The Ohio State election law blog reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has stayed the TRO blocking enforcement of the state’s new voter ID requirement.
The three-judge panel (Gibbons, McKeague, Tarnow [by designation]) stated that it “will issue an opinion shortly.” While analysis of this ruling must await the opinion, it would appear that, by preserving the ballots, the stay does not preclude a subsequent challenge to allegedly unequal disqualification of ballots for lack of ID. Rather, its immediate effect apparently is to permit, contrary to the TRO, the continued collection of ID information as part of the absentee balloting process. The status of absentee ballots submitted without ID during the time in which the TRO was in effect is not immediately clear, although perhaps their disqualification would be open to challenge subsequently, along with (for example) those that contained the wrong driver’s license number.
Documents and more details here.
UPDATE: The Sixth Circuit’s order is available here. An opinion will follow “shortly.”
For local coverage, here are stories in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Columbus Dispatch.