The Independent View: Ohio Democrats Seek Emergency Relief in Golden Week Case

Ohio Democrats have filed an Supreme Court emergency request for relief in the “Golden Week” case.

A divided panel of the 6th Circuit had reversed a Trial court ruling and allowed the Ohio Legislature to eliminate “Golden Week”, a week in which a new or moving voter who needs to re-register could both register to vote and cast an early ballot. The Trial Court had found that the elimination of this period, despite an extensive period of early voting, 29 days, and the availability of no-excuse Absentee voting across the State, violated both the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The 6th Circuit majority held that Ohio’s Early Voting period was generous, that the current period was the result of a settlement of an earlier case between the State and the ACLU which resulted in an additional Sunday voting period, and that plaintiffs’ theory in this case, if accepted, which would create a “one way ratchet” that would prevent states from ever cutting back on voting expansions even if they have a good reason to do so. The majority celebrated the ability to states to set election rules for themselves, and said that under the Supreme Court’s Crawford case, the state did not have to show much by way of state interests in preventing voter fraud and supporting voter confidence to allow it to take the step of eliminating Golden Week.

Some predict the stay will be denied.

But look at the recent North Carolina order, some predicted 8-0 or 6-2 denial, and it was 4-4, so we’ll see.

The Democrats’ request will go to Justice Elena Kagan, who is responsible for emergency appeals from the geographic region that includes Ohio. She can act on the appeal on her own or refer it to the full Court, as Chief Justice John Roberts did in the recent North Carolina case. In the short term, she could also ask the State to respond to the Democrats’ request.