husted sought to strengthen the Republican agenda by supporting an effort to expand early voting in Republican-leaning counties, while limiting hours in Democratic-leaning counties. After a national outcry forced him to change his initial game plan, Husted decided to outlaw weekend voting statewide. It's a clear attack on Black voters, who have historically taken advantage of weekend voting. In 2008, weekend voting helped then-candidate Obama narrowly win this key battleground state.
ColorofChange members and allies presented powerful testimonies during the rally on September 12th. The message was clear: Ending weekend voting means disenfranchising people of color, low-income folks and the elderly.
In the video segment, 80,000 signatures are delivered to Husted's office. "These are the voices of everyday people," Rashad says. "And I know that the Secretary is going to want to hear them."
To register to vote and learn all you need to know about how to make sure your vote counts on Election Day, visit vote.colorofchange.org.
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