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Ohio: New-Voter Challenges ok after all (23,000+ in play)
 Ruling early this morning, a divided federal court of appeals handed Republicans a potentially significant election day legal victory in this fiercely contested state, clearing the way for the party to challenge thousands of newly registered voters. The decision by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals could affect at least 23,000 newly registered Ohio residents whose qualifications Republicans have sought to challenge.The ruling upheld Ohio's law on voter challenges. It came less than six hours before the 6:30 a.m. scheduled opening of polls here and capped nearly 24 hours of frenzied litigation that had left election officials uncertain of how they would proceed. "The ball keeps bouncing up and down. We'll do the best we can," said John M. Williams, director of the board of elections in Hamilton County, Ohio's third-most populous county. Republican Party officials have recruited about 3,500 challengers, many of them lawyers, to go to polling places around the state and question the validity of new voter registrations, particularly in heavily Democratic regions. The Republicans allege that many of the new registrations are fraudulent, saying that names such as Mary Poppins and Dick Tracy appear on the registration lists. Democratic leaders deny that any systematic fraud has taken place. Posted by: trailing wife 2004-11-02 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=47604 |