All Ohio voters will have the opportunity to vote in person on the weekend before the election, an Obama campaign victory that came after the U.S. Supreme Court turned down the Republican Ohio elections chief's appeal.
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, issued a directive today setting 16 hours of in-person early voting on the three days before Election Day, six hours each on the Saturday and Monday and four hours on the Sunday before the election.
The move came shortly after the Supreme Court today denied Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted's effort to stop an appeals court ruling that allowed county boards of election to set in-person early voting for all county voters. Under Ohio law, some voters — those voting under a federal law that impacts some servicemembers and their families — would have been allowed to cast in-person early ballots on the weekend before the election, while all others would not have been allowed to do so. The Obama campaign and Ohio Democrats sued, asserting that the distinction was unconstitutional.
UPDATE: In a statement, Husted said:
"Despite the Court’s decision today to deny our request for a stay, I firmly believe Ohio and its elected legislature should set the rules with respect to elections in Ohio, and not the federal court system.
"However, the time has come to set aside the issue for this election.
"Today I have set uniform hours statewide, giving all Ohio voters the same opportunities to vote in the upcoming presidential election regardless of what county they live in."