COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s elections chief on Friday
cancelled his order that barred counties from setting voting hours on
disputed early-voting days in the presidential battleground state, while
a legal battle brought by President Barack Obama’s campaign continues.
The
moves comes after a federal judge this week ordered Secretary of State
Jon Husted to personally appear at a court hearing over the swing
state’s early voting rules.
Husted, a Republican, said he was
trying to provide guidance to the state’s 88 county election boards
following a court ruling last week that restores early voting for all
voters during the three days before Election Day.
The state is
appealing the decision to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
Cincinnati. Fifteen military groups who had joined the state in the
lawsuit also filed their formal appeal notice on Friday.
Husted
had issued a directive to boards on Tuesday, saying they were "strictly
prohibited" from determining hours for the Friday, Saturday, Sunday or
Monday before the election because a court could later change them.
Plus, he said it would confuse voters.
Husted rescinded that order
on Friday and requested in court filings that the federal court in
Columbus hold of, or stay, its ruling until the state’s appeal has been
completed.
William Consovoy, Husted’s lawyer, said in the filing
that absent a stay or a directive from Husted, "there is a real concern
that county boards of elections will begin issuing early in-person
absentee voting schedules for the three-day period before the Secretary
can issue a uniform schedule."
Consovoy said such county action would lead to "significant administrative
difficulties and further voter confusion."
Attorneys for Obama’s campaign have urged U.S. District Judge Peter Economus in court
filings this week to enforce his ruling.
Ohio
is among 32 states, plus the District of Columbia, that allow voters to
cast early ballots in person without having to give reasons.
At
issue is a part of the state’s law that cuts off early voting for most
residents on the Friday evening before a Tuesday election. The law makes
an exception for military personnel and Ohio voters living overseas.
Obama’s
campaign and Democrats had sued Husted and Ohio Attorney General Mike
DeWine over the law. They argued everyone should have the chance to vote
on those three days before the election. They said a series of
legislative changes by state lawmakers had arbitrarily eliminated the
opportunity for most Ohio residents to vote in person on those days,
while giving military or overseas voters the chance to do so.
Attorneys
for the state have said many laws already grant military personnel
special voting accommodations, such as requirements for states to send
absentee ballots to them 45 days before the election. And they contend
local boards also need those three days to prepare for the election.
But
Economus said the voters’ right to cast ballots in person on those days
outweighs the state’s reasons for limiting that opportunity.
The
judge issued a preliminary injunction on Aug. 31, concluding that the
state’s law was unconstitutional in changing the in-person early voting
deadline and that the state was wrongly valuing certain votes above
others.
In his ruling, Economus said he expected Husted to direct
all county elections boards to maintain a specific, consistent schedule
on those three days "in keeping with his earlier directive that only by
doing so can he ensure that Ohio’s election process is ‘uniform,
accessible for all, fair, and secure.’"
Consovoy said Husted
believed his directive was consistent with the judge’s ruling, but had
since learned that the federal court didn’t view it that way.
"The
Secretary would never intentionally contravene an order issued by the
federal district court or any other court — and this case is no
exception," Consovoy wrote, adding the directive was rescinded.
Before
the law, local boards of elections previously set early voting hours on
those three final days. And weekday hours and weekend voting varied
among the state’s counties.
Democrats estimated in their lawsuit that 93,000 people voted during the final
three-day window before the 2008 election.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.