Federal judges bar voter challenges at polling places; GOP backs appeal

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/politics-0/1099315460121620.xml&storylist=cleveland

Federal judges bar voter challenges at polling places; GOP backs appeal
11/1/2004, 6:46 p.m. ET
By TERRY KINNEY
The Associated Press (In the Cleveland Plain Dealer)

CINCINNATI (AP) — Two federal judges on Monday barred political party representatives from challenging voters at polling places throughout Ohio, saying poll officials should handle disputes over voter eligibility.

U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott said plaintiffs in a lawsuit likely would be able to prove that Ohio's law allowing polling place challengers was unconstitutional.
The GOP appealed her ruling to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and planned to appeal in the second case.
In that case, U.S. District Judge John Adams of Akron said poll workers are the ones to determine if voters are eligible.
"In light of these extraordinary circumstances, and the contentious nature of the imminent election, the court cannot and must not turn a blind eye to the substantial likelihood that significant harm will result not only to voters, but also to the voting process itself, if appointed challengers are permitted at the polls," Adams said.
Based on the two rulings, Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell's office told county election boards Monday to bar all challengers from polling places.

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She ruled in a lawsuit by a black couple who said Republican plans to deploy challengers to largely black precincts in Hamilton County was meant to intimidate and block black voters.
Adams ruled in a suit by the Summit County Democratic Party, which claimed the law allowing registration challenges is unconstitutional because it does not give a disqualified voter a chance to appeal in time to cast a ballot.

He wrote that representatives could not be at the polls for the sole purpose of challenging voters' qualifications. Republicans at first said Adams' ruling would allow them to observe at the polls Tuesday but later backed off that interpretation.
Republicans wanted to put challengers in many polling places because of concerns about fraud with hundreds of thousands of newly registered voters in a state President Bush and Sen. John Kerry both say they need to win.

Democrats accuse the GOP of trying to suppress Democratic turnout.

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IT'S SO F'ING HOT!!!!!!

by 6th circuit.

plus a ruling by the Ohio Supreme Ct.