Ohio Voter Registration Hearings Halted

JOHN NOLAN

Associated Press  27 October 2004

CINCINNATI - A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily stopped hearings on Republican challenges of thousands of voter registrations, ruling in favor of Democrats who alleged the challenges were an attempt to keep legitimate votes from being counted.

U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott ruled that six county elections boards should stop hearings scheduled this week in Ohio, a hotly contested state for Tuesday's presidential election.

The Republicans challenged as many as 35,000 registrations after mail came back undelivered, saying they could be fraudulent. About half the challenges were filed in Democrat-heavy Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland.

Democrats filed suit Tuesday requesting an order to halt the hearings that county boards of elections had scheduled to determine whether challenged voters live where they are registered and should remain on the rolls.

The Democrats say the GOP is trying to keep poor and minorities, who move more often, from voting, and that the GOP is targeting new voters registered by political groups supporting Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic challenger to President Bush.

Dlott, appointed by former President Clinton in 1995, said her temporary order would remain in effect until further rulings in the case. She scheduled a hearing in her Cincinnati court for Friday morning.

Elections boards in at least 62 of 88 Ohio counties have scheduled hearings on the GOP challenges.

David Sullivan, voter protection coordinator for the Ohio Democratic Party, said although Dlott's temporary order applies only to the six counties that were defendants - Franklin, Lawrence, Medina, Cuyahoga, Scioto and Trumbull - all counties should suspend hearings on the challenges. He said the party would sue any county that proceeded with hearings.

"This is an important victory for all Ohio voters because it means this cynical and desperate effort by the Republican Party to prevent thousands of voters to legally cast their votes has backfired," Sullivan said.

Mark Weaver, an attorney representing the Ohio Republican Party, said Dlott's order "removed important safeguards from Ohio law, and this could mean long lines and confusion on Election Day. This may force election officials to actually deal with many of these issues at the polls. It may take time to sort out who's eligible and who's not."

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