Sixth Circuit stays injunction, allowing Ohio citizenship-proof rule at BMV to remain in effect during appeal
Caroline MolloyA divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has stayed a lower-court injunction, allowing Ohio to continue enforcing a documentary-citizenship requirement connected to voter registration at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles while an appeal proceeds.
Ohio law requires BMV employees to offer voter-registration materials in connection with driver’s-license transactions only after an applicant presents specified proof of U.S. citizenship. A federal district judge had issued a preliminary injunction blocking statewide enforcement of that requirement.
On Sept. 23, a 2-1 Sixth Circuit panel stayed the injunction. The majority concluded that the organizations challenging the law had not shown at this stage that their identified members had standing, because the members’ difficulties obtaining licenses were tied to documentation issues other than the citizenship-proof requirement. The panel also cited the timing of the requested relief close to Ohio’s voter-registration deadline.
Judge Kevin Ritz dissented, arguing that the challengers had shown injury and that the district court’s order required only that BMV clerks provide existing paper voter-registration forms, rather than changing who is eligible to vote.
The stay is temporary and does not resolve the merits of the dispute. The underlying challenge under the National Voter Registration Act remains pending before the Sixth Circuit.
