Posted on 06/11/2007 10:23:22 AM PDT by NerdDad
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A federal judge says Mississippi must have a party registration system and voter I-D laws in place by the summer of 2008.
U-S District Judge W- Allen Pepper says political parties have a right to stop non-party members from voting in their primary elections.
The lawsuit was filed in 2006 by plaintiffs wanting to stop non-Democrats from voting in Democratic primary elections. Pepper says ruling applies to all party primaries in Mississippi. Pepper's ruling was issued late yesterday (Friday).
Plaintiffs attorney Ellis Turnage of Cleveland and Attorney General Jim Hood could not be reached for comment. Secretary of State Eric Clark, the state's chief election officer, said he had heard about the ruling but could not comment until he had read it.
Pepper says the Legislature must adopt a system of party registration and require voters to carry a registration card and a photo ID to the polls in primary elections. Pepper said voters not wanting to register by party can designate themselves as unaffiliated, or independents.
Pepper says his order won't affect the 2007 elections.
Mississippi voters do not now register by party.
The courts have ruled that people can't vote in a Democratic primary and then turn around and vote in Republican runoff, or vice versa.
Voter ID has been an issue in the legislature for years and was always blocked by the demoncrats. Their desire to protect Benny Thompson in the last election has played right into the hands of the Republican party. The dims are flipping out trying to figure out how they are going to appeal a court order that they "won".
Haley Barbour you magnificent b@st@rd.
I’m sure Haley and the Pubbies will gladly take the closed primary system in trade for getting the holy grail of voter ID.
I can’t wait to hear how State Dim Chairman Wayne Dowdy and the Appalachian Domination Delegation try to spin this one.
Just shove a stopper where the light do not shine.
Strategery
So if Voter ID is ORDERED by the Federal judiciary, how can they outlaw it for other states which have passed the requirement, but have found themselves dragged into court by those opposing it?
The closed primaries will do more to shore-up the Republican party than just about anything. On the local level, it's Democrat all the way, but it is CONSERVATIVE Democrats, not "Big D" ultra-liberal Democrats. I think a lot of local politics will become Republican when conservative Democrats are shut out of the party.
Tennessee doesn’t have a party registration system. I usually vote in the democratic primary because at the local level republicans are pretty non-existent. Even at the federal level, it often works out that it is more important to choose the democrat I like best rather than the republican (e.g. the 2004 presidential election). If they legislate from the bench and bring this junk to TN, can I register as an independent and still vote in either primary?
If you vote in the Dem primary, I’m guessing you either live in Nashville or pretty much any part of west Tennessee, right?
Haley Barber has been a great governor for my old home state.
Nashville it is.
So the taxpayer’s, in addition to footing the bill for private “elections” held by the “Repugn-a-Rat/Dim-up-lickin’ Parties” must pay for the enforcement of this decree in these beauty contests.
But the state won’t enforce it in Constitutionally mandated elections...
Let the parties pay for their own stupid elections, they’ve got plenty of money.
Not to mention increasing the Republican hold on MS’s electoral votes, miniscule though they are.
Mississippi has become quite the rat-trap(pun intentional) for the dems hasn't it? Their beloved Voting-Rights Act which mandates that they protect Benny Thompson's job just seems to cause them sooo much headache.
Ah...Sometimes life is good.
Understand that the court just said that the state legislature has to put this in place. No legislation has been written yet. That said, the court decree did allow for an “unaffiliated” registration.
I guess it will depend on how the legislature writes the new laws. They could allow independents to vote in either, both or none of the primaries. If they allow voting in either, I wonder how they will check to make sure you don’t vote in both??
Others have mentioned the fact that so many of our local candidates are democrat “because they’ve always been”. Some of our most conservative legislators at the state level are actually democrat because a republican could never get elected in their district.
I’m patently opposed to the closed primary system for that very reason. A registered republican in a city/district that has 5 dems running but no repubs is cheated out of the opportunity to help choose his/her representative.
I hope that A. Patriot is correct in post 6 that the closed primaries will help drive the conservative dems to the republican party.
One other thing that concerns me about the court decree. It specified that Voter ID must be in place and used for the PRIMARY elections. It makes no such ID requirement for the GENERAL election. Depending on how the legislature writes the laws, this could leave the door open for the oh-so-important cemetary vote to continue putting the same crooks in office as are there now. They just have to survive/bribe their way thru the primaries.
I hope you are right. The dim party refused to certify some state candidates this year because they refused to toe the party loyalty line.
I hope that this new ruling will allow those DINOs to feel comfortable crossing over to the R party.
Unfortunately, there are still so many voters in this state who will consistently vote for anybody with a D the end of their names without regard for who the best candidate is “because I’ve always voted democrat and I always will”.
Oh Jeeze!! That is just too good!!!
Bennie may someday get his comeuppance.
The times (yes, plural) my kids visited his office in D.C., they didn't see an American flag anywhere.
Yes, and GWB isn’t doing much to change those ingrained Democrat voting habits.
"Haley Barbour you magnificent b@st@rd."
Bump that!
Thanks for the ping!
You just know that the Feds are in on a MS case.
They always seem to be involved.
In this instance, though, it seems to be a good thing.
Here’s a thread about what the GA Supremes had to say about this same subject.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1848348/posts
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