And the Return of Repression. . . .

JB

In a day of see-sawing court rulings, a Federal appeals court ruled early Tuesday morning that the Republican Party could place thousands of people inside polling places to challenge the eligibility of voters, a blow to Democrats who argued those challengers will intimidate minority voters.

The ruling, by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, reversed two lower courts that had blocked the challenges just a day before. It also came as squadrons of lawyers from both parties in Ohio and other swing states from Pennsylvania to Florida to New Mexico were preparing for Election Day skirmishes that will include using arcane laws that allow challenges at the polls. . . .

The battle over Election Day challenges has been most intense in Ohio, not only because the race here is so close and so vital to President Bush and Senator John Kerry, but also because the Republican Party has announced larger and more aggressive plans to challenge voters here than in other states.

The Republicans contend that challenging - a practice that has been allowed under state law for decades but rarely used - will weed out fraud often missed by election workers. Democrats assert that the challenges would disproportionately single out low-income and minority voters, which Republicans deny. . . .

In a similar and perhaps redundant decision in New Jersey, a federal judge, Dickinson R. Debevoise, ruled Monday that the Republican National Committee and people under its control may not challenge Ohio voters using a list of 35,000 people prepared by local Republicans here. The list is based on mail returned as undeliverable.

Judge Debevoise, ruling on a challenge filed by minority voters in Federal District Court in Newark, based his order Monday on a 1982 decision that prohibited the Republican National Committee from using so-called ballot security measures to frustrate efforts by members of minorities to vote. Judge Debevoise ruled that the 1982 decision, a consent order entered as part of a settlement in New Jersey, was national in scope and continued to be in effect.

Lawyers for the Republicans filed an immediate appeal to the federal appeals court in Philadelphia.

Even as the Ohio dispute was working its way through the courts, lawyers in other states were gearing up for Election Day challenges.

In Philadelphia, Republicans have said they plan to challenge 10,000 voters in the heavily black West Philadelphia section because of what they say are concerns of registration fraud. Democratic Party lawyers are expected to ask judges to remove the challengers if they are overly aggressive.

In Florida, Republicans have said they will challenge 1,700 people with felons convictions if they show up to vote. Democrats have mustered thousands of poll watchers whose job will be to ensure that voters are not intimidated.