Sunday, November 21, 2004
strange. due to a blogger glitch, i can't get into my "soapbox" blog.
so i'll draft a post here and move it later. working ok now.
In san diego, a run-off election between the top two vote getters for mayor
(both gop) has been disrupted by a write-in campaign by a woman (who i'd guess is a democrat?) The incumbent mayor will be declared elected unless some lawsuits win.
Issues include whether certain write-in votes should be counted, where the intent of the voter is clear but they didn't jump thru the three flaming hoops in the right order - they didn't darken the oval.
whether laches bars suit. (laches is legalese for delay; coulda sued sooner.)
whether there can be write-ins in a run off.
We know in Florida, for example, that ballots where a voter both punched (or bubbled) a vote for Gore and wrote in Gore were not counted. Few argued that they should be. If the instructions are clear (but see point 1), there's a stronger fairness argument
I didn't know this about florida. Count me among the few.
Intent of the voter is the standard. Voting is a fundamental right, explicit in the florida and california constitutions. I disagree with Rick that the legislature is free to take that away when it feels like. Yes, it can require voter registration.
What is the standard of review? That gets tricky. I'm no fan of Burdick v Takushi;
the Anderson standard would seem to fit.
Here I agree with the League of Women Voters, that votes should be counted. Possibly their stance in this case is just that a democrat would be helped by the suit,
but my concern is for the integrity of the election process.
so i'll draft a post here and move it later. working ok now.
In san diego, a run-off election between the top two vote getters for mayor
(both gop) has been disrupted by a write-in campaign by a woman (who i'd guess is a democrat?) The incumbent mayor will be declared elected unless some lawsuits win.
Issues include whether certain write-in votes should be counted, where the intent of the voter is clear but they didn't jump thru the three flaming hoops in the right order - they didn't darken the oval.
whether laches bars suit. (laches is legalese for delay; coulda sued sooner.)
whether there can be write-ins in a run off.
We know in Florida, for example, that ballots where a voter both punched (or bubbled) a vote for Gore and wrote in Gore were not counted. Few argued that they should be. If the instructions are clear (but see point 1), there's a stronger fairness argument
I didn't know this about florida. Count me among the few.
Intent of the voter is the standard. Voting is a fundamental right, explicit in the florida and california constitutions. I disagree with Rick that the legislature is free to take that away when it feels like. Yes, it can require voter registration.
What is the standard of review? That gets tricky. I'm no fan of Burdick v Takushi;
the Anderson standard would seem to fit.
Here I agree with the League of Women Voters, that votes should be counted. Possibly their stance in this case is just that a democrat would be helped by the suit,
but my concern is for the integrity of the election process.
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