CDR: Re: Courts interfering with election

George at orwellian.org George at orwellian.org
Tue Nov 7 17:52:53 PST 2000


And here's the details...the move is allowed under
state law. Once example was someone who tried to
vote at starting at 10AM but couldn't.

http://www.foxnews.com/election_night/states/mo/hours.sml
#    
#    Judge Extends St. Louis Polling Hours Tuesday, November 7, 2000
#    
#    ST. LOUIS - A circuit court judge ordered Tuesday evening that 
#    polls in St. Louis be kept open until 10 p.m. Central time, three 
#    extra hours, due to long lines, a shortage of judges and a lack 
#    of booths, ballots and other equipment.
#    
#    The judge ruled on a petition filed by Democratic Congressional 
#    candidate William Lacy Clay, who cited that voters have not been 
#    able to get in to the polls, and have frequently been finding 
#    they are not on the voting lists.
#    
#    Joining in filing the petition were the Missouri Democratic 
#    Committee and the Gore-Lieberman campaign.
#    
#    Judge Evelyn M. Baker ruled in favor of the petitioners because 
#    of an especially heavy turnout. The Board of Election 
#    Commissioners "failed to live up to its duty to the voters of 
#    the city," Baker said.
#    
#    Under the emergency order issued less than an hour before the 
#    polls were to have closed, the election board was to be kept 
#    open until 11:59 p.m.
#    
#    Lawyers for Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush 
#    were unsuccessful in having the case heard in federal court. 
#    Moments after Baker's ruling, a U.S. District Judge declined 
#    to hear the case, saying it was a state issue.
#    
#    The Board of Election Commissioners planned to file an immediate 
#    appeal.
#    
#    Jim Grebing, a spokesman for Secretary of State Bekki Cook, said 
#    the office had learned of the judge's order through the news 
#    media.
#    
#    But Grebing said that the move is allowed under Missouri election 
#    law.
#    
#    "We were surprised, we didn't know anything about it," Grebing 
#    said. "But they didn't have to go through us, and we weren't 
#    consulted about it."
#    
#    The petition charged that numerous city voters were unable to 
#    vote. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said irregularities at the polls, 
#    including the inability of judges to verify voter registration, 
#    set numerous voters on a path taking several hours to confirm.
#    
#    Voters whose registration was not on record at their polling 
#    places had to travel to the board's downtown office where several 
#    hundred people waited up to three hours to confirm their 
#    registration.
#    
#    Mahina Nightsage, 41, said she attempted to vote at 10 a.m. but 
#    was told by an election judge that she was not registered for 
#    that polling place. Nightsage said she arrived at the board's 
#    downtown office by 12:30 and by 3:15 p.m. had not yet been able 
#    to vote.
#    
#    "That is too much of a burden for anyone to exercise their 
#    constitutional right to vote," Nightsage said.
#    
#    Nightsage said she spoke to many other frustrated voters at the 
#    board's office, some of whom left without voting.
#    
#    The petitioners presented several affidavits from voters with 
#    similar stories.
#    
#    An attorney for the Bush-Cheney campaign asked that the suit 
#    be removed to federal court because federal offices were at stake.
#    
#    Kevin Coan, the Republican director of elections for the board, 
#    said election procedures were no different from any other. Coan 
#    said he knew of no one whose right to vote had been denied.
#    
#    Coan said much of the confusion may have rested with people who 
#    did not register in time to vote, yet showed up expecting to 
#    be able to cast a ballot.
#    
#    "I doubt they have any idea what the election laws of this state 
#    are," Coan said.


TimMay was entirely silent on why he objects to this time extension.






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