[IP] Legal challenges to legal challenges confuse Ohio voting.
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Peter D. Junger" <junger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: November 1, 2004 9:07:12 PM EST
To: David Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Junger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, RCarla@xxxxxxx
Subject: Legal challenges to legal challenges confuse Ohio voting.
For IP if you wish.
Two federal district courts have held that it would be unconstitutional
to permit party representatives to enter the polling places during
the election as ``challengers'' as permitted by state law. Earlier
it had been decided administratively that only one party challenger
would be permitted per polling place rather than permittiong one for
each precinct as the Republicans wished. Now the Ohio Supreme Court has
decided that one challenger should be permitted per precinct, but
that, of course, has no effect as long as the federal district court
orders are in effect. But the Republicans have appealed the federal
district court orders forbidding party challengers to the Sixth
Circuit Court of Appeals and---apparently this evening, the evening
before election day---the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has
asked the State Attorney General to brief them on the issue
of whether party challengers should be permitted in polling places
under the Constitution.
I have a friend who was dragooned into agreeing to serve as a
Democratic Party Challenger---I guess her job would be to
challenge the Republican challenges---when it was believed that
challengers would be allowed for each precinct. When it was decided
to allow only one per polling place she thought that she was off the
hook. Tonight, however, at around 8:30 she got a phone call telling
her that the Ohio Supreme Court had ruled that there could be one
challenger per precinct and that she would have to at a polling place
e on the other side of town at 6:00 in the morning.
She is furious and is refusng to bring donuts to the polling place.
Lord knows when or if the Sixth Circuit is going to rulte, but I
fear that they will overrule the District Courts. But what happens
if the polling places open at 6:30 AM and the 6th Circuit rules at
noon that challengers are permitted?
There is a better electoral system in Afghanastan than there is in
the U.S.
The only news story I have found on this so far is available at
<URL:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/
election2004/10072743.htm>.
--
Peter D. Junger--Case Western Reserve University Law School--Cleveland,
OH
EMAIL: junger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx URL: http://samsara.law.cwru.edu
NOTE: junger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx no longer exists
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