The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled in favor of throwing out 1,000 provisional ballots in Franklin County that had been improperly filled out by voters.
In Friday's 4-2 decision, with one justice not participating, the court struck down Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's directive saying such votes should be counted.
The disputed ballots are among about 27,000 yet to be counted in the undecided 15th district congressional race between Republican Steve Stivers and Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy.
Stivers currently leads Kilroy by fewer than 600 votes. Friday's ruling allows the remaining 26,000 ballots to be counted.