Posted on 02/04/2006 4:07:29 PM PST by Libloather
Courts may take over election if law unchanged, official warns
By MARSHA SHULER
Capitol news bureau
Published: Feb 3, 2006
Gov. Kathleen Blanco (D-LA) testifies at a hearing on the response to Hurricane Katrina, on Capitol Hill in Washington February 2, 2006. Members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee questioned the governor on her state's response to the disaster as well as her assessment of the federal government's response. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
There’s a danger the federal court will take over New Orleans elections if legislators don’t change a law so more people can absentee vote, Secretary of State Al Ater said Thursday.
A federal takeover would be another black eye on the state in the wake of devastating hurricanes, Ater said.
“I could see the headlines across America right now,” Ater said. “They’ll say it’s another thing that Louisiana can’t handle on its own.”
Under current law, people who register to vote by mail must vote in person at least once before they can cast an absentee ballot.
Ater wants lawmakers to temporarily lift that in-person voting provision, saying to do otherwise would disenfranchise voters who are dislocated through no fault of their own.
Legislators nixed the idea in the first hurricane-special session amid fears of potential voter fraud. Opponents pointed to the thousands of mail registrants who have never voted.
For instance, some 6,652 people have registered to vote by mail in Orleans Parish since before the 2004 presidential election who have not voted in person, the Secretary of State’s Office reported Thursday.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco at Ater’s request has added the subject to the agenda of a special session that begins Monday. Ater hopes the outcome will be different.
The proposal is one of two special-session agenda items aimed at helping more displaced voters cast ballots in upcoming elections. The New Orleans municipal elections are foremost among them.
The other proposal would allow people to vote in person at registrars’ offices anywhere in the state during the early voting or old absentee voting period before an election.
Ater said passage of the absentee voting change is “critically important.”
“If we don’t do these things, we run a very, very high risk of a federal judge finding us in violation of the Voting Rights Act and may in fact have a federal court take over the election,” Ater said.
The Voting Rights Act is designed to ensure that people are not deprived of their constitutional right to vote.
Ater said U.S. District Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle of New Orleans already expressed concern about people who registered to vote by mail not being able to vote because of the in-person voting requirement.
Lemelle brought the issue up “out of the blue” during a federal court hearing on a lawsuit seeking to get a New Orleans election date fixed, Ater said.
“I left court that day feeling strongly he was going to take over elections. I just don’t think we want that,” Ater said.
Ater said he knows there remains strong opposition from some legislators to the proposed legislation.
Some lawmakers are concerned about the potential for election fraud because of the number of people who have registered to vote by mail and never voted in an election. In Orleans Parish alone, there are some 10,000 voters and statewide in excess of 20,000.
The legislation would have statewide application but for a limited amount of time, probably less than a year, Ater said.
Ater said he thinks it’s a good idea to require in-person voting the first time someone who registered to vote by mail votes. But under “these extraordinary circumstances, the worst natural disaster in the history of America” there needs to be a brief exception, he said.
“The first election coming up is in Orleans,” said Ater, but there are others in the hurricane-affected area.
If an Associated Press writer tries to interview you during a hurricane, just say NO! ;-)
bs the judge told them to hold the election or he'd take it over. He did not say to change the absentee laws.
Blanco is truly the democrat mascott.
I have never voted "in person" in LA, where can I request my absentee ballot?
Two more folds and it becomes a pirate hat. The pirate hat entitles you to be the captain of a yellow submarine, otherwise known as a school bus/multi voter machine.
Yeah, and if you didn't have a car, you could lay the guide on the floor and it would turn into a magic carpet and fly you to Texas!
"The pirate hat entitles you to be the captain of a yellow submarine, otherwise known as a school bus/multi voter machine."
Yup. In many democrat areas, a 58 seat bus can transport over 150 voters to the polls.
In my County in my State, you only have to be a resident for 30 days before you can vote in our elections.
It seems to me that if they've been living in TX for the last several months they are now legally residents of TX. If they want to vote, they should register to vote in TX (or wherever they are.)
L
Right. And what's to prevent them from voting in Texas AND Louisiana (liberal democrats dream). Who is going to cross-check voting records across States?
I was just asking the question, that's all so lighten up just a bit.
Once they register to vote in their new State of residence, they won't be legally permitted to vote in LA, right?
It seems to me that this is just a desparate bid by LA Dem politicians to allow the walking dead to vote yet again.
If they've been out of the State for more than 30 days, it seems to me they're no longer 'residents' for voting purposes.
L
Next you'll want to deny the asbsentee ballot to the dead, a truly helpless and selfless constituency! And how in the name of Pancho Villa are illegal aliens to vote? Then I suppose you'll demand ID at the polling place!
Gentlemen, I beseech you, can you not see that this racist, cruel, and un-Democratic pettifoggery could knock democracy in this great republic of ours into a cocked hat?
In the name of Nicole Parra, Loretta Sanchez, and that lady who's Governor of the State of Washington, can't you see your antediluvian mindset would change politics as we know it?
From what I've gleaned from all the news on Katrina, New Orleans is like most other real estate markets in areas susceptible to water damage. High ground is pricier than low ground. The lower class folks were not affected in greater numbers than higher classes, however, the dwellings of the lower classes suffered much, much greater damage. Additionally, the higher classes were more likely to have good insurance plus the funds to deal with a disaster like this. Net, the lower classes are quite likely to be unable or unwilling to return to New Orleans any time soon, maybe not at all.
I think this is Blanco's fear. With the reliable lower classes no longer available to vote their traditional straight Democratic vote, the Republicans may just win - in the last election, the Republican candidate nearly beat that slimeball Senator Mary Landrieu, the one who was going to punch GWB.
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