Voting behind bars: Cook County’s huge jail becomes a first-time polling precinct

The state’s Supreme Court upheld the law in January, blocking many people from taking part in the presidential primary there on March 17. A federal appeals court has declared the law unconstitutional, but for now its ruling applies only to the 17 plaintiffs who brought the suit.

And on Tuesday, a federal appeals court ruled that Ohio election officials don’t have to provide absentee ballots to individuals jailed after the deadline for requesting such a ballot. By comparison, people hospitalized because of an accident or medical emergency can still ask for an absentee ballot through part of Election Day.

Illinois may become a model — or inspiration — with its new law. “I think everybody’s looking at that law now as the standard,” said Chiraag Bains, legal strategies director at the liberal think tank Demos.

Read more at The Washington Post