Judges Julia Smith Gibbons and Eric Clay formed the majority. Judge Eugene Siler Jr. disagreed, saying the plaintiff claims were “all speculation.”
Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted said he wouldn’t fight the order, to avoid “an unnecessary source of contention with election only five days away.” Ohio’s procedures will eventually be upheld again, he said, and the state is committed to making it “easy to vote and hard to cheat.”
Husted is running for lieutenant governor on a ticket with Attorney General Mike DeWine, who is in a tight race for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Richard Cordray.
The voting-rights groups said that some elections in Ohio, traditionally a swing state, have been settled by small margins, and that turning away potentially thousands of voters could alter outcomes.
“The court’s decision will allow more Ohio voters to have their voices heard next Tuesday,” attorney Stuart Naifeh of the Demos organization said via email. “Every vote counts, including those cast by voters who may not have been engaged in the political process in recent years. ... In today’s ruling, the court recognized that the right to vote is too important to allow states to take it away without giving voters meaningful notice.”
