Fed Judge in Ohio: Early Voting is OK (allowing same-day voter registration and voting)

[mod mom]

Federal Judge: Early voting OK
Posted by joncraig at 9/29/2008 12:02 PM EDT
A federal court in Cleveland today ruled against the Madison County Board of Elections, saying it must comply with Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's directive allowing same-day voter registration and voting by absentee ballot, which begins Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge James Gwin's decision resulted from a lawsuit filed last week by the American Civil Liberties Union. Madison County was denying absentee ballots for newly-registered voters. Here is the directive that the Board of Elections refused to follow.

In a separate 4-3 ruling this afternoon, the Ohio Supreme Court also upheld the right of Ohioans to register and vote on the same day, the so-called “overlap period.”

"This ruling is a victory for all Ohio voters,'' Brunner, a Democrat, said in a statement. "It should send a message to the forces of confusion and chaos that our top goal must be protecting Ohioans’ voting rights. The Ohio Supreme Court today moved quickly to clarify that any unregistered Ohioan may both register and vote on the same day at boards or elections or their satellite locations in Ohio for a period of seven days."

-snip

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=blog02&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3aec38bb2b-982e-46ba-819a-da01a547e8eaPost%3a9947399c-3777-4b52-91c4-7997f6e61e3e&sid=sitelife.cincinnati.com

[jimshoes]

1. This is good news.

Thanks to the Ohio Supreme Court. Also thanks Judge Gwin.