TOLEDO, Ohio  —  In a victory for the Democrats, a federal judge ruled Thursday that Ohio voters who show up at the wrong polling place on Election Day can still cast ballots as long as they are in the county where they are registered.

U.S. District Judge James Carr blocked a directive from Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican, who recently announced that poll workers must send voters to their correct precinct.

The judge said that voters who show up at the wrong polling place after moving without notifying the elections board, and those whose names cannot be found on the registration rolls, should be able our democracy," Carr said.

The decision is a victory for the Ohio Democratic Party and a coalition of labor and voter rights group, which said Blackwell's order discriminates against the poor and minorities.