The U.S. Supreme Court, exercising its conservative streak, has just blocked early voting in the state of Ohio.
Chief Justice John Roberts was just joined by the Supreme Court’s conservatives in blocking early voting in Ohio. The decision, 5-4, Â was supported by Justices Scalia, Alito, Kennedy, and Thomas.
“With just sixteen hours before polling stations were to open in Ohio, the Supreme Court on Monday afternoon blocked voters from beginning tomorrow to cast their ballots in this year’s general election,” SCOTUSblog explains.
The practical effect of the order will mean that, at the least, early voting will not be allowed this week — a period that supporters of early balloting have called “Golden Week.†That permits voters to register and cast their ballots on the same day.
Depending upon the timing of the state’s filing of a petition for review and the Court’s action on it, Monday’s order may also mean that early voting will not be permitted on most Sundays between now and election day, November 4, and will not be permitted during evening hours — that is, after 5 p.m.
Early voting during “Golden Week,†on coming Sundays, and in evening hours are the opportunities that civil rights groups have said are most important to black and low-income voters and the homeless. State officials, however, contended that those arrangements would raise the risk of voter fraud, and would cost too much for county election boards to implement.
Given the importance of voting to a democracy, one might believe the U.S. Supreme Court might be more supportive of efforts to extend voting and voters’ rights. But this is the same Supreme Court that declared that racism is over by gutting the Voting Rights Act.
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