
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.