CASE STUDIES IN EMERGENCY ELECTION LITIGATION

Federal Judicial Center 3/8/2023 1

Keeping Polls Open Late 

Because of Excessive Registration Purging 

Maine Democratic Party v. City of Portland 

(Kermit V. Lipez, D. Me. 2:00-cv-360) 

A large number of voters went to the polls in Portland, Maine, for 

the 2000 general election to discover that their voter registrations 

had been canceled. Poll workers referred them to city hall, where 

lines grew very long. On the afternoon of the election, the Democratic Party sought a temporary restraining order to keep the polls 

open an extra two hours. All district judges were out of town, so a 

local circuit judge heard the motion. The judge declined to keep the 

polls open late but ordered the polls to let voters correct registration 

errors at the polls and ordered that all voters in line by the time the 

polls closed be able to vote. 

Subject: Poll hours. Topics: Registration challenges; National 

Voter Registration Act; polling hours. 

On the afternoon of the 2000 general election, Maine’s Democratic Party and 

a voter filed a federal complaint against the City of Portland in the District of 

Maine’s Portland courthouse seeking an extension of polling hours and other 

immediate relief from Portland’s allegedly improper purging of voter registrations.1

 Apparently, Portland had purged from its registration rolls voters 

who should not have been purged, and the purged voters had to wait in a 

long line at city hall to correct the errors before they could vote.2

All three district judges were out of town, but Circuit Judge Kermit V. 

Lipez, whose chambers were in Portland, was available.3

 The district court 

later ensured that one of its judges would always be available on election 

day.4

Judge Lipez got the call to preside over the case at 4:40 p.m.5 At approximately 6:00, he held an evidentiary hearing.6

 At approximately 7:15, at the 

end of the hearing, Judge Lipez ruled against keeping the polls open late because it would have been too disruptive.7

 Judge Lipez ruled that the city was 

in violation of the National Voter Registration Act.8 He ordered the city to 

1. Complaint, Me. Democratic Party v. City of Portland, No. 2:00-cv-360 (D. Me. Nov. 7, 

2000), D.E. 1. 

2. See Eric Blom, Error Removes Hundreds from Portland Voter Lists, Portland Press Herald, Nov. 8, 2000, at 5A. 

3. Interview with Hon. Kermit V. Lipez, June 19, 2012. 

Tim Reagan interviewed Judge Lipez for this report by telephone. 

4. Id.

5. Id.

6. Docket Sheet, Me. Democratic Party, No. 2:00-cv-360 (D. Me. Nov. 7, 2000); Audio 

Recording of Evidentiary Hearing, id. (Nov. 7, 2000). 

7. Audio Recording of Evidentiary Hearing, supra note 6; see Blom, supra note 2. 

8. Order, Me. Democratic Party, No. 2:00-cv-360 (D. Me. Nov. 7, 2000), D.E. 4 (noting, in 

particular, violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1973gg-6(e)(1) and (2)(A), now 52 U.S.C. § 20507(e)(1) 
Keeping Polls Open Late Because of Excessive Registration Purging 

2 Federal Judicial Center 3/8/2023 

allow voters to correct registration errors at their polling places, rather than 

only at city hall, and he ordered that anyone in line by 8:00 be permitted to 

vote.9

and (2)(A)); see Pub. L. No. 103-31, 107 Stat. 77 (1993), as amended, 52 U.S.C. §§ 20501–

20511 (2021). See generally Robert Timothy Reagan, Motor Voter: The National Voter Registration Act (Federal Judicial Center 2014). 

9. Order, supra note 8.