2014 September

09.30.14

Voting Rights for Ohioans with Disabilities

Adrienne Gavula

Imagine visiting your polling place on Election Day and discovering there is no parking, the sidewalk is blocked, and the door is locked. Yet, despite all this, you manage to get into the building only to find out the poll workers do not speak your language and the voting machine is out of reach.

09.26.14

Fight for Voting Rights in Ohio Goes to the U.S. Supreme Court

Tim Cable

After a federal district court judge ruled in the ACLU of Ohio’s case NAACP v. Husted that cuts to early voting opportunities in Ohio must be restored in time for the November 2014 election, Secretary of State Jon Husted could have taken the opportunity to accept the court’s order and begin educating voters about early voting.

09.25.14

Books and Ballots: Voting Rights For Students

Steve David

As the summer draws to a close, thousands of students have packed their bags to return to college campuses across the state. Among questions about professors to take, how late you can wait to drop a class, and if you can really afford that textbook, is one they may not have not considered: How are you going to cast your ballot in November?

09.24.14

You Are Never Too Young To Ask For an Attorney

Shakyra Diaz

“We are only 14 years old. We aren’t thinking about lawyers,” a teen declared in the middle of a presentation I was giving at his high school.

The topic of the presentation is based on the ACLU of Ohio’s publication What To Do If You’re Stopped By the Police.

09.20.14

Banned Books Week: A Celebration of Intellectual Freedom

Tim Cable

Every year during the last week of September, Banned Books Week reminds us not to take for granted our precious freedom to read, write, and think whatever we want.

Across the country, books are still regularly challenged and targeted for censorship.

09.19.14

Court Affirms: You – Not Government – Decide What’s True

Drew Dennis

“In short, the answer to false statements in politics is not to force silence, but to encourage truthful speech in response, and to let the voters, not the Government, decide what the political truth is.”

With these words, Federal District Judge Timothy S.

09.17.14

The “Felon Factory” and the Voting Block

Shakyra Diaz

I often refer to Ohio as a “felon factory.”  I came up with the term a few years ago to convey how mass incarceration and criminalization has replaced manufacturing as an industry in the Buckeye State.

Ohio, once a major industrial powerhouse, is now among the top 10 prison states in the country.

09.16.14

Senate Bill 349: An Attack on Civil Rights Protections

Ellen Kubit

Have you shown up to rent an apartment, but were turned away because of the color of your skin? Or because you have a disability? The law might not be on your side anymore.

Discrimination in access to housing is unlawful.

09.16.14

Voting early? Choose your date and time!

Mike Brickner

Update 09.29.14: Due to an order by the U.S. Supreme Court, Ohio’s early voting period has changed from the schedule originally listed below. Read our press release: ACLU Comment on Supreme Court Action on Ohio Early Voting. Go to our Vote Center for up to date information.

09.11.14

Why is Secretary Husted Defying a Court Order?

Freda Levenson

Update 09.29.14: Due to an order by the U.S. Supreme Court, Ohio’s early voting period has changed. Read our press release: ACLU Comment on Supreme Court Action on Ohio Early Voting. Go to our Vote Center for up to date information.

09.11.14

Double Feature: The ACLU and Outlook Media Challenge Intolerance at the Puffin Collaborative Film Festival

Steve David

A biker, a hippie, and an ACLU lawyer walk into a restaurant…

This is no joke, but in fact a pivotal scene in the classic 1969 film Easy Rider. In a Louisiana diner, the characters played by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson are confronted by the harsh realities of a changing American cultural landscape. 

09.11.14

Will the next execution be as botched as the last?

Kimberly Millhoan

At this point, we do not know. But we do know that it’s a gamble the State of Ohio is willing to take, as officials recently released the revised execution schedule for the next two years.

In April, we urged Governor John Kasich to pause executions through the end of 2015 so that courts and experts could take the time needed to ensure that lethal injections do not amount to cruel and unusual punishment.

09.10.14

Failing Grades: An Aramark Report Card

Steve David

With school starting back up, there is one set of report cards already coming out. The state of Ohio should think twice before signing off on the grades that Aramark Correctional Services is bringing home.

A recent report found that Aramark failed to meet contract compliance scores at seven of the twenty-six state prison facilities where it is currently providing food service.

09.10.14

Prayer at Public Meetings? Religious Liberty post-Greece v. Galloway Explained

Doug Torok

The ACLU believes that the right of every American to practice his or her own religion, or no religion at all, is one of the most fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. The Constitution’s framers understood that religious liberty can flourish only if the government plays no direct role in religion.

09.09.14

The Real Problem in Ferguson

Mike Uth

Michael Uth is a member of the ACLU of Ohio Board of Directors.

So far, all the news and commentary surrounding the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri have overlooked the biggest reason why incidents like this continue to occur time after time in city after city.

09.09.14

Victory for Ohio Voters!

Freda Levenson

Early this year, Ohio’s legislature and Secretary of State slashed early voting opportunities that had been relied upon by thousands of voters in Ohio. A week-long same-day registration period, all evening early voting hours, and all but one Sunday of early voting were cut from Ohio’s early voting period.

09.09.14

ACLU to Legislators: Stop Playing Games, Start Playing by Rules

Mike Brickner

When I was a kid, one of my best friends had a knack for changing the rules to the game every time he was losing. If we were playing hide and seek and I found him, he’d come up with some new rule forcing me to count to 100 again.

09.08.14

Federal Judge Sees Through Ohio’s Bogus Arguments For Cutting Early Voting

Sean Young

This article is featured on the national ACLU Blog of Rights.

While it may be technically possible for there to be a sufficiently good reason to cut early voting – one that isn’t just a sorry excuse for voter suppression – we haven’t seen it yet.

09.08.14

Back to the Source: The ACLU Presents Constitution Day

Steve David

Whether working in the courts, the legislature, or in the community, the task of protecting civil liberties takes on many different forms. While the ACLU uses diverse strategies to secure people’s freedoms, many of these fundamental rights are based in a common source: the Constitution of the United States.

09.06.14

What Is Shackling?

Shakyra Diaz

This is the first in a series of posts on the topic of juvenile shackling.

‘Shackling has made me feel like an animal, and it makes me feel like I can’t express myself. It is a distraction to me because rather than focusing on what I have to say, I’m focused on what other people are thinking of me, and on avoiding body movements that are painful and uncomfortable because of the shackles.

09.03.14

From Tinker Test to Tinker Tour

Kate Strickland

“It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”  -Justice Abe Fortas

Mary Beth Tinker has continued to advocate for students’ First Amendment rights since she was the lead plaintiff in the 1969 landmark U.S.

09.03.14

Check Your Mail Ohio

Steve David

Last Friday, Secretary of State Jon Husted mailed absentee ballot applications to all registered Ohio voters. This puts ballots in reach for millions of Ohioans who choose to vote by mail each election.

Access to vote by mail was not easily won.