Ohio voters who did not receive absentee ballots on time can cast provisional ballots at the polls, a federal judge in Toledo ruled today.

The decision by U.S. District Court Judge David Katz reverses an earlier directive by Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell who said the voters could not cast provisional ballots despite not receiving their absentee ballots.

Blackwell spokesman Carlo LoParo said he had no comment until he was able to read the ruling.

Sarah White, a Toledo woman who attends college in Columbus, sued elections officials with help of the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights, a San Francisco-based group, on behalf of Ohio voters who claim they did not receive absentee ballots requested before the Oct. 31 deadline.

It was unclear how many voters were affected, but the leader of the group that helped file the lawsuit said several people said they hadn’t received the absentee ballots they requested, which is why the group sought a statewide ruling.

Provisional ballots are counted days after the election if officials verify that the voter was legally registered and in the correct precinct.

Katz’s order directs Blackwell to notify all Ohio boards of elections within 30 minutes of the 3:01 p.m. ruling that they must give provisional ballots to voters who ask for one regardless of whether they previously asked for an absentee ballot.

The federal Help America Vote Act requires that people who claim to be eligible voters must be allowed to cast provisionals regardless of the reason they are not on the rolls or are challenged. Elections officials can determine if the ballots are legal later, the judge wrote in the four-page order.

According to court documents, White is an 18-year-old student who works two jobs and takes a full load of classes. She said she could not travel home to Toledo to vote and requested an absentee ballot Oct. 1 which she never received despite verifying that the elections board had received her request well before the deadline.

White said the board later told her the ballot was mailed to the wrong address in Columbus and that she would not be able to vote if the ballot was not redirected to her on time.

“I understand how important my right to vote is, and how necessary it is to exercise that right,” White said in court papers.

Paula Hicks-Hudson, director of Lucas County Board of Elections, said the board began distributing provisional ballots after the ruling. She hoped there was enough time for the people it effected before the polls close at 7:30 p.m.

Of Ohio’s 8 million registered voters, an estimated 598,000 people requested absentee ballots, according to an Associated Press survey of the state’s 88 counties.

Ohioans can vote by absentee ballot if they are 62 or older, will be absent from the county on election day, will be in the hospital or have a family member in the hospital, are too ill to go to the polls or are an employee of the Secretary of State or a local board of elections.

Rob Melchiorre, 22, of Cincinnati, said he was told not to use an absentee ballot with Ralph Nader’s name after courts prohibited the independent presidential candidate from being on Ohio’s ballot. But Melchiorre said he never received a new absentee ballot.

He said he wouldn’t be able cast a provisional ballot because he is a student at Ohio State University and couldn’t drive down to Cincinnati.

“I wanted to vote. I thought my opinion deserves to be counted and it’s not,” he said.