Supreme Court Denies Early Voting in Ohio

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to delay a rollback to early voting in swing-state Ohio.

Democrats said that in the 2012 presidential election, 14,000 people registered to vote during the period, and 80,000 cast their votes on those days.

With no published dissents, the justices said they wouldn't block an appeals court decision that allowed the elimination of Golden Week under a Republican-backed law. Additionally, it said that not allowing OH to cut back on its generous early voting would mean there was a "one way ratchet" that would prevent any state from ever making cuts, even with a good reason.

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"Indeed, it may be more hard for voters with time, resource, transportation, and childcare restraints to make two separate trips to register and vote, and Golden Week allowed individuals to do both at once", wrote U.S. District Judge Michael Watson in his ruling.

Democrats charge that Republicans pushed for the new law because a disproportionate numbers of African Americans, who were exerting a growing political influence in the state in support of President Barack Obama, had come to rely upon more early vote opportunities.

In May, U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Watson reinstated Golden Week, ruling that the legislation eliminating the extra week of early voting hurt black voters in particular and was unconstitutional.

Voting hours in OH have been the focus of a racially charged debate since the 2004 presidential election, when some people had to wait in line as long as 12 hours to cast ballots.

The Supreme Court denied the Democrats' request to put that decision on hold while they appealed.

The law opened the window for early voting 35 days before the election, but the deadline to register to vote was 30 days before the election.

"Ohioans want an efficient and secure election and it is time for these wasteful lawsuits to end", Husted said in a statement.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People had challenged the law that erased Golden Week.

But the appeals court panel voted 2 to 1 to overturn that decision, saying OH was a national leader in offering early voting.

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. In North Carolina and MI, however, appeals courts had struck down state voting restrictions as discriminatory against minority voters.