Posted on 10/18/2006 7:24:30 PM PDT by Alter Kaker
The Republican Party’s hopes of holding on to the Florida 16th District seat of resigned Florida Republican Rep. Mark Foley are greatly hindered by the fact that Foley’s name, under state law, must stay on the ballot — even though votes cast for him will be counted for state Rep. Joe Negron, the replacement candidate picked by GOP officials.
And the GOP endured another hit Wednesday when a state judge, ruling on a lawsuit brought by Democratic activists, barred state election officials from posting signs at voting locations and delivering notices about the ballot situation to 16th District voters.
Second Judicial Circuit Judge Janet E. Ferris ruled that a state-run information campaign to inform voters about what critics argue was an internal Republican Party foulup would do “irreparable injury” to Democratic nominee Tim Mahoney and his supporters.
Ferris wrote that elections supervisors are “ordered not to post the proposed notice, and may not deliver the notice to individual voters posing questions about the race in question.” Negron’s campaign and the secretary of state’s office, headed by Republican appointee Sue M. Cobb, have told local news outlets they will appeal the decision.
Democrats sued after the state Division of Elections, supervised by the office of Florida’s secretary of state, recommended that voting officials conduct an information campaign about the Foley/Negron ballot situation, suggesting those two methods as a way to inform voters.
Democrats described the action as favoritism, citing a similar incident affecting the Democrats in a neighboring House district in 2004 where, Democrats argue, no strong informational campaign was prompted by the state.
Robin Rorapaugh — a former congressional aide who is now a political consultant — was a late replacement nominee in that year’s 22nd District contest against veteran Republican Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr. Jim Stork, a bakery owner who was the original Democratic nominee, had belatedly dropped out because of health problems; his name remained on the ballot, even though votes cast for him were counted for Rorapaugh.
“We are satisfied that a judge has agreed with us that posting notices bearing candidates’ names in a polling place is not permitted by law,” state Democratic chairwoman Karen Thurman, a former House member (1993-2003), in a statement. “We hope this brings an end to the Republicans’ campaign to illegally influence voters at the polls.”
The state GOP and the Negron campaign argue that informing voters should be a priority in this race and that the recommendations do not constitute favoritism. But the ruling, unless overturned, will leave the party with sole responsibility for informing voters.
This is a crucial matter because of the scandal that forced Foley to suddenly quit the House and his re-election bid on Sept. 29, 24 days after he was renominated without opposition. Foley quit after it was revealed that he sent sexually explicit Internet messages to underage congressional pages.
It will be difficult enough for the Republicans to persuade voters to cast a vote over Foley’s name even if they are aware that the vote will accrue to Negron, who was nominated Oct. 2 to run in Foley’s stead. But it is extremely likely that many voters will refrain from voting Republican if they are not aware that they are not voting to re-elect Foley.
All this has put at grave risk a seat that just weeks ago looked etched into the Republican column. Foley, who was highly popular prior to the scandal’s eruption, won a sixth House term with 68 percent of the vote in 2004. But the 16th, which sprawls across Florida from the Atlantic to the Gulf Coast, has an overall profile that is not as strongly Republican: President Bush took 55 percent there that year.
CQ rates the race as Leans Democratic.
Doesn't a vote for a U.S. Senator count as a federal election?
This has nothing to do with the Foley scandal. If there was no scandal but he happened to die in an accident after the replacement deadline, the scurrilous Rats would be doing the same thing.
Good Job!
I disagree. Conservatives are not stupid.The ones who vote know he is not on the ballot anymore and that negron is.We are dealing with Conservatives not the dumb-masses of the demorat party.
Yes, SCOTUS has grounds to intervene, and maybe they will.
But they got really lambasted after they intervened the last time in Florida and reversed the SCOFLAw decision in the chad wars, and as a result (I speculate) they did not intervene a little later in that egregious decision in New Jersey that put Frank Lautenberg on the ticket contrary to New Jersey law.
I'm hoping they'll intervene, but it's a judgment call, because they get far more cases than they can possibly handle.
This applies only to what goes on inside the polling place. Outside the polling place Reps. are free to hand out whatever information they wish.
bttt
"But, how can she say they can't even pass out notices, presumably off the polling grounds, to let voters know?? "
They can't. Beyond the 50 foot or whatever limit is set, Reps. can hand out whatever information they wish.
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