Obama camp, DNC sue Ohio to restore early voting

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

(CBS News) President Obama's re-election campaign, along with the DNC and the Ohio Democratic Party, are suing Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted and Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine in an effort to get early voting restored in the state ahead of November's presidential election.

The complaint, filed Tuesday, requests a preliminary injunction "to prevent the State Defendants from arbitrarily denying tens of thousands of Ohio voters the right to cast their votes in the three days prior to Election Day."

"Early Vote has proven to be an effective way for Ohioans to make their voices heard," said Obama for America Ohio adviser Aaron Pickrell, Ohio Democratic party chair Chris Redfern, and Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman, in a joint statement. "Now, Ohio Republicans are threatening that right."

Last year, the Ohio state legislature passed two bills that, together, curtail in-person early voting in the state for the three days prior to November's elections, among other things. Amid ongoing protests among Democrats, one of those laws was repealed, but the provision blocking early voting stayed on the books.

Democrats argue that early voting allows for increased voter participation, in part due to the fact that voters can go to the polls on weekends. In Ohio in 2008, they say, 93,000 voters - or nearly 30 percent of all votes in the state - were cast in the last three days of early voting.

"The last three days of Early Vote are especially important to ensuring a free and fair election. That is why today, we are moving forward in the fight to reinstate the last 3 days of Early Voting and ensure that all Ohio voters can make their voices heard this November," the Democrats' joint statement read.

Husted's office has not yet responded to a request for comment.

[Lucky12345678]

Quote of the day - In some cases, President Obama was deliberately quoted out of context, but here is the entire quote, you decide ... Here is what the president actually said : "If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges.

If you've got a business, you didn't build that.
Somebody else made that happen.

The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet. The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together."

Seems clear enough to me what our President said, it takes a VILLAGE...

[redought]

To:retmw2.....Dead people like to vote early for Democrats....voters like Mickey Mouse,Donald Duck,etc.If they voted for Republicans Holder would love this law.

[retmw2]

Boy are you living in a dream world, to vote early you have to be registered and have a photo ID in Ohio.

[In2theDark]

Why all of the sudden these voter ID laws and obsticles right before the election...Guess the GOP realizes Romney doesn't have a chance without cheating.