House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Tuesday criticized the Supreme Court’s decision to block a lower court ruling that would have expanded early voting in Ohio.
“History does not look kindly on those who have worked to raise barriers to the ballot box,” she said.
Lawmakers, she said, should respond by renewing efforts to pass a voting rights amendment measure the Senate rejected earlier this year.
“The Supreme Court’s decision helps partisan special interests disenfranchise struggling families and hard-working Ohioans,” Pelosi said in a statement.
The high court voted 5-4 to stay a lower court ruling that would have added about a week of extra voting in Ohio, from 28 days to 35 days, including the addition of some nights and Sundays.
State officials argued that the lower court order to expand voting would have been difficult for election officials to execute properly and they said Ohio offers more early voting days than 41 states.
But proponents of the expansion say it is needed to accommodate poor and minority voters, who during the 2004 presidential election stood in line for hours to cast their ballots.
The Senate earlier this year defeated a voting rights amendment measure that would have required federal oversight of voting laws in states with a history of discriminating against voters.
The Supreme Court voted in June of 2013 to throw out part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that required federal approval of voting procedures in nine states with a past history of discrimination.
