CASE STUDIES IN EMERGENCY ELECTION LITIGATION

Federal Judicial Center 10/9/2023 1

Long Lines at the Polls 

Ohio Democratic Party v. Blackwell 

(Algenon L. Marbley, S.D. Ohio 2:04-cv-1055) 

At 5:54 p.m. on election day 2004, Ohio’s Democratic Party filed a 

federal action to keep polls open longer in two counties, alleging 

that an insufficient number of voting machines was resulting in 

long lines, which were discouraging voters. The court ordered the 

polling places to offer voters alternative methods of voting. 

Subject: Poll hours. Topics: Polling hours; voting technology; 

provisional ballots; absentee ballots. 

For the 2004 general election, there were long lines at the polls in the Ohio 

counties of Franklin, which includes Columbus, and Knox, which is nearby; 

at 5:54 p.m., the Ohio Democratic Party filed a federal action in the Southern 

District of Ohio’s Columbus courthouse claiming that an insufficient number of voting machines was provided and seeking a temporary restraining 

order providing alternative voting methods, such as paper ballots, for the rest 

of the evening to speed up the process.1 Ohio’s secretary of state and the two 

county boards of elections were named defendants.2

The district’s federal judges had developed a tradition of staying late on 

election day to handle emergency cases, should they arise.3

 Judge Algenon L. 

Marbley held an evidentiary hearing at 6:45 p.m.4

 In the interest of time, 

Judge Marbley provisionally granted oral motions to intervene as defendants 

by the Ohio Republican Party5

 and the State of Ohio.6 The defendants argued 

that no alternative voting mechanism was feasible.7

 Both absentee voters and 

provisional voters used punch cards, and that process, they claimed, would 

not be faster than the voting machines.8

 Moreover, anyone in line by the 

closing time of 7:30 p.m. would be permitted to vote.9

 Judge Algenon con1. Complaint, Ohio Democratic Party v. Blackwell, No. 2:04-cv-1055 (S.D. Ohio Nov. 2, 

2004), D.E. 1; Temporary-Restraining-Order Motion, id. (Nov. 2, 2004), D.E. 2. See generally

Ari Berman, Give Us the Ballot 220–21 (2015). 

2. Complaint, supra note 1. 

3. Interview with Hon. Algenon L. Marbley, July 11, 2012. 

Tim Reagan interviewed Judge Marbley for this report by telephone. 

4. Minutes, Ohio Democratic Party, No. 2:04-cv-1055 (S.D. Ohio Nov. 2, 2004), D.E. 3; 

Transcript, id. (Nov. 2, 2004, filed Nov. 3, 2004), D.E. 11. 

5. Transcript, supra note 4, at 4; Intervention Motion, Ohio Democratic Party, No. 2:04-

cv-1055 (S.D. Ohio Nov. 3, 2004), D.E. 8. 

On August 26, 2005, Judge Marbley formally granted intervention to the Ohio Republican Party. Opinion, Ohio Democratic Party, No. 2:04-cv-1055 (S.D. Ohio Aug. 26, 2005), 

D.E. 28 (also denying a motion to intervene by the Alliance for Democracy, which sought to 

expand the case to a challenge of the legitimacy of President Bush’s reelection). 

6. Transcript, supra note 4, at 4–5. 

7. Id. at 9–15. 

8. Id. at 9, 12, 15. 

9. Ohio Rev. Code § 35.32(A); see Transcript, supra note 4, at 10, 26. 
Long Lines at the Polls 

2 Federal Judicial Center 10/9/2023 

cluded the hearing at 7:35 p.m. with a temporary restraining order requiring 

“the board to provide, whether they be absentee ballots, whether they be provisional ballots, or any other mechanism necessary to provide these people 

with an adequate opportunity to vote.”10 Judge Marbley saw protection of the 

elective franchise as one of the most important rights he could protect as a 

judge.11

Apparently the boards did what they said they could not do; they supplemented voting machines with paper ballots.12 At 11:00 p.m., the court of 

appeals, with one judge dissenting, denied a stay of Judge Marbley’s order.13

On August 26, 2005, Judge Marbley granted the plaintiff a voluntary dismissal.14

10. Transcript, supra note 4, at 31–32; see Temporary Restraining Order, Ohio Democratic Party, No. 2:04-cv-1055 (S.D. Ohio Nov. 2, 2004), D.E. 4; see also T.C. Brown, Judge Says 

Long Lines Can Prevent Voting, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Nov. 4, 2004, at B5; Daniel P. Tokaji, 

Early Returns on Election Reform: Discretion, Disenfranchisement, and the Help America 

Vote Act, 73 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1206, 1238–39 (2005). 

11. Interview with Hon. Algenon L. Marbley, July 11, 2012. 

12. See Lisa A. Abraham, Ohioans Suffer Through Long Lines, Leave Lawsuits to Others, 

Akron Beacon J., Nov. 3, 2004, at A1.

13. Order, Ohio Democratic Party v. Blackwell, Nos. 04-4314 and 04-4315 (6th Cir. Nov. 

2, 2004), filed as Order of USCA, Ohio Democratic Party, No. 2:04-cv-1055 (S.D. Ohio Nov. 

2, 2004), D.E. 7; see Brown, supra note 10; see also Abraham, supra note 12 (“In Franklin 

County, some people in line by 7:30 p.m. were still voting at 11:30 p.m. In Knox County, 

some were still voting at 9:45.”). 

14. Order, Ohio Democratic Party, No. 2:04-cv-1055 (S.D. Ohio Aug. 26, 2005), D.E. 29.