Republicans in the Ohio have been priming for election day by preparing to contest voter eligibility in every county in the state. Under Ohio state law, an observer may contest the eligibility of a voter if he believes that voter to be ineligible to vote. The goal was for the Republican party to have observers in every county, ready to contest eligibility. It takes time to prove eligibility, which means longer wait times, which means longer lines. When people see longer lines, they get discouraged and leave. That's the Republican plan.

Hamilton County resident Marian Spencer and others filed suit against Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, attempting to get Blackwell to prohibit challengers at polling places. (Blackwell, as Secretary of State, would be the only person in a position to deliver such an order, since the Secretary of State is in charge of elections.) The case was decided on November 1 in the U.S. Court of the Southern District of Ohio. It is called Spencer v. Blackwell.

Spencer contends that the Republican party is attempting to surreptitiously disenfranchise African-American voters, since

of the 251 challengers listed in Plaintiffs' exhibit 3, two-thirds of them filed to be challengers in predominantly African-American precincts. The evidence presented at the hearing reflects that 14% of new voters in a majority white location will face a challenger listed in Plaintiffs' exhibit 3, but 97% of new voters in a majority African-American voting location will see such a challenger.

Whoa! That's quite a disparity! Republicans (and yes, they are Republicans, as represented by the Hamilton County Republican Party) are challenging African-American voters because most African-Americans vote Democrat.

Also at issue was the procedure for challenging a voter, as there is no uniform standard for who a challenger may challenge, except that "challengers may challenge only in good faith and may not blanket challenge or randomly challenge voters." In spite of this "good faith" instruction sent to all precincts by Secretary Blackwell, the District Court notes that "[t]here are no guidelines or directions regarding what constitutes a good faith challenge nor what quantum of delay is sufficient to exclude a challenger from the polls nor what behavior may be intimidating to voters."

Spencer argues that Ohio's law allowing voters to challenge other voters "places an undue burden on voters and impedes their right to vote." The court agreed that challengers -- who have never before entered polling places -- could present a problem through intimidation and backing up lines. (The statute allowing voters to challenge other voters is a little-known statute exploited just in this election.) It went on further to declare the statute unconstitutional, since it was not narrowly tailored to serve a compelling state interest. The court issed an injuncion barring challengers from appearing at polling places. No doubt this will be appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, conveniently located right in Cincinnati!

Most interestingly, Scott informed me that Republicans in the state of Florida are not contesting registration in largely Hispanic precincts there, since Hispanics Cuban immigrants tend to vote Republican! I've gotten quite sick of Republican tricks to try and get people to not vote. What does this say about them? That's they're willing to resort to cheating and dirty tricks, circumventing the fair electoral process just to get their candidate elected? It also shows that they're scared, that they don't trust their candidate to garner the votes fairly, on his own, without any foul play. It's like Nixon all over again.