A judge has found Ohio’s new election law constitutional, including a strict photo ID requirement

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A federal judge has upheld as constitutional provisions of the sweeping election law that Ohio put in place last year, rejecting a Democratic law firm’s challenge to strict new photo ID requirements, drop box restrictions and tightened deadlines related to absentee and provisional ballots.

In a ruling issued Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Donald Nugent determined that the state’s new photo ID requirement “imposes no more than a minimal burden, if any, for the vast majority of voters.”

Nugent also rejected the other claims asserted by the Elias Law Group, whose suit filed last year on behalf of groups representing military veterans, teachers, retirees and the homeless argued the law imposed “needless and discriminatory burdens” on the right to vote.

The suit was filed the same day Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed the legislation over the objections of voting rights, labor, environmental and civil rights groups that had been pleading for a veto.

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The judge