Earlier this week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to uphold a previous ruling by a lower court to allow for the State of Ohio to amend its early voting laws.

Those changes resulted in a reduction in the amount of time available for early and absentee voting by one week, from five weeks to four leading up to the Nov. 4 election.

To say that reducing the early voting from 35 to 28 days will ultimately affect a voter’s ability to cast a ballot is simply misguided.

While we will always believe that providing Ohio residents with the ability to vote and provide adequate time is key for the process, to say that voters will now be confused or their ability to vote will be suppressed is not the case.

Voters will have the ability to cast a ballot for nearly a month prior to Election Day coupled with the fact that Ohio maintains an early voting period that is larger than more than 40 other states.

The early voting regulations allow for a consistent early voting period throughout the entire state along with the ability to cast an absentee or provisional ballot prior to Election Day.

More than the changes in the law or the ruling by the Supreme Court, the larger issue that seems constantly to arise is the continual challenges, rebuttals and accusations from different sides that incessantly seem to create a divide instead of coming together for the citizens of Ohio.