The Volokh Conspiracy

[Jonathan Adler, November 2, 2006 at 8:50am] Trackbacks

Ohio Voter ID Case Settled:

Ohio papers, including the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Cincinnati Enquirer are reporting that the lawsuit over Ohio's new Voter ID rules has been settled, at least in regard to next Tuesday's election. According to these reports, it seems the rules will be somewhat loosened so as to allow voters without photo ID's to provide other means of identification (such as the last four digits of their social security number). Here is the consent order, and here is some initial commentary from Ohio State's Dan Tokaji.

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Realist Liberal:

Maybe I missed something but I thought that the last four digits of the SSN was already acceptable. I honestly don't remember where I heard that but I could have sworn that voters without photo ID's could use several other items. If that's the case then where is the settlement? It sounds like the suit was just dropped.

11.2.2006 12:37pm

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chicago voter:

the rules will be somewhat loosened so as to allow voters without photo ID's to provide other means of identification

Death certificates don't have a photo.

11.2.2006 1:17pm

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Another realist:

Realist liberal is right. The settlement document seems to track the statutory language verbatim. It looks like Plaintiffs took it to save face after the strong Sixth Circuit reversal. The only question is why the state settled, when it seemed to have a win in its sights. If the trial judge had done much, the Sixth Circuit would have reversed it the next day.

11.2.2006 10:38pm