Tuesday, August 23, 2016
COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio's elections chief is praising a ruling from a federal appeals court that upholds a state law trimming a week of early voting in the presidential swing state.
Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted says Ohio offers "generous" opportunities to cast a ballot. He says the issue has been dragged through the courts and produced the finding that Ohio's laws are fair.
In a 2-1 decision, a panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati today ruled the law still allowed for "abundant" opportunities to vote.
Democrats had alleged that law was part of a series of Republican-backed changes that disproportionately burdened black voters and those who lean Democratic. The law had eliminated a week of early voting in which residents could also register to vote.