This Election Season, the ACLU Won Three of Five Against the Vote Suppressors

By Dale Ho

When voters in three states go to the polls tomorrow, they won’t have to deal with unnecessary burdens and restrictions before stepping into the voting booth and pulling the curtain behind them. That’s because the ACLU challenged five voter suppression laws in various parts of the country in the run up to tomorrow’s election. As a result of our work, three of those five laws are not in effect for this election. Here’s how the ACLU took 3 of 5 from the vote suppressors:

Pennsylvania.  On January 17, a Pennsylvania state judge permanently blocked Pennsylvania’s strict voter ID law. On May 8, Gov. Tom Corbett announced that Pennsylvania will not appeal the ruling, effectively killing voter ID in the commonwealth for this election and beyond.

Ohio.  On September 29, the Supreme Court gave the green light to Ohio’s elimination of a week of early voting, evening voting hours, and same-day registration.  Earlier, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit unanimously ruled that those restrictions violated the Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act. Unfortunately, less than 18 hours before early voting was scheduled to begin, the Supreme Court stayed the lower court’s ruling by a 5-4 vote.  Ohio’s early voting cutbacks are in effect for November. Attorney General Eric Holder called the decision “a major step backwards” for voting rights. 

North Carolina.  On October 8, the Supreme Court issued a ruling permitting North Carolina to eliminate same-day registration and out-of-precinct voting.  Previously, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a ruling blocking those measures under the Voting Rights Act, noting that more than 20,000 voters had used same-day registration during the last midterm election in North Carolina. The Supreme Court, however, stayed that ruling, meaning that these methods of registration and voting are unavailable in this year’s election.

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