Washington Watch Voter Suppression Update: Ohio And Florida

In Pennsylvania on Thursday, the state supreme court held a hearing on that state's voter I.D. law. Last week, we told you that a state judge had upheld that law, and this week's hearing was an appeal of that decision. Now, there are seven supreme court justices in Pennsylvania, but right now they're evenly divided between three Democrat and three Republican because one of the Republicans is facing corruption charges. Now, the questions of the court were tougher on the state's attorney arguing to uphold the law. A decision is expected by the end of September.

We'll keep you posted.

In Ohio, the secretary of state has now instructed local election officials to post hours for early voting. Up until last week, he was refusing to order the posting until an appeals court had ruled on early voting.

Let's go to Florida, where the Republican governor, Rick Scott, instigated the purging of 2600 suspected non-citizens from the voting lists. [It] turns out the number of non-citizens was really 207 -- not 2,600. And in a legal settlement with a voting rights group, the state agreed to inform those falsely purged that they have the right to vote.

Also in Florida, the U.S. Justice Department settled a dispute with five Florida counties subject to the Voting Rights Act to extend early voting hours in those counties.