Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Federal Court Stays Electronic Signature Gathering For Petitions

A federal court panel has temporarily stopped Ohio ballot campaigns from proceeding under less restrictive signature-gathering rules they'd been granted amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

The three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals stayed the more flexible rules Tuesday while the state appeals. A lower court allowed e-signatures and extended the deadline for turning them in.

The state has appealed and asked the full Sixth Circuit to take up the case en banc.

The government argues that "wet ink" signature requirements laid out in Ohio's Constitution cannot be changed without a vote of the people.