Supreme Court Blocks Golden Week in Ohio

The US Supreme Court just blocked Golden Week in Ohio by a 5-4 decision along conservative and liberal lines.  This is unfortunate for homeless people who change their address frequently.  They need to be able to change their registration to their current residence and then cast a ballot.  They may change address three times in the next month and need that opportunity to reduce confusion.  They often do not have any identification and certainly not ID to match their current residence.  This also provides confusion at the polling place.  We were all set to provide vans to every shelter and begin to transport people to the Board of Elections. We will now have another time of confusion in voting in Ohio because of the last minute intervention by the US Supreme Court. 

I have never understood the state's reasoning here.  They claim that we have more opportunity to vote than any of the surrounding states and better than 41 other states.  But we cannot vote in 41 states or any of the surrounding states. We have to vote in Ohio and hundreds of thousands voted during Golden Week or on the weekend before the November Election Day.  We have for the past 8 years had Golden Week in Ohio and now we do not.  Our ability to vote has decreased in Ohio with this decision.  The ability of homeless people to participate in democracy has diminished.  This is horrible for democracy in Ohio to restrict access to the voting booth, and horrible that the ability to vote when you want to vote has become so political.

Brian Davis

Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry