I will continue to support efforts to restore weekend early voting hours.  In the meantime, please be aware of your current options to vote and find an opportunity that works best for you; by mail-in ballot, by voting early or on Election Day. 

ADaytonnewspaper recently conducted a poll about balancing work and family and one-third of those who responded said it’s not possible to balance work and family in today’s corporate environment. Another 45 percent said it is possible, but only if they let their careers suffer. 

Only 17 percent felt they could truly have it all.

I believe the findings would be the same inClevelandor any other community inOhio. 

Single parents face additional hardships balancing career and family needs. It’s fair to say many Americans lead busy lives - all the more reason our elected leaders should do everything possible to make voting accessible and convenient. That didn’t happen when Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted issued a new directive last week regarding early voting hours.

Secretary Husted has decided to allow a limited number of early evening voting hours for working Ohioans but his directive excludes weekend voting opportunities during the early voting period. This eliminates the level of accessCuyahogaCountyvoters had during the 2008 election.  The African American community in particular is likely to be affected by omitting the popular weekend voting period. In 2008,Clevelandministers were some of the first in the nation to establish “Souls to the Polls,” an effort to bus minority congregants to the voting booth immediately following Sunday worship services.

Even though African Americans represented an estimated 28 percent of all registered voters in the county in 2008, they comprised 56.3 percent of voters who cast ballots during the four weekends of early voting, excluding the final weekend before the election.  In the final 72 hours of early voting, (Saturday, Sunday and Monday before the election) Black voters were nearly 59 percent of the total.

I understand that the Secretary desires uniformity, but the issue is one of fairness and access, not a one-size-fits-all approach. Ohiocounties are diverse in size and population - access to the ballot box demands that decisions be based on those differences. This directive is an opportunity lost to fully meet the needs of our citizens.

I will continue to support efforts to restore weekend early voting hours.  In the meantime, please be aware of your current options to vote and find an opportunity that works best for you; by mail-in ballot, by voting early or on Election Day. 

As it currently stands, here are the hours for early voting in counties throughoutOhio:

8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, from October 2, 20121 through October 5, 2012;

8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday, October 9, 2012

8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday through Friday, from October 10, 2012 through October 12, 2012;

8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, from October 15, 2012 through October 19, 2012;

8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, from October 22, 2012 through October 26, 2012;

8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Thursday, October 29, 2012 through November 1, 2012; and

8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday, November 2, 2012

*All boards of elections must be closed on Monday, October 8, 2012 in observance of a state holiday.