Early voting is already underway in Ohio. However, there will be no early voting on weekends this October thanks to the Secretary of State, Jon Husted. One week of October is already past us, and we need to make the next three count. This petition is to ask the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Josh Mandel to publicly call for Husted to reinstate early voting on weekends.

Last week, Romney spokesman, John Sununu, called the President of the United States lazy and dumb on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Show. This kind of racially-charged statement has no place in a civil discourse. I call on Mitt Romney to condemn such talk and relieve John Sununu of his position in the Romney campaign.

Gay people are not allowed to donate blood if they had sex within a certain period of time due to the risk of AIDS. This is extremely discriminatory

Westgate Resorts CEO David Siegel sends email to his 7,000 employees warning them their jobs are at risk if the president is re-elected. He said it wasn't meant to be a threat. Siegel said his profits have remained the same and he resumed construction on his 90,000 square foot mansion so economics doesn't seem to be the issue.

killing and hurting whales and dolphins

In a time of recession, job loss, homelessness, and poverty, it is ludicrous that the people are asked to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars in order to legally travel to seek work. I have personally witnessed family unable to re-register their vehicle this year while fighting to avoid medical bankruptcy, and they risk fines and tickets everyday, despite them having insurance and a valid license. No one should have to choose between keeping a roof over their head and complying with obsolete requirements that every car built in the last twenty years complies with inherently. No one drives a car that won't DEQ if they have another choice. A check engine light for an unnecessary sensor should not make the difference between success and failure.

When teens get the required 8.5 to 9 hours of sleep: • School attendance goes up, • Tardiness decreases, • They sleep less in class, • They get in fewer traffic accidents, • Visit nurses and counselors less often, and, • Report less depression and irritability. Starting school before 8:15 AM, without a doubt, undermines optimal academic achievement.

As a senior at a prestigious school, Romney and cohorts held down and cut the hair of a junior student whom Romney believed was gay. The school did not punish Romney in any way. Romney says he does not remember the incident although his cohorts remember the incident well. Was such behavior such a core element of his personality and behavior that this particular incident is not remembered? Romney's behavior today would be prosecuted as an assault, false imprisonment and possibly a hate crime. Yet, amazingly, Romney claims he does not remember the incident where a child was so traumatized he had to take time from school to recover. Is such behavior part of Romney's personality? How does he believe such behavior should be punished?

Campaign funds are an endless field of corruption. The group who "donates" the most gets listened to the most. If we cut off all campaign funding then everyone gets an equal say, instead of the current, " You vote the way I want, then I will donate x amount of dollars to your campaign." This is a ridiculous way of doing it, and is an easy fix. This effects everyone everyday. I am a veteran, and a bill was voted against recently, that would help veterans get jobs. What is the down side of this? How is this bad? Yet it was shot down, because of grudges and deep pockets.

Dear Fellow Americans, In the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, Wall Street and corporate America and virtually all Republicans are working on a deficit reduction plan to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, while lowering tax rates for the wealthy and large corporations. Sadly, some Democrats are also engaged in this effort. This plan is likely to come up during the lame duck session of Congress after the elections. The idea of balancing the budget on the backs of some of the most vulnerable people in our country – the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor - is not only morally grotesque, it is extremely bad economics. We must vigorously oppose this plan. As you know, the large deficit that we are now experiencing was primarily caused during the Bush years by two unpaid for wars, huge tax breaks for the rich and a prescription drug program written by the insurance and drug companies. Further, as a result of the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street which drove us into this terrible recession, revenue at 15.2 percent of GDP is the lowest in 60 years. In order to cover the cost of the unpaid-for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, they want to make significant cuts to Social Security that will affect not only seniors but disabled veterans. They want to do this despite the fact that Social Security is funded by the payroll tax, has not added a penny to the deficit and has a $2.7 trillion surplus. In order to cover the cost of tax breaks given to millionaires and billionaires, they want to increase the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 and throw millions of families with children off of Medicaid. At a time when the United States has the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major country and the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider, their deficit-reduction plan calls for lowering the top tax rates for the rich and large corporations to 28 percent or even lower. There are fair and sensible ways to reduce deficits, but having the rich and the powerful beat up on working families and the elderly is not one of them. We ask that you join us in opposing any benefit cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. Thank you, Senator Bernie Sanders

Romney cut the hair of a youth he believed was gay at the prestigious school he attended. He was a senior and the youth was a junior. Romney had a cohort from the wrestling team hold the young man down while Romney cut his hair as the young man screamed. Romney claims that he doesn't even remember the incident and it wasn't punished. Today Romney would be charged with assault with a deadly weapon, possible kidnapping as the boy was restrained and a number of other possible charges. As such, I would like to know what he feels is an adequate legal response to assault and bullying today? Was he engaged in so many such assaults that he fails to remember this one? And how does this transition to his current beliefs since he has been such an outspoken opponent of gay agendas lately. As a person who cares about the LGBT community, I feel this must be addressed. I do not feel Romney has changed from his previous bullying lifestyle, but has only changed techniques and tactics to accomplish his goal of denying the LGBT their rights. I would really like an answer.

Indiana is the only state in the union that does not comply with national standards that the states were supposed to follow when this Federal law was passed. We have documented case after case where seniors are not being protected by APS. The neglect and exploitation of seniors in Indiana has stop. One case that was investigated by our APS was a 80 year old woman who lived in a small town. The person who had Power of Attorney hired two neighbors to be her caregivers who were inexperienced. The APS Investigator said she was fine. A couple of months later she was taken to her doctor with what the caregivers described as rug burns. The doctor immediately had her transported to an Indianapolis Burn Center where she was diagnosed with severe scald burns. She died two months later in a nursing home and there was no investigation.