This is good news, so I’m just going to give you Mr. Benen:
After losing in the lower courts, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced last week that he would take his early-voting restrictions to the U.S. Supreme Court, hoping for a more favorable outcome. In a victory for voting-rights advocates and Democrats, Husted lost at the high court, too.
“The U.S. Supreme Court sealed a legal victory for President Barack Obama’s campaign in the pivotal state of Ohio, leaving intact a ruling that restored early voting rights for the weekend before the Nov. 6 election.
Ohio Republicans had sought to cancel early voting that weekend for everyone except members of the military. A U.S. appeals court blocked the plan last week, saying it probably violated the constitutional rights of non-military voters. In a one-sentence order, the Supreme Court today rejected a challenge to that ruling, filed by Ohio’s Republican secretary of state and attorney general.”
Second Update: My colleague Laura Conaway, who’s covered this story closely, reminds me that Husted said last week that, in the event a defeat at the Supreme Court, he would set up uniform voting hours for each of Ohio’s 88 counties. Whether he’ll follow through remains to be seen.
I can add to this and tell you that Husted has already, just now, issued uniform early voting hours for those last three days. We didn’t get long hours the last three days, but we got most of what we wanted.