Jon Husted
RWon the General, 2022 Ohio Lieutenant Governor
Lieutenant Governor of Ohio (2019-present)
Committee assignments (? - Present)
To be claimed
Former Member, Energy and Public Utilities Committee
Former Chair, House Rules and Reference Committee
Former Chair, Joint Legislative Ethics Committee
Former Member, Senate Education Committee
Former Member, Energy and Public Utilities Committee
Former Chair, House Rules and Reference Committee
Former Chair, Joint Legislative Ethics Committee
Former Member, Senate Education Committee
— Awards:
Top 10 Rising Stars in America, The Fix, Washington Post
All-American Defensive Back, Division III National Championship Football Team, 1989
In fall 2012, Husted was involved in two separate federal lawsuits related to Ohio's early voting system. The first lawsuit was filed against both him and Attorney General Mike DeWine by President Obama's re-election campaign in response to a new state law that limited in-person early voting to military officers and overseas residents during the three days preceding election day. The plaintiffs argued that this law violated constitutional equal voting rights provisions. In October 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit affirmed an August ruling against Husted and DeWine. When the Supreme Court of the United States refused to hear an appeal, Husted issued an order allowing all to participate in in-person early voting across Ohio for the three days before the November election. The second lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court on the basis of wrongful termination. The plaintiffs, two Democratic Montgomery County election board members, alleged that Husted had fired them after they failed to comply with his directive to county elections boards to enforce uniform Monday through Friday early voting hours. Husted told the board members that he was firing them because they intentionally violated state election law by not following his directive. The plaintiffs contended that Husted violated their constitutional rights to free speech and to equal protection under the law and due process by firing them for continuing to allow weekend voting. Under state law at the time, Ohio's four-member boards of election could establish their own early voting hours. In the event of a tie, the secretary of state cast the deciding vote. When Husted was forced to vote in several counties with Democratic majority populations, he voted to maintain voting hours at 8 a.m to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Since a pair of counties with Republican majority populations in southwest Ohio voted to extend hours into the weekend, state Democrats criticized the discrepancy in the early-voting schedule and claimed that it favored Republican candidates. When Husted issued the order requiring standardized voting hours across Ohio's counties, he stated, "The bottom line is the antagonists have made an issue about the fact that voters aren't being treated fairly, that they aren't being treated the same. Today we're treating voters everywhere the same."
On June 29, 2017, the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which had been created by President Donald Trump on May 11, requested information on registered voters from all 50 states dating back to 2006. The states were given until July 14 to respond. On June 30, Secretary Husted announced that the state would provide only publicly available information to the commission. “ After each of the last three federal elections, I instructed the bipartisan boards of elections to conduct a review of credible allegations of voter fraud and voter suppression. The results of this review are already in the public domain and available to the Commission. Additionally, voter registration information is a public record and is available online. The confidential information, such as the last four digits of a voter’s Social Security number or their Ohio driver license number is not publicly available and will not be provided to the Commission. ” —Secretary Jon Husted