Justice Dept signs off on Oct 7 Recall Election in California

Associated Press | August 18, 2003

[Timesink]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Justice Department signs off on Oct. 7 election to recall Gov. Gray Davis.

[Timesink]

More TK.

[TomServo]

The hammer falls....

[Timesink]

PING!

[MEG33]

One hurdle jumped.

[William McKinley]

*snicker*

[goldstategop]

I expect the cases in San Jose and L.A to be dismissed. Federal judges generally grant deference to executive branch decisions on political matters. The election for October 7, 2003 appears to be still on.

[Parley Baer]

Good. Let's get it on. I see very few Republicans going after Cruz Bustamonte(sp). Greyout Davis is doing a better job on Cruz. Parley

[blam]

" The election for October 7, 2003 appears to be still on."

But, but...what about all the disenfranchised minorities that can't figure out how to punch a chad?

[MEG33]

I quake at the thought the 9th circuit may be involved,though!

[Morgan's Raider]

Oh boy. The venom spewed against John Ashcroft so far is nothing compared to what will come from this.

Mr. Attorney General, remember, illegitimi non carborundum.

[goldstategop]

If people are too stupid to know how to navigate a ballot, they shouldn't be voting the first place. 'Nuff said.

[harpo11]

Send those absentee ballots out now! Minority service men and women must have their votings rights protected.

[Jim Robinson]

Buh bye Gay Davis.

[MEG33]

Great!

[deport]

One more hurdle crossed in conducting the election..........

Candidates meet with teachers unions

CTA has already come out against the recall, but will decide this week whether or not to pick a candidate to support on the second half of the recall ballot. In all, six candidates -- Bill Simon, Bustamante, Peter Camejo, Arianna Huffington, Peter Uberroth and Schwarzenegger -- were invited to meet with a seven-member panel of CTA board members, either in person on via telephone.

[Miss Marple]

Thanks! I will check in tomorrow...going to call it a night.

[Timesink]

Justice Department clears Oct. 7 recall election

By DAVID KRAVETS
AP Legal Affairs Writer

SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Justice Department on Monday cleared the Oct. 7 election to recall Gov. Gray Davis.

The decision, expected to be forwarded to California officials as early as Tuesday, comes three days after a federal judge threatened to halt the election if the government didn't approve it.

Under the Federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, any changes in the voting process must be pre-cleared by the Justice Department in places like Monterey County, which have a history of low voter participation.

"This is not a problem," Jorge Martinez, a Justice Department spokesman, said late Monday.

The 1965 law was intended to prevent the various means that had been used in the South to disenfranchise black voters, such as changes in polling stations or other requirements imposed on voters just before election day.

Monterey County, with its large Hispanic population and history of low voter turnout, is one of four California counties subjects to the "pre-clearance requirement" under the Voting Rights Act.

The others are Merced, Kings and Yuba counties.

The election, just 50 days away, is forcing some counties to make a number of moneysaving changes that until Monday lacked federal approval. The legal dispute focused on Monterey County, which plans to cut costs by reducing its usual 190 polling places to 86 and hiring fewer Spanish-speaking poll workers.

However, the Justice Department has not signed off on whether voters will decide Proposition 54 on the Oct. 7 ballot. That measure would ban state, federal and local governments from keeping track of the races of their employees, contractors and students. The Justice Department is still contemplating whether a vote on that now would disenfranchise minority voters, Martinez said.

Last modified: August 18. 2003 10:54PM

[goldstategop]

I hope they sign off on Prop. 54 by the end of the week. This notion minority voters are too stupid to read a ballot argument is an insulting and racist one. The U.S Justice Department should not give it any credence.

[Congressman Billybob]

The federal judge in San Jose explicitly said that he would only delay the election if this US Justice approval was not granted. Now it has been granted.

Of all the cases that everyone filed, everywhere, that leaves only the one federal case filed in L.A. by the ACLU. It will not take chutzpah, but insanity, for that one judge to go against 6 other cases (five dismissed in California Supreme Court, one in federal court) plus the official positions of both California and the US government.

This weekend, CNN and various other Dem-lib outlets were pushing the legal angle that the election might be delayed. Not so, litigation breath. The last ligitation will die a predictable and deserving death on Wednesday. Will the lamestream media then apologize for their misleading coverage? Not in a million years.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, "Texans for Sale or Rent" posted on FR, to be on ChronWatch on Tuesday.