By M. R. Kropko
September 02, 2006

CLEVELAND, OH - A federal judge threw out new state rules governing voter-registration drives yesterday, saying they appear to violate the First Amendment and hurt efforts to sign up new voters.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen O’Malley issued an order from the bench halting enforcement of the registration rules. She said she planned to issue a detailed written order next week.

A coalition of voter-advocacy groups and Democratic lawmakers sued the state, asking O’Malley to throw out the regulations. They said the rules were intimidating and impaired their registration drives, particularly in lowincome and minority areas, because they include criminal penalties.

The state said the rules were needed to deter voter fraud.

O’Malley said she would have liked to have months to study the case but wanted to make a ruling before Labor Day weekend, which traditionally is a heavy voter-registration drive time.

The judge said that, in light of her ruling, voters should ignore the references to the criminal penalties on forms used to sign up new voters.

She gave the secretary of state’s office five days to remove references to the rules and penalties on its Web site.

Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the Republican candidate for governor, said he is willing to accept the judge’s ruling. "Now that the law has been amended by the court’s decision, we are prepared to administer the rules in accordance with the amended law," he said.

Blackwell said the judge made it clear that the job of his office is to administer the law as passed by the legislature.

After the judge finished her remarks, the Rev. Tony Minor, pastor of Community of Faith Assemblies in Cleveland, expressed delight.

"Voting rights in Ohio have just been emancipated, and now, our goal is to replace fear with enthusiasm," Minor said. He is one of the plaintiffs who has led voter-registration efforts in the city’s black community.

In the lawsuit, filed in July, the plaintiffs argued that criminal penalties for violating voterregistration rules could deter people from canvassing. The law requires each person who registers voters to return the forms either in person or by mail to the local board of elections.

In the past, a canvasser could return forms to a church or institution promoting a voterregistration drive. Those groups could forward the forms to the local elections board.

The lawsuit also challenges online training required for those who will be paid for registering voters, saying it’s too difficult for churches and groups that don’t have access to computers. Blackwell’s office responded by offering training materials by mail if requested.

The groups challenging the law include Project Vote, Communities of Faith Assemblies Church, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, Common Cause Ohio, People for the American Way Foundation, and American Association of People with Disabilities. Assistant Ohio Attorney General Richard Coglianese told O’Malley earlier yesterday that some of the concerns outlined in the lawsuit are part of a comprehensive election-reform bill that reorganized Ohio law to bring it into compliance with the federal Help America Vote Act.

He said the issues before the judge dealt with improvements to the registration process to help election officials deal with false, late or questionable registrations. O’Malley discounted Ohio’s argument that the rules are designed to guard against fraud. She also said the Ohio registration rules seem to go against the spirit of the national Voting Rights Act of 1965 that government should "assist in reducing barriers to registration wherever possible."

The Ohio law creating new registration requirements "is insufficient because it is not logical. Those who would work to make sure those who can vote do vote will have less likelihood to commit fraud," she said.

She said there isn’t much point to training requirements, adding that the registration process is largely uncomplicated and is self-explanatory. She said the requirements would seem to add to administrative burdens.

The ruling applies only to the parts of the election law dealing with voter registration. The rest of the law was not affected.

On Monday in Miami, U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz declared a new Florida voterregistration law unconstitutional. She said penalties for violations threatened freespeech rights and said political parties were unfairly exempted. Some plaintiffs said the two court rulings send a message nationwide about how states should regulate the way voters are registered.

"We hope other states learn the lesson that suppressing voter registration is not an option," said Jehmu Greene, national director for Project Vote. Elliot Mincbert, legal director for People for the American Way, said the group planned to ramp up its voter-registration efforts and hoped other nonprofit groups would do the same.

"The judge recognized that these rules were severely restricting the fundamental right of people to register and to vote," he said.

Dispatch reporter Mark Niquette contributed to this story.