Posted on 10/26/2004 6:20:18 PM PDT by 11th_VA
MIAMI Florida election officials will not be required to process incomplete voter registration forms for the presidential election, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King said the three prospective voters for whom the lawsuit was filed did not have the legal standing to pursue the case, which was backed by the AFL-CIO. But he gave the union group a chance to file a new version of the lawsuit next month with people who meet the standard.
That leaves the AFL-CIO and the Advancement Project, a social action group, on the losing side of an attempt to force election officials to accept applications from people who failed to check a citizenship box on registration forms in time for the Nov. 2 election.
Sheila Thomas, an attorney with the Washington-based Advancement Project, said the plaintiffs were considering an appeal. The group argued that the rejections had a disparate effect on minorities. Nearly 45 percent of the challenged forms in one county, Duval, came from blacks.
"Our goal is still to see if we can get relief for our clients before Election Day," she said.
The decision is the latest from courts across the state that rejected attempts to broaden voter rights on touch-screen recounts, provisional ballots and early voting.
"Once again, federal and state laws are very clear on which sections of the voter registration forms have to be filled out to deem that application complete," said Alia Faraj, spokeswoman for Secretary of State Glenda Hood.
She also said the state recognized that it was a procedural move by the judge, who left the unions and other groups options to come back to court later.
Applicants filling out registration cards are required to sign a form that, among other things, attests to U.S. citizenship, but the form also has a separate box to be checked by citizens.
The union coalition sued Hood and election supervisors in Duval, Orange, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
I am afraid that by the time lawyers pass the bar - they have been propagandized into believing that the law is an elastic string which they must manipulate.
WooHoo!! I'm shocked! The courts in most cases have actually been doing their jobs. Guess they don't want to make national news like in 2000.
Good.
"That leaves the AFL-CIO and the Advancement Project, a social action group, on the losing side of an attempt to force election officials to accept applications from people who failed to check a citizenship box on registration forms in time for the Nov. 2 election."
Now why would the AFL-CIO care about a check box to ensure that the voter being registered is a citizen? Is the union attempting to allow non-citizens to register? Does the union wish non-citizens to vote?
How can this be?
Naturally I'm pleased with the outcome, but it's appalling that the dims have successfully managed to drag us down to this level. FL election law requires that voter registration cards be properly filled out. That sentence ended with a period, not a question mark. Not that the dims care. They're going to screw around with every sophomoric trick they can think up 'cuz why, exactly? 'Cuz they think they're bound to occasionally score a lib judge who will rewrite or set aside a law? 'Cuz making our election look like it's taking place in a third world country will be Bush's fault? Or help them advance their PROGRESSIVE AGENDA? Yes and no. Suspect it's more about creating multiple smokescreens that will help them in their efforts to steal the election. Too bad I'm a dumm, "intellectually inferior" Pubbie. If I were one of them, I'd know, huh?
They have rules for voter registration....follow them.
With the OH ruling, the FL Supreme Court ruling, the ruling against a paper trail, and this ruling, Thomas Paine would be happy with all of this common sense. Is the provisional ballot ruling in MI been ruled upon by the 6th District?
MICHIGAN: THE COURTS OF ELECTIONS [Henry Payne 10/26 10:22 PM] Moving quickly to defuse the Democratic Party’s attempt to throw Michigan’s election into chaos, a federal appeals court in Lansing late Tuesday overturned a rogue Sixth Circuit judge’s ruling that so-called provisional ballots could be counted even if they were filed outside a voter’s designated precinct. Just last week, the Sixth Circuit judge – a Clinton appointee – had overturned longstanding Michigan law requiring ballots to be filed in voters’ precincts. Michigan Democrats had “judge-shopped” the case in a last minute attempt to maximize the number of votes for John Kerry as well as pre-emptively set the groundwork for post-election challenges claiming voting disenfranchisement
I guess Micky Mouse won't get to vote in Florida. 8*)
I helped my daughter and her boyfriend get registered. ID had to be shown, in one of two ways: either a copy sent in with the registration OR show ID the first time they vote.
Indiana
AFL? Oughta be called the CFL (commiesocialist federation of labor). They are selling out their country to people who coyly won't confess their alienhood. Hey I thought they were supposed to be "FOR" the American worker?
I am of the opinn that the new voters whose voter registrations were deemed incomplete because they failed to check a citizenship "box" should simply have to provide proof of citizenship and they should be allowed to cast their vote. Republicans need to be careful to be reasonable this election season, especially for what could easily have been an inadertant omission. Again, failure to check a box on a form should not be grounds to gleefully disenfranchise fellow legal citizens in our great Republic.
Anyone of voting age must have received "some" education at that point, probably after attending an educational institution, be it public or private. Anyone having taken a test or exam in one of these institutions knows what happens when you fail to check the appropriate boxes during said exam, even if the student "knows the correct answer".
In my experience, when the student failed to follow directions and properly fill out the exam, even if it's an "inadvertant omission", the student suffers the consequences. (my little 4th grade nephew had his entire test tossed because he put his name on the left side of the page rather than the right, as instructed. While he felt it wasn't fair, and it was upsetting to his parents, they realize they are trying to teach the kids to FOLLOW DIRECTIONS.) Why should filling out a government form for something as important as voting registration be any different? Why have rules at all? Don't check ANY boxes and still be registered - just scream racism and/or sue.
As a side note, if these people have an issue with providing a simple photo ID, what makes you think they'll be willing or able to provide proof of citizenship?
How unfair!
Do we know that they were eligible voters? Do we know if they were black? Do we know if 45% is an accurate number?
I don't believe anything the Dems say, so for now, the rules are the rules. If the ballots aren't filled out correctly, they don't count.
"The group argued that the rejections had a disparate effect on minorities."
I thought about this. And all I could come up with is this.
If the NEA did their jobs and taught children rather than worry about their own benefits, maybe inner city children would be smart enough when they grew up to be able to put a check mark on the box that says, "US Citizen."
Seems to me there is a cycle the RATS follow. Keep minorities stupid, put more cops on the streets to handle minority problems, create citizen review boards comprised on minorities to condemn the cops and let out of prison the criminals that the RATS created in the first place.
And they all vote RAT.
Finally! A ruling with some sanity.
Unbelievable that the Kerry-holes are trying to force election officials to accept incomplete voter registration forms.
As mentioned in the Washington Times today, the Kerry-holes were trying to force acceptance of voter registration forms even if the applicant REFUSED to list whether he or she was a US citizen.
Some people have absolutely no sense of usefulness. What kind of a constructive statement is that?
This is not about Bush. It is completely about allowing functional morons to vote. Or to cheat.
Would you allow someone who must be led by the hand and told how to fill out forms, whom to vote for and how to vote, to perform surgery on you? Fix your car? Care for your children?
I sure as hell don't!
YEAH... hahaha ignorant people shouldn't be allowed to vote anyway. If you don't care about making sure your registration is filled out correctly than you don't deserve to vote... That is the Democrats base... hahahha. Bush By 8 at least... LANDSLIDE.
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