more on Ridiculous ballots (unbelievable is a better word djf)

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Travis Kalanick <travis () redswoosh net>
Date: October 21, 2004 5:33:16 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: RE: [IP] Ridiculous ballots (unbelievable is a better word djf)
Reply-To: travis () redswoosh net

Here's a weird one . . .Anyone have *any* idea why Republicans would be
fighting to get Nader *off* of the ballot?

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/pennsylvania/ 
counties/c
hester_county/9973834.htm

Election offices don't have to send new ballots abroad

A federal judge rejected the Justice Dept. ideas, which came after Ralph
Nader lost his appeal.

By Mario F. Cattabiani

Inquirer Staff Writer


HARRISBURG - Saying it could do more harm than good, a federal judge  
last
night denied a Bush administration request to force Pennsylvania  
counties to
send new absentee ballots to thousands of oversees voters and to count  
the
results up to two weeks after Election Day.

Justice Department lawyers had asked U.S. District Judge Yvette Kane to
impose such fixes to the unusual ballot dilemma caused by independent
candidate Ralph Nader's on-again, off-again status as a presidential
candidate in Pennsylvania.

"The 'remedies' proposed by the government invite unpredictability to an
otherwise orderly and time-tested elections process," Kane wrote.

The state Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed a lower court decision  
tossing
Nader from the ballot, citing fraudulent signatures on his nominating
petitions. But weeks earlier, election officials in some of the state's  
67
counties sent absentee ballots overseas with Nader's name, while others  
sent
forms without it.

Some of those overseas voters, including soldiers serving in Iraq, are  
now
being asked to pick from an incorrect slate of presidential candidates.  
And,
as a result, they are being deprived of the same options given to  
voters at
home, Justice Department lawyer Amy Zubrensky argued.

They "have the right to correct ballots," she said.

During two days of testimony, the federal government offered Kane a  
menu of
what it called potential solutions - all of which the state opposed and  
all
of which would have had to be done under a tight deadline, with  
Election Day
less than two weeks away.

As an alternative to extending the deadline to count ballots past the  
Nov. 2
election, the Justice Department suggested the court require counties to
send new ballots overseas by fax and receive them back from voters as  
faxes
or as e-mail documents.

Pennsylvania election rules allow counties to send absentee ballots by  
fax
to soldiers in war zones. That provision was used two years ago to reach
members of the military stationed in Afghanistan. However, state rules  
do
not allow for ballots to be returned via fax.

There is a good reason for that, said Gregory Dunlap, a deputy general
counsel for Gov. Rendell. Pennsylvania's constitution guarantees the  
right
to cast a ballot in secret, and many eyes would gaze on a fax sent to a
county office, he said.

At one point, federal lawyers even suggested that Kane allow a  
scaled-down
alternative, having counties send new ballots only to those service  
members
who requested them.

In all, counties have sent about 26,700 absentee ballots to  
Pennsylvanians
living abroad or serving in the military overseas. But it was unclear,  
even
among top election officials, how many of these voters received ballots  
with
Nader as a candidate.

Montgomery County sent 2,500 such ballots, Allegheny 1,300, and  
Philadelphia
at least 2,300, testimony showed.

Philadelphia lawyer Mark Aronchick, a special election-law expert hired  
by
the Rendell administration, called the number "a theoretically tiny  
universe
of people."

County election officials testified that they would count Nader votes as
write-in votes for him.

If the court required a new ballot, county election officials would be
hard-pressed to comply, state lawyers argued. To do so, they would have  
to
sacrifice time and resources needed to meet other demands, such as
processing the crush of new voter-registration forms that this tight
presidential contest has generated.

When overseas voters are weighed against that potential pool, "the  
scales
don't even come close," Aronchick said.

Kane, a Clinton appointee who served as the state's top elections  
official
for three years under Republican Gov. Tom Ridge, agreed. There was
substantial evidence to suggest that the Justice Department alternatives
"will harm the Pennsylvania election system and the public at large by
undermining the integrity and efficiency of Pennsylvania's elections,"  
she
wrote.

A Justice Department spokesman said the agency had no comment last  
night on
the possibility of an appeal.



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ip () v2 listbox com [mailto:owner-ip () v2 listbox com] On  
Behalf Of
David Farber
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2004 1:31 PM
To: Ip
Subject: [IP] Ridiculous ballots (unbelievable is a better word djf)



Begin forwarded message:

From: Rosa Wu <rwu () westonpresidio com>
Date: October 21, 2004 4:23:54 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net, declan () well com
Subject: Ridiculous ballots

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OHIO_VOTING?SITE=OHCOD&SECTION=HO
ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Photographs of the problem are available at:

http://www.aarong.thinkcomputer.com/a

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