Advocacy

Tell Hamilton County to Keep Early Voting in Downtown Cincinnati!

Update: On February 21, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted cast a tie-breaking vote in favor of allowing the deadlocked Hamilton County Board of Elections (BOE) to move their operations to suburban Mount Airy.

Husted’s vote allows the BOE to move early voting from its current downtown location, but leaves unsettled where exactly the new site should be.

Husted continues to urge the board to come to some kind of compromise on where to hold early in-person voting in Hamilton County and the ACLU of Ohio continues to advocate for an early voting site in downtown Cincinnati, where it will best serve all voters.

We still need your help!

Please take a moment to tell the Hamilton County BOE to put politics aside and do what is best for voters.

The Hamilton County Board of Elections (BOE) is considering a plan to move the county’s early voting site from downtown Cincinnati to the suburbs.

This move will reduce access to the polls for many low-income, inner-city voters who rely on public transportation (for more background visit our voting rights issue page).

Please take a moment to tell the BOE to put politics aside and keep early voting downtown, where it will best serve all voters. We’ve already prepared language to get you started.

Stop the Next Botched Execution.
Tell Ohio Governor John Kasich to Act Now.

Update: Amid public outcry, Ohio Governor John Kasich has delayed the March 19 execution of Gregory Lott until November. This temporary reprieve will give officials time to complete a full investigation into the controversial execution of Dennis McGuire.

The Governor’s action proves that our collective voices are powerful. However, Ohio still has five executions scheduled for 2014, possibly using the same flawed drug combination that led to the botched killing of Dennis McGuire.

The ACLU of Ohio will continue to call for an immediate halt to all scheduled executions in Ohio. We will also continue to keep you informed of new opportunities to take action on this important issue.

On Thursday, January, 16, 2014, Ohio conducted its fourth botched execution since 2006, killing death row inmate Dennis McGuire using an experimental drug cocktail that had never before been used in a lethal injection. Witnesses say the drugs left him clenching his fists and gasping for air for over 20 minutes before he finally died.

Tell Ohio Governor John Kasich to stop the next botched execution by putting an immediate halt on all executions.

Ohio’s next execution is scheduled for March 19, 2014, possibly using the same flawed drug combinations that led to this debacle.

The problem is not going away. It is time for the governor to act.

Read the letter from ACLU of Ohio executive director Christine Link and board president Jack Guttenberg to Governor Kasich, calling for a halt on all executions.

Halting future executions is not about Dennis McGuire, his crimes, or those of others awaiting capital punishment on death row. It is about our duty as a society that sits in judgment of those who are convicted of crimes to treat them humanely and ensure their punishment does not violate the Constitution.

It has never been clearer that this system is broken.

Please take a moment to ask the governor to stop future executions in Ohio. We’ve already prepared language to get you started.