TOLEDO, Ohio -In a victory for Democrats, a federal judge ruled yesterday that Ohio voters who show up at the wrong polling place on Election Day still can cast ballots as long as they are in the county where they are registered.
U.S. District Judge James Carr blocked a directive from Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican, who recently announced that poll workers must send voters to their correct precinct.
Blackwell pledged to appeal quickly.
The judge said that voters, who go to the wrong polling place after moving without notifying the elections board, and those whose names cannot be found on the registration rolls, should be able to cast provisional ballots there.
Denying any voter the right to a provisional vote will erode confidence in the election and the incentive to vote, the judge said.
Lessened participation at the polls diminishes the vitality of our democracy
said Carr, who was appointed to the court by President Clinton in 1994.
The Ohio Democratic Party and a coalition of labor and voter rights group had argued that Blackwell's order discriminated against the poor and minorities. The state's Democrats, who sued Blackwell, said his directive would hurt their candidates more than it would Republicans in this crucial swing state because poor people tend to vote for Democrats and move more often.
They also argued that a federal law passed in 2002 allows voters to cast provisional ballots at any polling place in their home county.
The judge ordered Blackwell to submit a new directive by Monday that complies with federal Help America Vote Act.
Blackwell called Carr's decision a misinterpretation of the federal act.
The law specifically leaves the issuing and counting of those ballots to states in accordance with state law Blackwell said.
Ohio law requires voters to cast ballots at the correct polling place, he said. The state planned to appeal to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Dennis White, chairman of the state Democratic Party, said Blackwell should be encouraging voting not discouraging it.
We expect the secretary of state to issue a new set of guidelines that will allow voters to participate in the election process
White said.
State election officials nationwide have adopted their own and differing standards for when a provisional ballot can be cast and counted.
Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia have adopted the view that a provisional ballot must be cast in the correct precinct, or it will not count.
At least one board planned to follow the order in the presidential election.
Cuyahoga County's board of elections said it would accept such ballots.
Board Chairman Bob Bennett, who also leads the Ohio Republican Party, said the board would not count votes cast in violation of Ohio law, but that it did not want to deny ballots to any voters who want them to avoid confrontation at the ballot box.
Voters who go to the wrong polling place and are given provisional ballots may not be able to vote on some local races, such as a school levy.
Provisional ballots are not counted until after the election.
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