Officials in Ohio cannot limit early voting in the days before Election Day, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.
SCOTUS denied a request from state officials who wanted to enforce a law that would have limited early voting to members of the military and their families for the three days prior to Nov. 6.
The request to the high court came after a lower court sided with the Obama administration, ruling that election officials could not enforce the early vote restriction.
The one sentence ruling, issued without explanation from the Supreme Court on Tuesday is good news for the Obama campaign, which argued that any limiting of the early vote window would encumber low-income and minority voters’ ability to cast a ballot.
Ohio election officials, led by Secretary of State Jon Husted (R) argued that allowing only military families to vote the weekend before Election Day was necessary in the event they were called to duty. But the SCOTUS ruling preserves a lower court ruling, which stipulates that, if open for any voters, polling locations must be open to all.