“Homeless coalitions petition U.S. Supreme Court to protect voters from disenfranchisement over trivial errors”

Release:

Today, the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless and the Columbus Coalition for the Homeless, joined by the Ohio Democratic Partyfiled a petition for certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their challenge against Ohio voter-suppression laws known as S.B. 205 and 216. The homeless coalitions and ODP are plaintiffs in a long-running voting-rights lawsuit against Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted and Ohio Attorney General Michael DeWine.

The challenged laws require throwing out absentee and provisional ballots based on trivial, technical errors on ballot forms–even where elections boards do not otherwise question voters’ identity and eligibility. For example, Secretary Husted’s position at trial was that voters who write their names in legible cursive on ballot forms, instead of printing in roman letters, should be disenfranchised.

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