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Home Front
Judge could delay Calif. recall vote
2003-08-16
A federal judge said Friday that he could postpone the Oct. 7 vote to recall California Gov. Gray Davis until issues raised by two civil rights groups were resolved.
Oooohhh, civil rights groups - valid issues or not, just using this phrase makes it a hallowed process.
The headline coulda been "The Gray Davis calls up the reserves"...
NBC NEWSCHANNEL reported that U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel also ordered Monterey County not to mail out overseas ballots pending a final ruling in the cases, which argued that the hurry-up election was forcing changes in the voting process that required federal approval.
So the original date goes out the window — absentee ballots must go out long before the polling date.
Under the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, any changes in the voting process must be pre-cleared by the Justice Department in localities such as Monterey County that have a history of low voter participation.
Interesting restriction...
“I don’t think there can be an election without pre-clearance,” Fogel said during oral arguments Friday. He scheduled another hearing for Aug. 29 and suggested that he could delay the election if federal approval had not occurred by then.
This will drag out... So who benefits?
“This court is extremely reluctant to intervene in or disrupt the electoral process unless it clearly is compelled to do so,” Fogel wrote, according to the Associated Press. “At the same time, permitting voting or other forms of direct political participation to be affected by changes in voting procedures implemented in contravention of the Voting Rights Act cannot be countenanced.”
It appears that none of that countenancing was to be had. Q.E.D.
The election, just 53 days away, is forcing some counties to make a number of money-saving changes that lack federal approval. The cases argued Friday focus on Monterey County, which, among other things, plans to cut costs by reducing its usual 190 polling places to 86 and hiring fewer Spanish-speaking poll workers.
Read the rest...
So, Davis gets a momentary reprieve, and the hangman goes back on the dole.
Posted by:.com

#5  The Judge hasn't stop the election yet, the counties (3) have to report if they can open all polling places for minority voters. Why they can't vote absentee like me is a strange?
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter)   2003-8-16 11:57:56 PM  

#4  Mojo, the 14th Amendment does. Feds have the responsibility to ensure fair elections that don't discriminate against minorities. That's the wedge used to open every state and local election to scrutiny.
Posted by: Steve White   2003-8-16 9:17:14 PM  

#3  The Feds apparently want to stop egregious uses of the graveyard vote. But exactly what gives them power over a purely internal state vote, hmmm?
Posted by: mojo   2003-8-16 3:16:39 PM  

#2  The Left with a dagger, probing for soft spots.....

Watch your six Cal-ee-forn-ya!

(From a 5th and last generation Cal-ee-forn-yan)
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2003-8-16 2:32:51 PM  

#1  they're also protesting the fact that we use chad-punch ballots, although nobody can point to a problem here (oooohhhh Florida, stolen election) in ANY of the previous elections before the dems tried to steal an election by divining what each of the voters intended regardless of how they punched their cards. If you can't handle a fricking punch card ballot, then you aren't competent enough to vote, and the party that represents these morons should be ashamed to admit it...but, of course, won't. This judge needs to be countered by an adult higher up, quickly. I wonder if the Dems realize how much anger it will cause in thwarting this recall by legal tricks ?
Posted by: Frank G   2003-8-16 9:12:23 AM  

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