The Ohio Republican Party accordingly assigned poll challengers to 30 of Ohio's 88 counties, the vast majority in minority and urban areas. As noted by Judge Susan Dlott in Hamilton County, up to 97% of new voters in black areas would be challenged on Election Day, while only 14% of are white voters would be similarly challenged.
Such tactics serve both to intimidate and embarrass voters, and to cause increased delays and long waits for all other voters at those polls.
Three separate judges expressed extreme concerns over the Ohio voter challenge process. Judge John O'Donnell in Cuyahoga County found Blackwell's directive to be "unlawful, arbitrary, unreasonable and unconscionable." Judge John R. Adams of Summit County noted that "the integrity of the election may be irreparably harmed."
Blackwell reversed course, but only until the Ohio Attorney General, a Republican, argued in favor of multiple challengers five days before the election. Blackwell then filed a last minute appeal, which overturned two of the lower court decisions. The Ohio Democratic Party appealed to the Supreme Court, which turned it down due to insufficient time.
Challenges occurred at polling places just as Blackwell desired.
- Denying provisional ballots to absentee voters who never got their ballots It's common practice to allow voters listed on rolls as absentee voters but who show up on Election Day to vote using a provisional ballot.
Blackwell issued a ruling disallowing issuance of provisional ballots to voters who requested absentee ballots, even if they failed to receive those absentee ballots.
Late afternoon on Election Day, a Lucas County court ordered Blackwell to rescind his ruling, and to notify all county election boards of that rescinsion within 30 minutes. Despite court action, however, many absentee voters were disfranchised prior to late afternoon.
- Voter registration irregularities Other voter-inhibiting irregularities included:
- longtime voters who discovered that their registrations had been purged from the records;
- numerous voters who were incorrectly listed as felons, and thus not allowed to vote;
- numerous individuals who registered to vote but who never received confirmations and were not listed on voters rolls at the precincts;
- many documented cases where election workers sent voters to the wrong precinct;
- at several locations, voters were asked for ID far beyond that required by law, and then were prohibited from voting if they didn't possess such ID;
- one Cleveland precinct ran out of ballots, and no more were supplied by the County Election Board.
