Saturday, 18 April 2015 00:00

Ohio Voters Gain Greater Access to Ballot in ACLU Settlement

Written by ACLU Ohio

Ohio voters will gain greater access to the ballot in a settlement announced today by the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Ohio. The agreement with Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted stems from a federal lawsuit filed last year by the ACLU that challenged Ohio’s attempt to slash early voting opportunities.

Under the agreement, Ohioans will be allowed to vote on multiple Sundays leading up to a presidential election, and their access to additional evening voting hours will be restored for all elections. Additionally, boards of elections will have the same hours statewide. The agreement will go into effect after the May primary and will continue through 2018.

“Ohioans are the winners here,” said Freda Levenson, legal director for the ACLU of Ohio. “Thousands rely on early voting opportunities to cast a ballot in an election. This settlement restores Sunday and evening hours in all 88 counties, meaning more voters will have a better chance to actually vote.”

Specifically, new early voting opportunities include:

  • For the upcoming presidential general election, an additional Sunday will be added during the third week of voting. Boards of elections will be open from 1 to 5 p.m.
  • For the presidential primary election and general elections, there will be expanded weekday evening hours during the fourth week of voting. Instead of regular business hours, boards of elections now will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
  • For regular municipal elections, primary elections and special elections, hours have been expanded during the fourth week of voting for weekdays, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and on the Saturday before the election, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

According to Levenson, early voting is important to people with disabilities, inflexible work schedules, or other responsibilities, such as childcare, that make it difficult or even impossible to get to the board of elections during regular business hours.

The ACLU filed the legal challenge on behalf of the Ohio Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the League of Women Voters of Ohio, the A. Philip Randolph Institute, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and other African-American churches.

The complaint, NAACP v. Husted, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division.

Link to original article from ACLU Ohio

Link to Settlement Agreement

Link to Voting Hours

Read 36658 times

Latest ERA News

  • 1
  • 2

ERA Calls

Feed not found.

Latest News

  • Trump administration's voter suppression attempts ahead of midterms are not only 'morally wrong,' they're illegal +

    Trump administration's voter suppression attempts ahead of midterms are not only 'morally wrong,' they're illegal Imagine going to the polls on Election Day and discovering that your ballot could be collected and reviewed by the Read More
  • ACLU Blueprints Offer Vision to Cut US Incarceration Rate in Half by Prioritizing 'People Over Prisons' +

    ACLU Blueprints Offer Vision to Cut US Incarceration Rate in Half by Prioritizing 'People Over Prisons' ACLU Blueprints Offer Vision to Cut US Incarceration Rate in Half by Prioritizing 'People Over Prisons' Read More
  • As Florence Makes Landfall, Poorest Once More Likely to Suffer Most From Storm's Destruction +

    As Florence Makes Landfall, Poorest Once More Likely to Suffer Most From Storm's Destruction "These disasters drag into the light exactly who is already being thrown away," notes Naomi Klein Read More
  • How about some good news? Kansas Democratic Representative advances bill for Native Peoples. +

    How about some good news? Kansas Democratic Representative advances bill for Native Peoples. How about some good news? Kansas Democratic Representative advances bill for Native Peoples. Read More
  • How One Dying Man Changed The Debate About The Tax Bill +

    How One Dying Man Changed The Debate About The Tax Bill What mattered was that he showed up — that he put himself in front of the people whose opinions on Read More
  • Democrats Just Won a Major Victory in Virginia +

    Democrats Just Won a Major Victory in Virginia On a night of Democratic victories, one of the most significant wins came in Virginia, where the party held onto Read More
  • Repealing the Jim Crow law that keeps 1.5 million Floridians from voting. +

    Repealing the Jim Crow law that keeps 1.5 million Floridians from voting. A seismic political battle that could send shockwaves all the way to the White House was launched last week in Read More
  • Nuclear Weapons: Who Pays, Who Profits? +

    Nuclear Weapons: Who Pays, Who Profits? In an interview with Reuters conducted a month after he took office, Donald Trump asserted that the U.S. had “fallen Read More
  • Sessions issues sweeping new criminal charging policy +

    Sessions issues sweeping new criminal charging policy Attorney General Jeff Sessions overturned the sweeping criminal charging policy of former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. and directed Read More
  • 1
  • 2

Featured ERA News

  • Meryl Streep could get the Equal Rights Amendment passed, says Michael Moore +

    Meryl Streep could get the Equal Rights Amendment passed, says Michael Moore Meryl Streep, political leader? Director Michael Moore suggested onstage at the Toronto Film Festival premiere of his latest movie, “Where Read More
  • Now Is Our Time +

    Now Is Our Time Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state Read More
  • Meryl Streep Asks Congress to Revive the ERA +

    Meryl Streep Asks Congress to Revive the ERA No actor or actress can match Meryl Streep's 19 Academy Award nominations, and only Katharine Hepburn has bested her three Read More
  • Patricia Arquette (and All U.S. Women) Need ERA Now +

    Patricia Arquette (and All U.S. Women) Need ERA Now Now that Arquette has called out the naked emperor, the question is, who will provide the leadership to harness the Read More
  • Fearless Carla Cunningham and Introduction of ERA in NC +

    Fearless Carla Cunningham and Introduction of ERA in NC ERA is ‘in the air,’ according to the NC National Organization for Women. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is the Read More
  • Virginia still deciding if women are equal +

    Virginia still deciding if women are equal RICHMOND — In 1972, when Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment and asked states to ratify it, “The Godfather” was No. Read More
  • Virginia GOP Rescinds and then Passes the ERA +

    Virginia GOP Rescinds and then Passes the ERA UPDATE: On February 5th the Virginia Senate passed SJ 216 after rescinding passage on February 3rd. The status of the Read More
  • Letter to Legislators on the ERA - Don't Let Phyllis Schafly Fool You (Again) +

    Letter to Legislators on the ERA - Don't Let Phyllis Schafly Fool You (Again) The Illinois House is poised to vote on ratification of the ERA tomorrow before noon. Phyllis Schafly and her cronies Read More
  • Fight to ratify Equal Rights Amendment draws new interest +

    Fight to ratify Equal Rights Amendment draws new interest It's not just your mother or grandmother's fight. Thousands of women are expected to rally on the west lawn of Read More
  • 1
  • 2