The Supreme Court has dealt a blow to Democrats in OH in terms of their method of early voting.
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The lower appeals court did not accept the Ohio Democratic Party’s contention that the move was a Republican attempt to thwart minority, college student, and lower-income voters who were more likely to take advantage of Golden Week.
The court denied a request from the state’s Democratic Party to delay the voting change pending appeal.
“As the trial court found, the burden of Ohio SB 238’s elimination of the first week of early voting and same day registration disproportionately falls on minorities here in Ohio”, state Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) said in a released statement.
The state countered that the Golden Week placed a burden on state and local officials, and noted that it had added an extra Sunday to the existing time period of early voting as part of a separate lawsuit settlement with the NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and other groups.
The Ohio Democrats lodged an emergency appeal with Supreme Court, but it was denied Tuesday morning. OH often is a pivotal state in US presidential elections.
Congressman Tim Ryan issued a statement Tuesday in regard to the Court’s refusal to reinstate Ohio’s Golden Week.
“Ohio remains a “national leader when it comes to early voting opportunities”, the state’s Attorney General Mike DeWine argued in court papers”.
An appeals court last month reversed that decision, observing that OH, even without the benefit of extra days of early voting and same-day registration, was a “national leader” in providing additional opportunities to vote early.
Lawmakers pass a bill to reduce early voting days, place more restrictions on absentee voting, and eliminate Golden Week.
The legislation, which reduced Ohio’s early voting period by one week, was signed into law in early 2014 and went into effect later that year.
A federal judge ruled in May that the 2014 law eliminating the practice violated the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act, but a three-judge appellate panel overruled that decision last month.
Pickaway County voter registration locations include the Board of Elections office at 141 West Main St., public high schools or vocational schools, public libraries, Bureau of Motor Vehicles, agencies that provide public assistance or disability programs, the County Treasurer’s office, and Ohio Christian University. “Voting in elections is one of our country’s most sacred freedoms and we should do everything in our power to make it easier, not more hard”.
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