The Obama campaign filed a motion on Wednesday asking a federal court to force the state of Ohio to obey its decision to restore early voting in the three days before the November election.
The motion was filed in response to an announcement from Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, who said Tuesday that he wouldn’t set early voting hours until an appeals court ruled on a decision made by U.S. District Judge Peter Economus last week. Economos found that the “public interest is served by restoring in-person early voting to all Ohio voters.”
In its filing Wednesday, the Obama campaign pointed out that Ohio had not sought an actual stay of Economus’ decision, and instead “appears to believe it can issue [a stay] on its own authority.” The Obama campaign said Husted’s memo does not “identify the legal basis for this extraordinary action,” and argued that the memo conflicts with a well-established principle that orders based on a court decision are to be respected until an appeals court rules on the matter.
“Plaintiffs respectfully request that the Court act as appropriate and necessary to enforce its Order issued August 31, 2012,” lawyer Donald J. McTigue writes in the motion.
Mitt Romney’s campaign has previously attacked the Obama campaign for filing the lawsuit, falsely accusing it of trying to take away early voting rights from members of the military who were exempted from the law. Judge Economus ruled that restoring the early voting hours that were in effect during the 2008 election “places all Ohio voters on equal standing.”
Late update: Seems Economus isn’t thrilled with Husted for ignoring his order — he order Husted to personally attend a hearing on Sept. 13.
