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2018 was a big election year in Ohio. Republicans held onto all five statewide executive offices including governor and super majorities in both the Ohio House and Senate. But there were a few bright spots for Democrats, among them the reelection of U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown and the election of two Democrats to the Ohio Supreme Court.With election 2018 over, the focus now shifts to governing. Stay connected with the latest on politics, policies and people making the decisions at all levels affecting your lives.

Golden Week Challenge Might Not Stand Much of a Chance

photo of Dan Tokaji
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

The Ohio Democratic Party has appealed to the US Supreme Court to toss out a 2014 state law and bring back the so-called “Golden Week”, when Ohioans can register and cast ballots at the same time. But an election law expert thinks the case doesn’t stand much of a chance. 

Democrats appealed the decision of a three-judge panel that 29 days of early voting is – according to the majority opinion – quite generous. But Democrats want to go back to 35 days and restore the Golden Week, which they say it used heavily by minority voters.

Ohio State election law professor Dan Tokaji says it would take five justices to reverse the lower court ruling, which he doubts would happen.

“The more liberal justices on the court will know that as well as anyone, and so most likely, they’ll decide not to intervene in the case, and they may well do so without an opinion.”

The court recently refused to reinstate a Republican-backed North Carolina law that ended same-day voter registration and rolled back early voting further than the Ohio law did. 

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.