Coming across the wires on the last 30 minutes:
As Romney banks his entire candidacy on Ohio's 20 electoral votes, his friends at the secretary of state's office have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the Republican-basked law that would ban early voting for civilians in the 3 days prior to the election.
There's not yet been an official Obama campaign response to this news that I can find.
Secretary of State Jon Husted (HYOO’-sted) said Tuesday he will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to make the final decision on whether the state Legislature or federal courts should set Ohio election laws.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated early voting on the three days before Election Day, returning discretion to local boards of elections.
More from
Bloomberg:
President Barack Obama’s campaign organization and the state and national Democratic Parties sued Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted and Attorney General Mike DeWine, both Republicans, arguing that the disparity in voting times was unconstitutional.
“The court is saying that all voters must be treated the same way under Ohio law, but also grants Ohio’s 88 elections boards the authority to establish 88 different sets of rules,” Husted said today in a statement announcing his plan to seek high-court intervention. “That means that one county may close down voting for the final weekend while a neighboring county may remain open. How any court could consider this a remedy to an equal protection problem is stunning.”
Full press release from Husted's office,
via TPM:
“This is an unprecedented intrusion by the federal courts into how states run elections and because of its impact on all 50 states as to who and how elections will be run in America we are asking the Supreme Court to step in and allow Ohioans to run Ohio elections.
“This ruling not only doesn’t make legal sense, it doesn’t make practical sense. The court is saying that all voters must be treated the same way under Ohio law, but also grants Ohio’s 88 elections boards the authority to establish 88 different sets of rules. That means that one county may close down voting for the final weekend while a neighboring county may remain open. How any court could consider this a remedy to an equal protection problem is stunning.
“As a swing state, we in Ohio expect to be held to a high standard and level of scrutiny when it comes to elections. However, it’s troubling that the federal courts have failed to recognize that there isn’t another state in the union which can claim Ohio’s broad menu of voting options and opportunity to vote. In Ohio, ALL voters already have at least 230 hours available to vote in person prior to Election Day, ALL registered voters received an application to vote by mail and ALL voters still have the ability to vote during the 13-hour window on Election Day itself.
“While I will be asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold Ohio law through the appeals process, the last thing I want to see is a non-uniform system where voters will be treated differently in all 88 counties.
“Since some boards of elections have already started to take action on hours of operation for the three days before Election Day, I am going to take time to consult with all 88 counties before crafting a directive to set uniform hours should the state not be successful upon appeal.”