U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott held a highly unusual Sunday night court hearing to try to untangle the issue as President Bush rallied followers blocks away just 36 hours before the polls are to open.

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The case was brought by Marian and Donald Spencer of Avondale, but their attorney, Al Gerhardstein, asked that challengers be banned statewide.

It's one of several cases that attempts to curb Republicans' challenges of voters on Tuesday.

Democrats have accused Republicans of trying to disenfranchise some voters, but Republicans say they just want to ensure voter fraud doesn't occur.

Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell recommended Friday that challengers be banned, and he is Ohio's top elections official, noted Gerhardstein.

"Nobody should trump him," Gerhardstein said.

Blackwell's office is a defendant in the lawsuit, and his announcement was a surprise. Attorney General Jim Petro took over the state's defense of the suit, which also names the Hamilton County Board of Elections and county GOP Chairman Michael Barrett as defendants.

Challengers are allowed under Ohio election law but have never been deployed on a widespread basis. Republicans and Democrats have assigned more than 1,000 challengers to Hamilton County precincts Tuesday.

Challengers can question a person's identity, age, residency or citizenship before he or she receives a ballot. Those who are challenged must be questioned by the precinct's presiding judge. If their eligibility to vote is in doubt, their vote will be considered provisional pending a final decision.

The Spencers' suit alleges that Republicans are using a law rooted in a blatantly racist statute that emerged from the Civil War.

County Democratic co-chairman Tim Burke testified last week that most of the 251 precincts specifically targeted by Republicans have predominantly black voters.

Barrett, on the other hand, said Republicans were targeting precincts that strongly supported Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000.

Saturday, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell ruled that each political party can field only one challenger at each Ohio polling place.

Spokesman Carlo LoParo said that Blackwell would comply with O'Donnell's order but that rulings by federal courts in Ohio would likely supersede it.

The San Francisco-based Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights on Friday filed a lawsuit claiming Blackwell's directive allowing political parties to send a challenger to each precinct was unfair. In polling places with multiple precincts, that would create "gangs" of challengers that could intimidate voters, according to the lawsuit on behalf of a Cuyahoga County voter.

Blackwell told Petro to recommend that federal judges exclude challengers allowed under Ohio law from polling places Tuesday.

"Political parties are adequately represented at polling places by bipartisan poll workers who are the best protection against fraud and who are there to answer questions on Election Day," LoParo said Saturday night.

Petro refused Blackwell's request on Friday, saying it was illegal. Petro said in a statement that he couldn't negotiate away the legal rights of Ohio citizens. A message was left seeking comment from a Petro spokeswoman Saturday night.

Other pending legal action over challengers:

• In Akron, the Summit County Democratic Party has sued the state to try to block the witnesses, claiming the law allowing registration challenges is unconstitutional because it does not give a disqualified voter a chance to appeal in time to cast a ballot. A ruling is expected before Election Day.

• A judge in New Jersey could also rule on whether the poll challenges contemplated in Ohio should be outlawed nationally.

An Ohio woman had asked the judge in New Jersey to intervene in Ohio over the dispute by Republicans to challenges of registered voters. The judge brokered a 1981 agreement in a similar case in New Jersey involving Republican voter challenges in areas with heavy minority concentrations.

The Associated Press contributed.