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Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald (center) speaks Tuesday morning outside the U.S. Courthouse in Cleveland. FitzGerald held a press conference to announce his request that the federal government investigate recent changes to early voting in Ohio.

(Andrew J. Tobias, Northeast Ohio Media Group)

CLEVELAND, OHIO – Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald on Tuesday morning asked the federal government to get involved in his fight with Republicans in Columbus over recent changes in state early voting laws.

FitzGerald wrote a letter Tuesday asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Steven Dettelbach, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, to investigate Republican-backed changes that forbid counties from mailing out absentee ballot applications and reduce the number of days voters can cast their ballot early and in-person leading up to Election Day.

The request comes in response to a threat from Republican state lawmakers on Monday to slash Cuyahoga County's state funding by $1.7 million if FitzGerald moves forward with plans to mail unsolicited absentee ballot applications.



The funding helps pay for essential county services including law enforcement.

“If folks in Columbus think we are going to be impressed by these hardball, blackmailing tactics, they’ve got another thing coming,” FitzGerald, a Democrat who is running for governor, said at a press conference Tuesday morning held outside the U.S. Courthouse in downtown Cleveland.

FitzGerald also reiterated that he still plans to sue over the recent early voting-related changes, which he said disproportionately harm minority and poor voters.

The U.S. Attorney's Office will review FitzGerald's request, according to spokesman Mike Tobin.

Cuyahoga County Council is poised to approve FitzGerald's 'voting rights law' on Tuesday evening. The law, which cleared a council committee last week, would assert the county's right to mail postage pre-paid, unsolicited absentee ballot applications to all its registered voters.

A law signed by Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich in February that was backed by Republican state lawmaker, says only the Ohio Secretary of State can mail absentee ballot applications, but only if it’s statewide, and only if state lawmakers approve the money to pay for it.

The change is meant to promote voting uniformity across the state, since some counties can't afford to send out early voting applications, according to Republicans.

In an interview Tuesday morning, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted criticized his Republican colleagues in the legislature for threatening to slash Cuyahoga County's funding.

“There’s no reason for the legislature to punish the citizens of Cuyahoga County for the errors of their leaders,” said Husted, a Republican.

He added his office intends to send absentee ballot applications to every Ohio voter around Labor Day for the upcoming November election.

FitzGerald did not specify on Tuesday when the county would first mail early voting applications. He ruled out the May election, but otherwise, said only that the county would do so when the state failed to.

Northeast Ohio Media Group Staff Writer Jeremy Pelzer contributed to this report