FitzGerald Praises Bipartisan Decision to Support Voting by Mail

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Media contact:
John Kohlstrand: (216) 698-2099 or jkohlstrand@cuyahogacounty.us
Nicole Dailey Jones: (216) 263-4602, (216)338-0863; ndjones@cuyahogacounty.us


CLEVELAND — County Executive Ed FitzGerald praised the Cuyahoga County Council for voting tonight in support of a plan to send applications to vote by mail to all active voters in Cuyahoga County.

“Tonight, Cuyahoga County took a stand in favor of making it easier to vote. We understand that it is important for us to do what we can to make voting easier, not harder,” FitzGerald said. “It’s a shame not everyone down in Columbus sees it that way. It’s unfortunate that it had to come to this.”

Tonight’s bipartisan, 10 to 0 Council vote was made necessary because of a directive issued to all boards of election on Aug. 22 by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted. Husted’s directive prohibits boards of election from mass mailing applications to vote by mail. Tonight, Council voted to have the Cuyahoga County Department of Public Works oversee the mailing instead.

Since 2006, Cuyahoga County has routinely sent an application to vote by mail to active voters. Most Cuyahoga County leaders believe that encouraging voters to vote by mail reduces the risk of repeating the disarray of 2004, when dreadfully long lines plagued polling locations throughout Cuyahoga County.

Cuyahoga County officials anticipate that applications to vote by mail will be sent to all active registered voters around the end of September. 


  
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