A federal appeals court has blocked rules requiring precise completion of thousands of absentee ballots in swing state Ohio but has upheld other challenged election law changes as legal and not unduly burdensome.
At issue were several changes on absentee and provisional ballot requirements Ohio's Republican-led legislature passed in 2014. Advocates for the homeless and the state Democratic Party sued Ohio's elections chief over the changes. They said new ballot rules created hurdles for minorities and other voters so they were unconstitutional. Attorneys for Republican Secretary of State Jon Hustedargued the challenged laws were reasonable and nondiscriminatory and imposed minimal burden on voters. The appeals court Tuesday affirmed the ruling of a lower court rejecting absentee ballot requirements for birth date and address entries. It disagreed other changes were burdensome or disparately affected minorities.