Posted on 08/13/2007 5:32:55 AM PDT by commish
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - The U.S. Justice Department has put Montgomery's city elections on hold while officials study allegations that some black college students won't have a chance to vote.
The elections for mayor and city council were scheduled at the end of the month.
Justice Department officials notified the city that they need additional information to make a final decision about the election date.
Justice Department officials had initially allowed the city to move its elections for mayor and city council seats from October 2nd to August 28th.
But the department later received a letter from Alabama Democratic Conference chairman Joe Reed. Reed who said black students who attend Alabama State University would be back on campus less than a week before the election and would not be able to register to vote. Classes at Alabama State start August 22nd.
City officials had originally changed the date to allow military personnel overseas enough time to return mail-in ballots if a runoff were needed.
And yes, Before you even have to ask, our DEMOCRAT mayor is in a fight for his job, and needs all the votes he can buy - er I mean get.
Why do ASU students who live out of the city vote in MGM anyway?
The Democrat machine in Alabama is still trying to grab power, I see.
I well remember the day the “court” gave the Governor nod to Bill Baxley,when Charlie Graddick had won by a pretty good margin.
Alabama became a Red state that day. Guy Hunt, the token GOP candidate, won the general election by a landslide.
Sounds like they didn’t get the outcome they liked again.
Exactly! These students should be registered to vote in their home distracts, not in Montgomery.
meanwhile, US Military members from Montgomery may be denied the ability to vote if there is a runoff, because of this manouver by Reed.
Distracts = districts. UGH
Whats the chances Montgomery can bring back Emory Folmar???
Emory is busy as the director of the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board these days. I think he would love to still be Mayor, but unfortunately that ship has sailed on him. He is happy with his post now, and is also very active in the State Republican Party — he was a key worker in Gov Riley’s re-election campaign.
These students should be registered to vote in their home districts...
The issue wasn’t the fact that Graddick won the Dem primary runoff in 1986, because he did, the issue was that Dems challenged that Republicans couldn’t vote in the runoff to put Graddick over the top, and had that invalidated. It was the Dems loss, since it made Hunt Governor.
Is Bright vulnerable to a GOP challenger ? I know Montgomery’s demographics have flipped to being majority Black, so I thought Emory Folmar was going to be the last GOP Mayor for the forseeable future (much like with what happened in Birmingham in the ‘70s).
As a result, Bright barely beat Folmar -- and would have never even been in a runoff if an R challenger had not siphoned off part of Folmar's support. MOntgomery has an open election with no Party split (much like Louisiana elections) -- 50% is needed. First round Folmar got 49% of the vote to 30something for Bright.
Last election bright had to again go to a runoff to hold office. (If I remember correctly)
I don’t remember the past election, but I didn’t know there were 2 R’s in the ‘99 one. Wasn’t Folmar’s predecessor, Jim Robinson (no relation to our FReeper founder) in that race ? Unless he switched parties, he was a Dem Mayor.
I was just wondering who Bright was vulnerable to this time around, and if it was a Republican.
Ah, here. Scott Simmons was Bright’s main competitor in 2003. A website says he is running again, but doesn’t state party affiliation.
Found more articles. Bright has nearly $100k for his race to Simmons’s $7,500. That tends to be an indicator of who would win. :-\
I had forgotten the particulars on that. It has been a while.
I DO know the Democratic machine that Siegleman ad Jim Folsom Jr. were a part of brought Gov Hunt down in a game of “gotcha”.
I’m tickled that Dandy Don is finally gettin his.
More than a game of gotcha, it was a full-blown coup d’etat. The co-conspirators were, to the point, Folsom, Jr. and the brand new Attorney-General, Jimmy Evans (Evans who succeeded Siegelman after he lost the 1990 Dem Gubernatorial primary to the head of the teachers union in AL, Paul Hubbert). With those trumped-up charges, they deposed Hunt without an election and elevated Junior to the Governorship. Fortunately, the smart folks of AL saw through that and dumped both Junior and Evans in favor of Fob James and Jeff Sessions in ‘94. But unfortunately, the coup plotter Junior is back in his old job again. Of course, without a rodent in the AG’s office, he can’t do bubkas to try to depose Gov. Riley. No doubt he’s going to try for the job he stole in 2010. Hopefully we will stop him by then, as we’ve got many other statewide Republicans who enjoy far higher popularity.
And, yes, I agree about Siegelman. Too bad Junior can’t get his, too.
Junior will get His. I met him once . That was plenty . A pompous SOB if ever was one.
Didn’t seem real smart either.....
lol
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