Ohio voters will maintain their right to vote early, the US Supreme Court decided Tuesday afternoon. The decision turns down a recent Ohio law that banned the established practice of voting within three days before the election and posed a challenge to voter's rights in the state, critics of the law held.

Early voters have largely favored non-Republican nominees in past elections. Republican legislators in Ohio pushed through the ban on early voting this year, which made an exception for voters in the military, but it was challenged by the Obama campaign, the Democratic National Committee and the Ohio Democratic Party, saying the law violated the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause.

The lawsuit contended that nearly 105,000 people voted in the three days before the election in 2008, and that the ban on early voting severely suppresses many voter's ability to go to the polls.