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Ater seeking lawsuit against FEMA for voter information 12/20/2005, 5:41 p.m. CT By MELINDA DESLATTE The Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Secretary of State Al Ater's plans to sue federal officials for data outlining the locations of Louisiana residents scattered by hurricanes Katrina and Rita were put on hold Tuesday after receiving new promises the information would arrive this week. Earlier in the day, Ater told lawmakers he was asking Louisiana's attorney general to file the lawsuit because the Federal Emergency Management Agency provided a list last week of 936,000 names of displaced Louisiana residents that lacked crucial...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The only thing worse than missing the original Feb. 4 election date for New Orleans mayor and city council is holding an election that would be deemed invalid, Secretary of State Al Ater said during a news conference Monday. He said he wants to hold an election as soon as possible, but noted that organizing what he described as a proper election was going to take time. The earliest realistic date for an election would be in April or May, he said. "We know what we have to do, but we don't yet have legal authority...