Judge strikes down law cutting Ohio early voting period from 35 to 28 days

COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 24 (UPI) -- A federal judge has struck down Republican-backed legislation to curtail early voting in Ohio, ruling the restrictions disproportionately hurt minorities.

The ruling from federal district Judge Michael Watson, an appointee of President George W. Bush, restores Ohio's 35-day period of early voting, along with a period known as "Golden Week," which allows eligible residents to register and cast an absentee ballot on the same day.

The legislation, SB 238, eliminated Golden Week and cut the early voting period from 35 days to 28, which proponents noted would still have been one of the longest early voting periods in the nation. The law also limited the hours during which elections offices could be open and set the period for absentee balloting to begin the day after registration closes.

In his decision, Watson said the impact on black voters was "modest, as well as disproportionate."

The suit named Ohio Secretary of State Jon Huested and Attorney General Mike DeWine, both Republicans.

Democrats challenged SB 238 in 2014 and won early victories, including a stay prohibiting its implementation in elections that year. The stay was only subject to that year's elections, but Watson cited the court's prior decision in making his own.

"While Ohio's election system provides multiple ways to vote, the record suggests that those options do not eliminate or significantly decrease the burden imposed on the right to vote of African Americans as a result of the elimination of Golden Week ... The court finds that SB 238 results in less opportunity for African Americans to participate in the political process than other voters ... SB 238 interacts with the historical and social conditions facing African Americans in Ohio to reduce their opportunity to participate in Ohio's political process relative to other groups of voters."

The legal challenge over early voting is not related to another challenge, which is still pending in Ohio district court, over Husted's attempts to purge voter registration rolls he says are woefully out of date.

One of the criteria that could lead to a voter's name being removed is failure to vote in three successive federal election cycles. Advocates for minorities and the homeless say their clients are unfairly disenfranchised and have filed suit to have the practice stopped.