The ruling impacts Ohio’s House Bill 458, a sweeping election reform bill from a prior general assembly that made it a fourth degree felony for anyone other than a voter’s immediate family, in-laws, and aunts and uncles from helping that voter submit their absentee ballots.
The ACLU, which helped argue the case on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, said in a statement that the provision blocked disabled voters like plaintiff Jennifer Kucera, an Ohioan living with muscular dystrophy, from “turning to other trusted people in their lives to assist them, including their professional caregivers, their neighbors, and even their own grandchildren.”
Megan Keenan, an attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, commended Brennan’s ruling, writing that it reinforces a “clear command” within federal law: “States must allow voters with disabilities to receive assistance from a person of the voter’s choice, not a person of the state’s choice.”
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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
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