In a clever move, John Kasich’s administration has found yet another way to discourage less Republican enlightened people from voting. Every county has some discretion over questions such as exactly how long the polls may stay open on voting days, and each county elections board is made up of two members from each party regardless of how the county itself tends to vote. When a committee deadlocks in any county the tie vote gets broken by Jon Husted, the Republican Secretary of State.

Here’s how the game works. In urban counties, GOP committee members vote to close polls at 5 pm, a time that is inconvenient to impossible for many people who work for a living. So far Husted has always broken the tie in favor of less voting, as one might expect. The counties encompassing Cleveland, Cincinnatti and Akron, three of Ohio’s largest cities, will thus operate under “business hours” only. In suburban counties at least one GOP committee member will vote for extended hours and the polls stay open quite late.

Kay will have a more informed opinion on this than I do, but from here the upshot seems clear: Dysfunction Working As Intended.