COLUMBUS, Ohio — Civil rights groups settled their legal dispute with Ohio’s elections chief on Friday over actions that trimmed early voting opportunities in the political battleground state.
The agreement between Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted and the Ohio chapter of the NAACP and other plaintiffs maintains elimination of the so-called ‘‘golden week’’ in which individuals could both register and vote, but adds weekend and evening voting hours, even in areas of the state that previously hadn’t offered them.
The lawsuit had challenged two early-voting provisions. One was a directive by Husted that established uniform early-voting times that in some cases restricted existing polling opportunities. Another was a GOP-backed law that eliminated golden week.
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The settlement retains a uniform statewide voting schedule in all 88 Ohio counties, as Husted wanted, but expanded the hours and days.