Concerns raised about top court decision to postpone early voting

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Members of Union Baptist Church and the Ohio Organizing Collaborative raised concerns about the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to postpone early voting until Tuesday.

Rev. Michael Harrison, pastor of the Youngstown church and co-chairman of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, said Wednesday at Union Baptist that the court decision “devastated a lot of years of struggle” for people who’ve fought for the right to vote.

“You can take a week away from us, but we will not give up the fight,” he said.

Early voting was to start last Tuesday, but a 5-4 decision Monday by the Supreme Court sided with Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, who argued lower federal courts had overstepped their authority by adding a week of early voting and more evening and Sunday opportunities to cast ballots.

Federal Judge Peter Economus and the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals had sided with the NAACP in the suit and ordered the secretary of state to start early voting earlier and offer more evening and Sunday opportunities to cast ballots.

But Husted and Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine appealed the decision, successfully seeking a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a statewide community organizing group, had press conferences Wednesday throughout Ohio.