CINCINNATI – A federal appeals court has cleared the way for challengers to be present at polling places throughout Ohio, ruling early yesterday that their presence on Election Day was allowed under state law.
A three-judge panel of the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 to grant emergency stays of two federal judges’ orders on Monday that barred voter challengers from political parties. The judges also consolidated the two appeals, which stemmed from separate lawsuits in Cincinnati and Akron.Ohio is one of the states that could decide the presidential election, with support for President George W Bush and Senator John Kerry nearly evenly divided in recent polls.In nearly all states, including Ohio, a candidate that wins a state by any margin takes all of its electoral votes.The federal appeals court said that while it’s in the public interest that registered voters cast ballots freely, there is also “strong public interest in permitting legitimate statutory processes to operate to preclude voting by those who are not entitled to vote”.The dissent by Judge R Guy Cole said the citizens of Ohio have the right to vote without the “threat of suppression, intimidation or chaos sown by partisan political operatives”.Cole said that partisan challengers are seeking to target precincts that have a majority black population, and that when “the fundamental right to vote without intimidation or undue burden is pitted against the rights of those seeking to prevent voter fraud …”the court must err on the side of voters.Hundreds of thousands of voters have been newly registered in a state Bush and Kerry both say they need to win.A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to be president; Ohio has 20.Each state’s number of electoral votes is related to its population.- Nampa-APThe judges also consolidated the two appeals, which stemmed from separate lawsuits in Cincinnati and Akron.Ohio is one of the states that could decide the presidential election, with support for President George W Bush and Senator John Kerry nearly evenly divided in recent polls.In nearly all states, including Ohio, a candidate that wins a state by any margin takes all of its electoral votes.The federal appeals court said that while it’s in the public interest that registered voters cast ballots freely, there is also “strong public interest in permitting legitimate statutory processes to operate to preclude voting by those who are not entitled to vote”.The dissent by Judge R Guy Cole said the citizens of Ohio have the right to vote without the “threat of suppression, intimidation or chaos sown by partisan political operatives”.Cole said that partisan challengers are seeking to target precincts that have a majority black population, and that when “the fundamental right to vote without intimidation or undue burden is pitted against the rights of those seeking to prevent voter fraud …”the court must err on the side of voters.Hundreds of thousands of voters have been newly registered in a state Bush and Kerry both say they need to win.A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to be president; Ohio has 20.Each state’s number of electoral votes is related to its population.- Nampa-AP
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