Posted on 11/16/2019 11:03:41 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
A federal court in Tallahassee struck down a Florida law that listed the governor’s party first on all ballots, which Democrats argued gave Republicans a significant advantage in a state where the two biggest races in 2018 were both within 0.4 percentage points.
In his ruling, District Court Judge Mark Walker issued a permanent injunction against the law, stating it violates both the First and 14th amendments of the Constitution.
“Florida’s ballot order statute is not neutral; instead, it affects Plaintiffs’ rights in a politically discriminatory way,” Walker wrote. “… It is difficult to imagine what other purpose it could possibly serve than as a thumb on the scale in favor of the party in power.”
The plaintiffs, which included the Democratic National Committee and its campaign committees, cited research showing the statistical advantage of being listed first was estimated to be as high as 5.4 percentage points when Republican Party candidates are listed first and 3.92 points when Democrats are on top.
The 2018 U.S. Senate race in which then-Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, defeated former Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson was decided by 0.13 points. The governor’s race won by Republican Ron DeSantis over Democrat Andrew Gillum was decided by 0.4 points. Scott won his two races for governor by less than 1.2 points each.
While 3 to 5 points wasn’t “in and of itself a large proportion of the total vote, it is often a decisive proportion in terms of the spread between the candidates in a Florida election,” Walker ruled.
Walker concluded voters could also lose confidence in the integrity of Florida’s election system from knowing the order of candidates’ names was determined on a partisan basis.
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
Who appointed this judge, anyway? The article didn't say.
Will the Republicrats ever be willing to fight this much and this intensely?
PING!
What’s the problem here???
In alphabetical order, GOP comes before ‘Rat.
You could guess and have a 95% chance of being right....bammy appointed.
What are we saying? Voters, Democrat voters anyway, are too damn stupid to find their preferred candidate on the ballot?
Are we saying that Democrat leaning voters are so damn stupid, they would vote Republican by mistake, because the Republican is listed first?
Does anyone else feel the implications here are just crazy?
Good point. :-D
Yeah, I guessed either Obama or Bush II.
If you are an undecided voter then this may make a difference. If you are still undecided by Nov 2020, you probably shouldn’t be voting, and are probably guessing. IMHO
So, the judge is saying that voters will automatically tend to vote for the name that appears first? Or that voters are too lazy to read both names? Or that it’s too hard to vote for the name that appears second? Or that the order of the names implies some sort of ranking system? Or?
Obama. Not hard to find. All you have to do is Google his name. Takes about a minute.
Are we saying that Democrat leaning voters are so damn stupid, they would vote Republican by mistake, because the Republican is listed first?
Does anyone else feel the implications here are just crazy?
Florida's where (supposedly) thousands of voters realized after they'd cast their ballots that they might have voted for Pat Buchanan, because of some nonsense involving where the fold was on a piece of paper, or something of that order of nitwittery.
Someone (here at FR) at that time posted a suggestion that electronic voting machines will eventually display little icons that show the face of the candidate with no words, display a halo over the head of every Democrat and devil's horns and a pitchfork in the frame with every Republican.
A travesty of justice.
States can list candidates in any order they wish.
Yep.
They say there’s almost a 1.5% advantage for an R listed first over a Dem listed first.
Perhaps the judge’s ruling is based on being fair to the mentally handicapped...
Ballot order does make a difference. This has been understood from time immemorial. If I had any confidence that a neutral rule would be adopted and applied impartially, I would say fine. But … the moment the democrats have complete control in Florida, they will move to reinstitute the preference for the governor’s party. They will probably do so on the grounds that a rotating system is confusing to voters. And an activist judge will agree. The rule in play here is not neutrality. The rule is that whatever the democrats want to game the system for themselves will be awarded by a judge.
I think the incumbent should be listed first.
You could guess and have a 95% chance of being right....bammy appointed.
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Yep, Obama nominees and confirmed 94-0.
Republicans submit and DemocRATS resist tooth and nail. This is the reason that the cowardly Lindsey Graham needs to eliminate the Blue Slip process for District Court judge nominees. The ‘RATS use it as an extra-constitutional VETO for Trump’s District Court nominees in “blue states” such as New York, California and New Jersey.
Didn’t the Supreme Court refuse to take up gerrymandering because it was not their place to interfere in state politics?
If this gets to SCOTUS, look for a similar ruling.
Notice a Fed judge not a state judge since FL Supreme court is conservative
WTF does this really have an effect on? Pick your battles carefully I say and don’t waste time/resources on petty BS like this.
It is the same mentality that was (and is still) extant in the Bush Gore selective (democrat selective) recount... where it was idiotically reviewed individual punchcard ballots. First by volunteers from each party, and in dispute decided by a “judge” (in the case of the famous still Broward machine— a Demonrat with bug eyes photo’d trying to discern the “intent” of an anonymous voter who “Left a Hanging Chad” or only partially indented on a ballot that was left “unpunched” on the Presidential sections. Often times the “unpunched” ballots were indented ON BOTH Bush or Gore sections— and guess what, more often than not decided by the AMOUNT OF INDENTATION, or only marginally better the undetached chad that was not registered by the then card reader machines.
Now it’s more sophisticated— the software is cleverly arbitrarily altered by operatives (if caught- prison time), and a ticker tape summary of the vote per precinct. In those counties anyway.
FL still fortunately uses the fill in the dots SCANNER system, but of course operatives have given pencils to the unaware, when not observed by poll watchers— instead of BLACK INK PENS.
Bush Gore— and recount is when became originally a FReeper, long ago. Met someone who had “gone to Ft. Marcy Park and laid down in the spot where Vince Foster’s body was found” (Not kidding— no idea who that was, but well— “spirited” at the least).
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