Posted on 09/16/2006 10:33:58 AM PDT by SolidSupplySide
Believe me, I have thought the same thing several times.
Yuk. Electronic Voting Machines, which I don't really like anyway, are really bad for write-in candidates.
Unless of course you use absentee ballots. Does Texas have a liberal absentee ballot rule, or do you have to prove you need one to get one?
Well, I was thinking of the judge who insisted that DeLay must remain on the ballot. But perhaps that's really the law, I don't know. And I was thinking of the judges who empowered that idiot prosecutor who had to empanel three grand juries to get his false indictment.
Does Texas have a liberal absentee ballot rule, or do you have to prove you need one to get one?
That's an excellent idea. Hopefully it's legal.
Texas allows two weeks of early voting. Of course, that means voters will use the same machines on election day. I infer that you're looking for a way to avoid the electronic voting machines.
Because "early voting" is so easy, the law severely limits the ability to receive an absentee paper ballot.
I've heard that voters may request a paper ballot instead of using the electronic voting machines. I'm honestly not sure if that option is available or not. I plan on using the electronic voting machine and fully (and accurately) spelling out "Shelley Sekula Gibbs" so that there's no dispute as to my intention.
Texas case law says that either the first name or last name of a write-in candidate is sufficient. So "Shelley" should be enough. "Sekula Gibbs" should be enough. I fear simply "Gibbs" would be adjudicated because it could be argued that "Sekula Gibbs" is Shelley's full last name. My position is take the time to write out her entire name to eliminate any possible challenge. Of course, human nature being what it is, the longer it takes to write her name in, the fewer people will do it. For those who refuse to write the full name, I'd suggest writing in "Shelley".
Texas law explicitly prohibits stickers. I hadn't heard about rubber stamps. It wouldn't surprise me if there's case law out there that has passed judgement on rubber stamps, though. I just don't think a rubber stamp is practical when all the counties use electronic voting machines.
Cheney will do just find.
I wonder if the spinny-thing will allow them to pick a hyphen?
What would be great is if they could get a judge BEFORE the election to rule on whether "Gibbs" would be sufficient.
Not just because I want her to win, but because I think if judges are going to stick their noses into our democratic elections, they should at least let us know exactly what will and will not be acceptable.
I assume that Shelley will have ample handouts to explain to people how to vote for her.
In Virginia, I think that kind of handout might be illegal to take into the polling place -- you can only take in sample ballots, which must look like the real ballot. You aren't allowed to carry campaign literature. I may be wrong about our law.
Tom Delay is the real "let down" in this whole mess. He should have never run in the Primary if he was going to "cut and run" before the General Election.
Makes you wonder what the Feds have on him.
There's an old attorney general's opinion advising against issuing "anticipatory counting rules". It appears that the county clerks are deferring to the advisory.
In Virginia, I think that kind of handout might be illegal to take into the polling place -- you can only take in sample ballots, which must look like the real ballot. You aren't allowed to carry campaign literature. I may be wrong about our law.
I don't know about Virginia law, but Texas voters can bring in practically anything they want for their own use -- including a person of their choice to help them with the machine. At least that's the way it was when I was a poll watcher in 1992.
There's an idea -- have a person at each poll who will volunteer to go in with the voter to help with the write-in voting process.....
This is so silly, all because either every judge who saw this was wrong, or the texas legislature wrote a really bad law which should be corrected.
Yes, it's also DeLay's fault.
As I writing it, the same thought crossed my mind. But what kind of voter would be willing to bring in a stranger to help them?
I know bringing in a person to help a voter with the voting machine was on the Ron Stone (local Houston TV news legend) video used to train poll watchers. I saw a voter bring in someone to help her with the machine as I served as a poll watcher. It seemed to me a 80 year old woman had brought her grandson to help her. I think that is precisely the kind of thing the law was meant to allow.
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