Check this story out....
Post-hurricane elections present logistical problems
11/1/2005, 3:37 p.m. CT
By JEFFREY McMURRAY
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — With hundreds of thousands of New Orleans voters displaced by Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana's secretary of state said Tuesday he is scrambling to make sure the city can hold credible elections next year.
Al Ater said waterlogged voting machines and unreachable registered voters are just two of the problems officials in New Orleans and other hurricane-affected places must face in the coming months. In New Orleans alone, he estimates 300,000 registered voters — two out of three of them black — have been forced out of their homes.
"This is probably the most important election in the history of New Orleans because whoever is the leadership in this election is basically going to be charged with rebuilding that city," Ater said at a forum in Washington sponsored by the Center for American Progress and American Constitution Society. "That is not a small test."
Ater is leading a state push to change some of the election laws before many state residents simply register elsewhere, forfeiting their right to vote in New Orleans even if they plan to eventually return.
For example, he is asking Louisiana's Legislature to change the state's purge laws, which assume voters have moved elsewhere when they miss an election and a notification card sent to their home is returned as undeliverable. If such cards were sent now, the post office has said almost all registered voters in New Orleans would qualify to be purged, Ater said.
"We have to suspend that," he said.
Any change to Louisiana election laws — even public service announcements broadcasting the rights of a voter — must get approval by the federal government under the Voting Rights Act. Ater said the Justice Department has assured state officials that it will act quickly to clear the changes.
He also has endorsed a bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala., that would let displaced hurricane victims vote absentee in their home communities through the 2008 election, provided they sign a document pledging their intent to return. Davis said Congress needs to act quickly because many residents who have moved out of state are registering there instead, figuring they don't have a choice.
"You don't redistrict as part of the aftermath of a hurricane," Davis said. "If we don't find some way to protect the rights of these individuals, you will get a de facto political redistricting."
Davis said he knows some Gulf Coast politicians are salivating about the opportunity to run in hurricane-affected districts because of the apparent demographic change. New Orleans attorney Ronald Wilson questioned whether, if that's the case, any credible elections can really be held there soon.
Also Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee's panel on the Constitution held the latest in a series of hearings about key portions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that expire next year. Among the provisions is the one that requires Louisiana and other states to get federal approval to change their voting laws.
Davis has said he'd prefer to address the question of hurricane-affected voters separately from the Voting Rights Act, so as not to make it more vulnerable to a legal challenge.
I consider this very risky [for us] ... would $5, or a 6-pack, induce some of these absentee "voters" to sign such a document ... and, what would the long term implications be if they decide not to return ... can they be dragooned into coming back, anyway ... and what sort of inducement might come into play then ... ?
Davis has said he'd prefer to address the question of hurricane-affected voters separately from the Voting Rights Act, so as not to make it more vulnerable to a legal challenge.
They simply do not plan to take any chances as, arguably, their very livelihoods and power depend on how they handle this.
We better watch them like a hawk and consider all the potential angles ...
I do fully understand the difference between domicile and residence. I fear that these people may claim a LA domicile forever ... without returning. Eventually they are going to need to acquire driver's licenses to have identification, etc. How can we doublecheck to prevent voting in two places? And, if they are receiving any sort of benefits in another state, how would that come into play?
Lots of questions ...