The supreme Court made a decision today which makes it so that the Golden Week, which allowed Ohioans to register and vote on the same day starting on October 5th. This is a victory for the Republicans since people who used October 5th.
Hank Green explains how to vote in Ohio:
I live in Washington State, and you can register to vote online and when you get your driver's license, change your address with the postal service, or basically any time you do anything with the government. Since every public library has internet access, there is no reason any citizen is not able to register to vote in Washington, and with mail in voting combined with being able to print your ballot off online (at a public library for free if you don't have printer) there is no excuse for not voting in Washington State. If you are not registered, register immediately at vote.wa.gov
In Ohio, this is a very different situation. Like many parts of the country they do not have universal mail in voting, people have to wait in long poll lines, so for people with crazy work schedules and children voting can be a real hassle. This is why early voting in Ohio is so important for people who fit into these disadvantaged situations.
According to ThinkProgress, 80,000 people used Golden Week in 2012 and 60,000 in 2008. For comparison, in 2012 Obama won Ohio by 160,000 votes and in 2008 he won by 263,000 votes. Without Golden Week Obama would have won regardless, even if Golden Week voters wouldn't have voted otherwise even if they all voted for Obama which is impossible. This makes it unlikely to swing the election this year. However, unless if Ohio makes voting easier for people do by mailing in a ballot or voting online, giving people more opportunities to get to the polls is extremely important and vital to democracy. Even though I do not expect that this will swing the election for Trump, it is against the principles of democracy and equality of opportunity which our nation must strive to achieve.
Additional Source:
Huffington Post
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