The Ohio Democratic Party [advocacy website] filed an emergency appeal [text, PDF] with the US Supreme Court [official website] Thursday to stay a federal court ruling [text, PDF] that eliminated the state’s early voting period, known as the “Golden Week,” which would allow voters to register and vote on the same day. Golden Week is the first five days of a 35-day early-in-person (EIP) voting system, prior to the end of registration before an election. The Democrats allege that the elimination of Golden Week would have a disproportionate impact within minority communities and particularly in the African American population of the state. In its brief, the party claims that African American voters had higher usage rates and placed more reliance on the EIP voting system than other populations. The brief states that it is too close to the election to remove this EIP practice and its elimination would cause confusion and irreparable harm to the public.

Earlier this month the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] upheld cuts to early voting in Ohio as well as the elimination Golden Week [JURIST report]. Ohio previously allowed 35 days of early in-person voting but cut that to 29 days and eliminated the Golden Week provision. The state’s EIP voting system was a response to the 2004 election [SCOTUSblog report], in which some parts of the state experienced polling-line waits of up to twelve hours on the day of elections. A federal judge ruled in May that the reduction in the EIP voting practice was unconstitutional [JURIST report] and in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, but the Sixth Circuit reversed.