Posted on 02/14/2006 10:02:26 PM PST by SmithL
NASHVILLE - Tennessee law may make it difficult to discard votes in the disputed state Senate District 29 special election that were cast by anyone not living in the district, some senators said Tuesday.
In Tennessee, people can lawfully vote in their old districts after they have moved if they profess an intention to move back there in the future, said Sen. Doug Jackson, D-Dickson.
"We've had testimony from the state election coordinator that in Tennessee 'home is where the heart is,' " Jackson said at a meeting of the Senate State and Local Government Committee.
The Senate initially voted 17-14 to void the special election won by Ophelia Ford, who then filed a federal lawsuit claiming the action was racially motivated against those in the predominantly black district.
U.S. District Court Judge Bernice Donald granted an injunction against a final floor vote to void the election and later ruled that the Senate may proceed only if it develops consistent standards for dismissing election results.
Ford, a Memphis Democrat, defeated Republican challenger Terry Roland by 13 votes to win the special election for the District 29 seat previously held by her brother John Ford, who stepped down last May under federal indictment for bribery charges.
Results of the election have been disputed after newspaper reports uncovered votes cast in the names of dead people and several others who may not have lived in District 29.
The Senate State and Local Government Committee met Tuesday to hear from assistant attorney general Janet Kleinfelter about the court case.
Kleinfelter called state law "problematic," regarding out-of-district voters. But she said senators have the right to use their judgment to decide whether voters' explanations for casting out-of-district ballots are credible.
Senate Majority Leader Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, who sponsored the resolution to void the election, said so long as lawmakers give voters who cast disputed ballots a fair hearing, they should not violate Donald's ruling.
Ramsey has said a private investigator's report paid for by Roland's campaign has turned up 13 more improper votes.
bttt
{people can lawfully vote in their old districts after they have moved if they profess an intention to move back there in the future}
DJ, I never knew you had so good down there. Perhaps you should move out of Nashville (Cooper's district) and into Marsha Blackburn's Nashville suburb-based district. This way you have fair representation while trying to clean up the politics in the city. :)
The sliver of Nashville she represents is far and beyond anything my unemployed butt could hope to afford.
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