One skirmish in Ohio’s fight over early voting has been resolved.

Cuyahoga County and Secretary of State Jon Husted have been feuding for weeks over a directive from Husted that forbade county boards of elections from mailing absentee-ballot applications to all voters. At the urging of Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, County Council last week bypassed that directive by voting for county government to pay for the mailing – not the elections board.

This morning, Fitzgerald and Husted announced a compromise.  The county will not mail out the ballot requests for this November’s election. But using federal funds, the state will pay for all 88 county elections boards to mail them out for the presidential election NEXT November. 

FitzGerald says he agreed to the compromise because he feared the state would sue over the issue at the last minute and create voter confusion.

Husted says he’s simply looking for uniformity in elections.

Democrats and voting rights advocates maintain that a new state law containing the limits on absentee mailings and other early voting efforts are aimed at suppressing turnout in Democratic areas. They’ve mounted a referendum campaign to try to overturn the law.