Posted on 10/27/2008 2:06:01 PM PDT by kristinn
Military absentee votes will be counted in Fairfax County, Virginia thanks to an opinion just issued by Virginia's Attorney General Bob McDonnell. The just-issued opinion smacks down the partisan effort by Fairfax registrar Rokey Suleman who -- contrary to federal law -- was requiring military absentee ballots to show the address of the witness countersigning the ballot.
O'Donnell's opinion finds that federal law preempts the Virginia law which requires the ballots to show witnesses' addresses.
The press release from O'Donnell's office says:
McDonnell Opinion: Count all Absentee Military Ballots
Opinion Finds Federal Law Preempts State Law; Federal Ballots without Witness Address Are Lawful, Must be Counted
FAIRFAX - Attorney General Bob McDonnell released a formal opinion today concluding that federal absentee ballots from overseas military voters lacking the printed name and address of a witness must be counted. The opinion affirms that federal law preempts state law, thus clarifying the state and federal statutes regarding the issue. The confusion centered over whether a state law requiring a witnesss printed name and address controls federal absentee ballots or the federal law governs this issue. The opinion was requested by Delegate Bill Janis (R-Henrico).
In the formal opinion the Attorney General finds, It is . my opinion that the applicable provision of Virginia law, Sec. 24.2-702.1(B), interpreted to require an overseas military voter submitting only a Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot to include the printed name and address of the person who signs the witness statement is preempted by the provisions of the (federal) Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. Finally, it is my opinion that general registrars may not reject a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot submitted by overseas military voters for the November 4, 2008 federal election that does not include a printed name and address for the person who signs the witness statement ..
Approximately 100 Federal Write-In Absentee Ballots have been set aside in Fairfax County pending a legal conclusion regarding the discrepancy between state and federal law. Additional Federal Write-In Absentee Ballots may also have been received in other jurisdictions. The Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot is most commonly used by members of the military who are stationed overseas and have not received a state absentee ballot. It is a means by which service members can be guaranteed a vote in federal elections.
A copy of this formal opinion was provided to the State Board of Elections this afternoon.
The State Attorney General came through!
The Young Democrats Meet the Third Thursday of the month:
Next Meeting Thursday, August 21, 2008
6:00 PM
Democratic Headquarters
164 High St. NE
Warren, Ohio 44481
Rokey Suleman, Past President and Founding Member
Hooray, now if the order stands up against the “bad guys”!
Thanks for the PING. I would have missed it today.
I just got off the phone with a man by the name of Gary Scott at Suleman’s office. He will not sleep easily tonight without some kind of sedative.
After Mr. Scott first spent a minute or so blabbering mumbo-jumbo about ballot technicalities and procedural protocols and administrative bureacratic horseshit, I cut to the quick and called him out on the information I’ve seen posted here and elsewhwere.
I basically about screamed a blood-curdling warning to him (even though I did make a pointed effort to say that I didn’t know him personally and meant him no particular disrespect or ill fortune—that is, unless he himself has anything to do with the deliberate or derelict disqualification of troops’ overseas ballots) and his entire operation that they’d suffer a horrible fate if they monkeyed around with our troops’ votes in the slightest.
The poor guy—he sounded nice enough, and at some point in the conversation he told me he himself is a veteran and all, along with others that work in his office...but I spent about 20 minutes creating a truly disturbing scenario in his mind wherein he’d be attempting to lay his head on his pillow and be utterly unable to sleep, haunted by the idea that vets like me and Freepers and various patriots had declared outright war on his entire office’s operation if there was any evidence WHATSOEVER that any military overseas ballots would be subject to some kind of Democrat effort to disqualify them based on a technicality.
Jeez, I was harsh with the unfortunate fellow. But from what I gathered they are getting lots of calls on this, and the initial pitch I got was from some lady who answered the phone and tried to deflect me with a claim that the media had gotten the story all wrong, but I just cut her off and snapped for her to put me through to Rokey Suleman. After another few seconds, I got the Gary Scott guy, and read him the riot act. I told him we would find out where they live, and how many creamers they take in their coffee.
I informed Scott that if Rokey Suleman or any other Democrat in that office or elsewhere think they can use the letter of the law to disqualify military ballots in violation of the spirit of the law(which is intended to eliminate fraudulent/ineligible voters, not to throw out earnest and eligible votes on technicalities), they’d be facing an unrelenting war until they counted each and every one of the valid ballots in question.
I really think Scott got the message, but I’m not gonna rest until we see this through to the end. If Virginia is a close race, and it appears even remotely that the military overseas ballots are being unfairly disqualified, heads will roll.
I just don’t trust the assurances we’re being fed about this. We will not let up until it is certain that Democrat underhandedness is eliminated from the results in this election.
You could remind him of the “battle of Athens,Tn.”
I’d have to bone up on that story first...?
Wow. I just Googled it, and have begun reading...
Good.
Wow. I Googled it and I’m amazed at that story.
A friend just reminded me about how Republicans stormed the building where votes were supposed to be counted in the Florida controversy of 2000...GOP militants raged and rallied and screamed and stomped and occupied the hallways and rooms of the building, because otherwise the ballots were going to be counted in secret—I’d forgotten about that, but since my friend brought it up I recalled the scene as it was shown on TV at that time. What an encouraging reminder, that the GOP can sometimes fight back!
>Forwarded Message:
>Subj: News Release- STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS UNANIMOUSLY VOTES TO COUNT
>PREVIOUSLY DENIED FEDERAL WRITE-IN ABSENTEE BALLOTS Date: 10/28/2008
>11:38:08
>A.M. Eastern Daylight Time From: _Jessica.Lane@sbe.virginia.gov_
>(mailto:Jessica.Lane@sbe.virginia.gov) Sent from the Internet _(Details)_
>(aolmsg://09fd25d0/inethdr/2)
>
>
>
>
>News Release
>For Immediate Release:
>October 28, 2008
>For More Information:
>Susan S. Pollard, APR
>Director of Communications
>804-786-0282
>804-864-8901 (Press 3)
>STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS UNANIMOUSLY VOTES TO COUNT PREVIOUSLY DENIED
>FEDERAL WRITE-IN ABSENTEE BALLOTS
>~ Office of Attorney Generals Advisory Opinion - Federal Law Preempts
>State
>Law ~
>RICHMOND, VA - On Tuesday, October 28 the Virginia State Board of
>Elections
>reviewed and voted unanimously to accept the official advisory opinion of
>the
>Office of Attorney General regarding Federal Write-in Absentee Ballots
>(FWAB).
>Last week the State Board of Elections was alerted to a possible conflict
>between state and federal law leading to the denial of approximately 100
>FWABs. The Code of Virginia has stated since 2002 that all FWABs serving
>simultaneously as an absentee ballot application and an absentee ballot
>require both
>a witness signature and an address in order to be counted in the
>General
>Election. General Registrars correctly applied state law by denying
>these
>FWABs.
>Out of concern that these votes from the military and overseas could not
>be
>counted under state law, the State Board of Elections and Delegate Bill
>Janis
>requested the Office of the Attorney General to conduct a detailed review
>of
>a conflict between state and federal law. The Office of the Attorney
>General released an opinion Monday night stating that the provision of
>§
>24.2-702.1(B) interpreted to require an overseas military voter submitting
>a FWAB to
>include the printed name and address of the person who signs the witness
>statement is preempted by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee
>Voting Act
>(UOCAVA).
>I am pleased that we are able to count these votes, but also am pleased
>that our registrars followed the law, said Jean Cunningham, Chair of
>the State
>Board of Elections. Thank you to the Office of Attorney General for
>their
>extensive research, because of their review it allows SBE to count these
>votes under federal law.
>For more information go to the State Board of Elections web site at
>_www.sbe.virginia.gov_ (http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/) .
>###
libs sometimes believe they are the only ones that can get riled.
they tend to back off when met with force or threat of force
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