The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a request from Ohio Democrats that sought to restore the state’s “Golden Week” for early voting.
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Clyde said she’s disappointed the Supreme Court won’t hear this case, but she’s pleased with rulings upholding evening hours and voting on the weekend before the election, which she says are the busiest days of early voting. Within weeks of that ruling, Republican-controlled state legislatures began enacting laws that made voting more hard – cutting back on early voting days, adopting strict voter ID provisions, and other measures.
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Watson, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, had said evidence presented in the case reflected that black voters use same-day voter registration and early voting options at higher rates than whites. They claimed ballot rules create new hurdles for voters, particularly minorities, so were unconstitutional.
Ohio Secretary of State John Husted (R) called for an end to what he termed “wasteful lawsuits”. The split illustrated how closely divided the court is on voting rights. During those days, someone could walk into a board of elections, register to vote, and immediately cast an absentee ballot that would be counted on Election Day once the voter’s eligibility checked out. It stepped in to prevent a last-minute change in the voting schedule prior to the 2014 gubernatorial election after a lower court ruling would have restored Golden Week.
Ohio Democratic Party chairman David Pepper expressed his disappointment with the court’s rejection. They also turned away a bid by Michigan Republicans to eliminate straight-ticket voting this year. “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”.
More than 60,000 people voted during Golden Week in 2008, while over 80,000 cast ballots during the period in 2012, according to court documents. “This issue has been dragged through multiple courtrooms over the course of several years and every time, it has been sent back with the same message: Ohio’s laws are fair and constitutional”, Husted said in a written statement.
But Golden Week was repealed by the Republican controlled legislature in 2013.
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Information from the Associated Press is included in this report.
