Obama Campaign Sues Ohio Over Early Voting

The Obama campaign is suing the state of Ohio in hopes of restoring early voting on the three days prior to the general election in November, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

 

The campaign — along with the state and national Democratic parties — argues in the federal lawsuit filed Tuesday that a measure passed by the Republican-controlled state House last year preventing polling places from opening before election day does not allow equal access to all voters.

 

The bill was to be placed on the November ballot as a referendum, but Republicans repealed the bill before that could happen by replacing it with a measure that only allows military personnel and their families to cast votes on the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday before the official election day on Tuesday. It denies access to other voters on those three days.

 

While some political experts said early, in-person voting could help President Barack Obama more than likely Republican challenger Mitt Romney, Ohio Democrats argued that the lawsuit was not politically motivated and was based on the fact that as many as 100,000 people normally show up to vote on the three days before the Tuesday election.

 

But state GOP Chairman Robert T. Bennett called the suit just “another circus sideshow" in the presidential campaign.