Lawyers from the Franklin Board and Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell vehemently objected and vowed an immediate appeal, saying any votes not cast on the regular electronic machines would be illegal.

And it was not immediately clear just what the Franklin County elections board would do to comply with the judge's order.

U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley held an emergency hearing at the request of the Ohio Democratic Party and issued his order just as the polls were closing.

Ohio law requires that everyone in line when the polls close be allowed to vote, no matter how long it takes. A poll worker stands at the end of the line if necessary to mark where voting will end.

But Democrats argued with lines snaking out the door of many polling places and waits of several hours, voters are getting discouraged and leaving before casting their votes.

"Participation in this Democracy should not be as onerous as it is being made today," Marbley said before issuing his order.

Moore said his crews had found no evidence of wrongdoing in Ohio. ``What I've seen here so far isn't official abuse, it's neglect,'' he said, referring to the insufficient number of voting booths in many precincts. The footage, he said, would be made available to reporters and turned over to federal authorities. ``I'm not making a movie,'' he said. ``I'm here as a citizen to stand up for the right to vote.''

• Voting machines locked in a closet at one station, voting started late causing some voters to leave.
• Three machines at one station (optical scanners), one never worked and the other two jammed. No voting until a technician came out to fix it. (why isn't someone trained at each polling center to at least clear a friggin' paper jam? Geez.)
• Long lines . . . real long lines, and early "commotion," over the confusion about challengers.

I'M DECLARING VICTORY -- OVER OSAMA: If he could have bombed us, he would have. Instead, all we got was a lame video. Instapundit.com -

Bizarro World Update
BIZARRO WORLD UPDATE....Over at Red State they're complaining that Democrats are engaged in election day intimidation. Intimidation of.... Republican poll watchers. No, really. You just can't make this stuff up....

Going Well So Far

So far, a lot of the Republican challengers simply haven't shown up...it's Democrats sitting there, reading over their paperwork, listening to conversations, playing paper football with themselves.

6:01am is reporting that several "conservative" blogs (perhaps properly warbloggers) are/were down or have suffered denial of service attacks. Great idea! Because everyone knows how quiet and reserved bloggers are. . . Is Instamartyr.com taken?

Blogs down [601am.com]

UPDATE: Retaliation or just bizarro-world Unabomberism? TPM also down. Thought it could be that Josh's massive intellect just finally burned through the wires.

UPDATE UPDATE: Everyone's down: Atrios, Little Green Footballs, Daily Kos. . . it's an indiscriminate evil who knows know political boundaries. Kind of like herpes. Really: It's Hosting Matters that appears to be problem. . .

CINCINNATI -- Giving a pre-dawn Election Day boost to the GOP, a federal appeals court early Tuesday cleared the way for political parties to send in people to challenge voters' eligibility at Ohio polling places. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to step in.

Overturning the orders of two federal judges, a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 early Tuesday that the presence of Election Day challengers was allowed under state law. It granted emergency stays that will allow Republicans and Democrats one challenger per precinct each.

Monday Nov 1: Kerry 298, Bush 231

Today's map

AP Wire | 11/01/2004 | Two federal judges deny voter challengers at polls

CINCINNATI - Two federal judges on Monday barred political parties' challengers from polling places throughout Ohio. State Republicans planned to appeal.

An order by U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott of Cincinnati found that the application of Ohio's statute allowing challengers at polling places was unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge John Adams of Akron said poll workers are the ones to determine if voters are eligible.

"In light of these extraordinary circumstances, and the contentious nature of the imminent election, the court cannot and must not turn a blind eye to the substantial likelihood that significant harm will result not only to voters, but also to the voting process itself, if appointed challengers are permitted at the polls," Adams said.

In comments made before Adams ruled, Mark Weaver, lawyer for the Ohio Republican Party, called Dlott's ruling erroneous and said the party would ask the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to overturn it.

Sun Oct 31, 7:41 AM ET

The U.S. Department of Justice has decided that the Ohio law that allows people to challenge voters at the polling places Tuesday does not violate a voter's civil rights and is therefore constitutional.

Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta filed a document in the Cincinnati court of U.S. District Court Judge Susan Dlott -- a Clinton appointee -- that says the Justice Department believes the challenger law in Ohio is constitutional.

It is the first time a federal official has picked sides in the dispute over the voter challenger law.