San Antonio – Today, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Judge Peter C. Economus granted a preliminary injunction striking down an Ohio voting law as unconstitutional and ordered Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted to restore early voting on the three days prior to the election to “restore in-person early voting to all eligible Ohio voters”. Congressman Charles A. Gonzalez (TX-20), the Ranking Member of the House’s Subcommittee on Elections, issued the following statement.

“For the fifth time this week, a federal judge has struck back at efforts to deny Americans their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote. On Monday, a federal court in Ohio ruled that the state could not throw out miscast ballots if the errors were caused by poll-workers. On Wednesday, a three judge panel ruled the Texas redistricting map illegal as it was designed to deny Hispanics their right to equal representation and a federal judge in Florida threw out a law that had shutdown voter registration drives by groups including the League of Women Voters. Yesterday, three federal judges rejected Texas’s photo ID law that would have created new barriers for poor and minority voters despite no evidence of in-person fraud. Today, a federal judge has held unconstitutional Ohio’s efforts to deny millions of its citizens equal access to their polling places. As the judge said, quoting the Supreme Court, ‘The right to vote is a fundamental right, “preservative of all rights.”’ This decision is another blow against those who would seek to undermine this most basic of all the rights we enjoy as Americans.

“The fight to protect the right to vote is one of the most important being waged in this country today. While it is sad that we must refight battles many thought had been decided during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, this week has given us encouraging signs that we can win and ensure a more perfect Union.”

As the Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Elections, Congressman Gonzalez has fought against the voter suppression efforts that proliferated in the past two years. He testified before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights in September, 2011, and chaired a congressional forum on voting rights in Houston, TX, in July, 2012. He also joined with 140 of his colleagues in co-sponsoring the Voter Empowerment Act of 2012, a bill which would enact new protections for the rights of all voters. He expressed support for the plaintiffs in this case earlier in the month.

# # #