Court OKs Republican Voter Challengers at Ohio Polls
Giving a pre-dawn Election Day boost to the GOP, a federal appeals court early Tuesday cleared the way for political parties to send in people to challenge voters' eligibility at Ohio polling places. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to step in. Overturning the orders of two federal judges, a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites) ruled 2-1 early Tuesday that the presence of Election Day challengers was allowed under state law. It granted emergency stays that will allow Republicans and Democrats one challenger per precinct each. Plaintiffs' appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court were unsuccessful. Early Tuesday, Justice John Paul Stevens, who handles appeals from Ohio, refused a request to stay the 6th Circuit decision. The series of rulings came in a pair of lawsuits seeking to block the GOP from stationing challengers at polling places, one filed by a county Democratic group and the other by a black couple who said the Republicans meant to intimidate black voters.[more] and [more]
- Lawyers for 20-year-old Cleveland Black woman, Ebony Malone, filed an emergency appeal to the US Supreme Court, arguing that it was too late to change the rules. [more]
- Early Exit Polling Shows Kerry Ahead in PA, OH, FL, MI, NM, MN, WI and NH. [more]
- In Ohio, the state Republican Party has challenged the eligibility of 35,000 newly registered voters. ... It's necessary they say, to prevent fraud in a state where polls show President Bush and John F. Kerry are in a statistical tie. Most of the 35,000 you'll not be surprised to hear, live in urban, which is to say, multi-racial, which is to say, Democratic, areas.[more]