Court upholds Ohio's limits to early voting and late voter registration

CINCINNATI, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- A federal appeals court has upheld Ohio lawmakers efforts to both reduce the number of days of early voting and end same-day voter registration.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel voted 2-1 on Tuesday that cutting back on the number of early voting days or ending same-day voter registration did not violate the voting rights of black or Latino Ohioans.

Voters in the state will still be able to vote as early as four weeks before the November election. Nearly 60,000 -- mostly blacks and Latinos -- voted early in the 2012 election.

In May, a federal judge ruled that the elimination of the so-called "Golden Week" period -- when people could register and vote on the same day, before election day -- would "disproportionately burden African-Americans."

The deadline to register to vote in Ohio is on Oct. 11, absentee and early in-person voting begins the following day.