Brooklyn, N.Y. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke released the following statement on the refusal of the Supreme Court to restore seven days of early voting in Ohio, a restriction on voting intended to prevent young women and young men and people of color from exercising their right to vote.

The order, issued in Husted v. NAACP, will allow election officials in Ohio to proceed with the voting restrictions immediately, before a trial to determine whether these restrictions violate the Voting Rights Act or the Constitution.

“Since 2010, twenty-two states have enacted restrictions on voting, such as voter identification requirements, reductions on the number of days available for early voting, limits on the availability absentee ballots, and changes in the boundaries of electoral districts. These many voting restrictions were developed with a single purpose: to prevent eligible voters from exercising the right to vote, particularly those voters who are young or who are African-American or Latino,” said Congresswoman Clarke. “This decision by the Supreme Court undermines the basic function of democracy in Ohio and in other states that have restricted voting. Today, we have a responsibility to restore the promise of democracy that the generations who preceded us fought to achieve.”  

U.S. Representative Yvette D. Clarke is a member of the House Committee on Small Business, Ethics, and Homeland Security, where she is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies. She represents many neighborhoods in central and southern Brooklyn, NY which include Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, parts of Park Slope and Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.