The top election officer in Ohio said Monday he wants to get rid of a disputed five-day period in which new voters can register and then immediately cast a ballot in what's a traditionally presidential battleground state.
A story from the AP says, Secretary of State Jon Husted is proposing a series of election reforms that includes a shorter early voting period that does away with the window. He also wants to allow Ohioans to both register to vote and change their address online.
Under his plan, voters would have 21 days to vote by mail and 16 days to cast their ballot in person before Election Day. That's down from the current 35-day early voting period.
"Let's face it: That five days where you can register and then vote on the same day does not give the confidence _ whether it's a perception or reality _ that elections are as accurate as they possibly could be," Husted told reporters at a news conference.
The period led to a contentious partisan spat in the 2008 election, with Republicans accusing then-Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner of reading state election law to benefit her own Democratic Party and overlooking the potential for voter fraud.
The so-called overlap period was upheld in court, but Democrats have largely decided that it produced too much of an administrative headache for local officials. Brunner had offered similar changes in 2009 that would have eliminated it.
Click here to read more of this story from the AP.
