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New Court-Ordered Early Voting Hours Issued by State

September 16, 2014 by

Secretary of State Jon Husted has set new early, in-person voting hours for all 88 Ohio counties to comply with a federal court judge’s order that he continues to appeal.

U.S. District Court Judge Peter C. Economus restored “Golden Week,” a week-long window when Ohioans could register to vote and cast a ballot. The week was cut by the GOP-led General Assembly earlier this year. Economus ordered Husted to set statewide, uniform hours for the additional days, moving the first day of early, in-person voting from Oct. 7 to Sept. 30, 2014.

Husted and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine appealed the judge’s decision and asked both Economus and the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the ruling until after the case is settled. Attorneys for Husted and Attorney General Mike DeWine said voters would be confused if a schedule were released with additional days and those days were later removed by the appeals court.

Both Economus and a three-judge panel at the 6th Circuit denied their request for a stay.

Husted sent a new schedule to county elections officials late Friday.

The directive sets the following hours for all county boards of election or early voting centers:

  • 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30 through Friday, Oct. 3, 2014
  • 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6
  • 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7 through Friday, Oct. 10
  • 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 14 through Friday, Oct. 17
  • 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 20 through Friday, Oct. 24
  • 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25
  • 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 26
  • 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 27 through Friday, Oct. 31
  • 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1
  • 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 2
  • 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Nov. 3

Any voters in line at the close of those business hours must be allowed to cast a ballot.

The judge’s order also prohibits Husted from preventing local boards from setting hours in addition to the statewide schedule. Husted appealed the decision because he said it is inconsistent with the judge’s past decisions, which stated that Ohio could not treat one group of voters differently from another.

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