Dan Sewell

Associated Press

CINCINNATI - A federal appeals court Sunday granted a request by Donald Trump’s presidential campaign to block a Cleveland federal judge’s restraining order Democrats said was needed to prevent voter intimidation in the swing state of Ohio.

A three-judge panel of the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered an emergency stay, saying the Ohio Democratic Party didn’t show “a likelihood of success on the merits” of its case.

State party spokeswoman Kirstin Alvanitakis said the party was exploring its legal options.

“We are stunned that a court would rule without even allowing one of the parties to file a memo explaining their case, but that is exactly what the Sixth Circuit has done in this decision,” she said via email.

U.S. District Judge James Gwin had ruled Friday that anyone who engages in intimidation or harassment inside or near polling places would face contempt of court charges.

Trump’s campaign appealed, saying Gwin’s order trampled on First Amendment freedoms and was issued without any evidence of voter intimidation even though Ohio has had early voting going on for weeks.

The Ohio Democratic Party said the order was needed to protect Ohioans’ rights to vote free from harassment, coercion and intimidation. The Democratic Party filed the suit last week, saying Trump supporters at polling places could intimidate minority and other voters after he and his surrogates urged them to stop Democrats from stealing the election for Hillary Clinton.

Judge issues order to stop voter harassment by Trump backers

Democrats in several states have filed similar lawsuits, citing the Voting Rights Act from the 1960s and the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 as the legal basis for why court orders are needed to prevent intimidation of minority voters.

Ohio Democrats claimed that the Ohio GOP, the Trump campaign, operative Roger Stone and the Stone political action committee Stop the Steal were conspiring to intimidate minority voters, who tend to support Democrats over Republicans.

Gwin dismissed the Ohio Republican Party from the case in his order.

Ohio law forbids people from advocating on behalf of a candidate or issue inside or within 100 feet of a polling place.

Gwin’s order blocked activities by both campaigns that included unauthorized poll watching, the admonishing or questioning of voters, hindering or delaying a voter from entering or leaving a polling place, and taking photos or recording voters inside or near polling places.

Associated Press writer Mark Gillispie in Cleveland contributed.

Dems sue Trump, GOP, saying they want to prevent voter intimidation