Office of the Ohio Secretary of State
A federal judge has ruled that Ohio must restore full early voting hours for all voters—the latest high-profile win for voting-rights supporters.
Judge Joseph Hood of the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled (pdf) in support of a lawsuit filed by the Obama campaign, arguing that Ohio was violating the constitution by allowing military service-members, but not civilians, to vote on the last three days before the election.
After coming to power in 2010, state Republicans scrapped early voting for all but the military, raising an uproar among voting-rights supporters and Democrats. Many African-Americans traditionally vote on the Sunday before the election, after attending church—a ritual known as "souls to the polls." Around 93,000 people are estimated to have used those three days to vote in 2008, when Obama won the state.
Lean Forward reported last month that the coalition of military groups supporting the law in court was organized by national Republican operatives.
Secretary of State Jon Husted (pictured) gave no indication of whether he planned to appeal, saying in a statement his office is reviewing the decision.
On Tuesday, in another win for voting rights, a Pennsylvania judge blocked a state law requiring voters to present photo ID.
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yeah one small step for mankind one swift kick in the ass for Republicans
Can we kick their asses to the curb now? PLEASE!
Now for every good Ohian to VOTE. The earliest the better.
Thank you, Thank you......Republicans are trying to set this country back hundreds of years....Alright Ohio, take advantage of this opportunity...do not waste it....VOTE, like your life depends on it and it does.....
We need all the votes for the President we can get! The republicans trying to block voters is criminal. There should be stiff penalities.
thank you god you are still on the throne, not the republicans
In the GOP dictionary, Voter Fraud is defined as voting for a democrat. In the regular dictionaries, Voter Fraud is defined as "voting for the guy who keeps lying about where he stands."
I am a middle aged married white guy who is a retired 20 year career veteran of the U.S. Army. The reason I served all those years during six different conflicts including front line Persian Gulf combat service with the 1st Infantry Division is this: I served so all the black preachers in Ohio and other states, can have their Sunday service, rally all their congregation to the bus to go vote. When those black congregations go to Sunday voting they are greeted by trained election officials who see that they have a safe, efficient, hassle free, clean, and timely voting system in place so that youngest eligible student or even the oldest Senior can have their vote counted. This is what the promise of America is for all its people. Its why I and many other veterans made sure this system was and stays protected. Anyone or any party that tries to suppress the vote is missing the whole purpose of the American system.
@Rex in Minnesota
Spoken like a true American hero! I applaud you!
In the history of moving pictures on a box in our living rooms has there ever been a more vapid bunch of dribble? Could we just drop the cult of personality for a moment please and look at RESULTS. If the results are weak ... the purveyor of the plan leading to the results is weak. BHO was really confident today now that the teleprompter was turned back on. Anyone notice that? An accident? When the mouth is being fed by a visual IV drip, it sounds just lovely. Without it, unsure, uninformed, ineffective and unhealthy. THINK!!!!!! If you have to who a photo ID to buy decongestant, is it too much to ask the same to vote? THINK! Or perhaps a test to secure a voter ID... who was our first president? What is the nation's capital? When was the declaration of independence signed and where? Who is the the current VP? Name one Supreme Court justice ... what would the outcome of the election be with such a test in place ... or is that discriminatory? And to whom? Americans?
Thank God for a judge with wisdom. We can't allow a greed-ridden, high ranking cult member to become POTUS. Mitt & Ann think of us non-mormons as sub-human. The single most important thing to reveal to the brainwashed FoxNews zombies is that Romney's faith does not consider lying to non-mormons to be a sin!
I've heard no discussion about the pros and cons of a national identity card. Seems to me that would solve the voter ID problem in one fell swoop.
Wouldn't a federal ID card solve this whole mess?