New York Times

October 16, 2012

Justices Clear the Way for Early Voting in Ohio

By ADAM LIPTAK

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for early voting in Ohio the weekend before Election Day. The justices, in a one-sentence order without noted dissents, let stand an appeals court ruling that had blocked the efforts of officials in Ohio to restrict early voting there. The Supreme Court’s action was a victory for the Obama campaign, which had sued to overturn the restrictions.

Ohio had planned to eliminate early voting for several days just before the election next month, but it made an exception for members of the military. This month, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, ruled that early voting must be offered to all voters if it is offered to the military.

The Obama campaign had argued that poor, elderly and minority voters often vote the weekend before Election Day. It said more than 100,000 people in Ohio voted in the same period in 2008.

Ohio officials justified the restrictions by saying that local administrators were too busy preparing for Election Day to accommodate early voting the weekend before, an assertion some local administrators disputed. The state officials added that an exception was warranted for military personnel because they may be deployed on short notice.

The appeals court rejected the arguments, saying that early voting just before Election Day had worked smoothly in the past and that last-minute complications are not restricted to the military.

“At any time, personal contingencies like medical emergencies or sudden business trips could arise, and police officers, firefighters and other first responders could be suddenly called to serve at a moment’s notice,” Judge Eric L. Clay wrote. “There is no reason to provide these voters with fewer opportunities to vote than military voters, particularly when there is no evidence that local boards of elections will be unable to cope with more early voters.”

The Obama campaign issued a statement soon after the justices announced that they would stay out of the dispute.

“We are pleased that the U.S. Supreme Court declined to overturn federal court rulings that every Ohioan be allowed to vote during the weekend and Monday before the election,” the statement said. “This action from the highest court in the land marks the end of the road in our fight to ensure open voting this year for all Ohioans, including military, veterans, and overseas voters.”

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s order, Ohio’s secretary of state, Jon Husted, a Republican, directed local voting boards to stay open for all voters several hours each day throughout the weekend and the Monday before the election.

Richard L. Hasen, an election law specialist at the University of California, Irvine, said the appeals court’s reasoning was open to question, as the challenged restrictions would have left prospective voters with several other ways to cast their votes, including voting even earlier, on Election Day or by absentee ballot. He added that it was not unusual for lawmakers to draw distinctions among voters.

But he said the justices may have calculated that wading into the dispute just weeks before the election was more trouble than it was worth.

“It may be,” Professor Hasen said, “that even if the reasoning of the lower court was somewhat shaky, it wasn’t enough for the five conservative justices to issue a 5-to-4 decision in a case about a presidential election that could hang on Ohio.”