News & Commentary

This ACLU of Ohio Op/Ed originally appeared in The Cincinnati Enquirer on 6/25/2014

Have you ever wanted to know more information about how the government is operating? Do you wonder what your local city council, municipal court, or the state General Assembly is up to? If you think an open government is important, then you should request a public record. Transparency is the key to holding government accountable. Public records belong to you, the people. The government merely preserves the records for you. A great way for you to be involved in the democratic process is to request a public record from your local government. Public records can reveal discrimination, corruption, fiscal decisions not widely reported, and which elected officials are supporting particular measures, among much more information.

Obama for America v. Husted, filed in 2012 and decided on June 11, 2014, challenged an Ohio statute and a set of directives issued by the Ohio Secretary of State on the ground that the provisions together violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The suit alleged that the provisions discriminated between two classes of voters: on one hand, Americans serving in the military and those living overseas (together referred to as "UOCAVA voters"), and on the other, all other voters ("non-UOCAVA voters"), because the scheme allowed only UOCAVA voters, but no one else, to vote in person on the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday before Election day.