Unless you are homeless or disabled, there will be no
in-person primary voting for you. (See our previous blogpost here.) Cleveland.com reports that a judge has upheld
the changes to the election timetable and method of voting – mostly by mail. Not good news, but here it:
A federal judge on Friday declined
to step in and change a plan Ohio lawmakers unanimously approved to alter the
state’s primary election, which will now be held almost solely by mail through
April 28 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. District Judge Michael Watson
ruled that a coalition of voting-rights groups that filed suit Monday over the
Ohio legislature’s plan did not show that the rights of residents would be
disenfranchised enough to override the law.
Even if the plan, named House Bill
197, isn’t perfect, that’s not enough to intervene, the judge wrote in his
27-page opinion.
“The Constitution does not require
the best plan, just a lawful one,” wrote Watson, whose courtroom is in
Columbus. “. . .
. . .
. . . He said the state is not in
violation of the National Voting Rights Act.
Here’s one part I find particularly objectionable:
[Watson] said voters had many
chances to vote either at boards of elections or by mail prior to the original
primary date.
Voters who planned to vote on Election Day at their polling
place are penalized for not voting early.
Read the rest of the report here.
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