Thursday, October 30, 2008
Republican voter fraud takes a beating
In Colorado efforts by the Secretary of State to purge large numbers of voters has been stopped and a legal agreement to count provisional ballots has been reached in federal court.
And in Michigan, a federal appeals court has ruled against a similar purge in that state.
The voters’ names had been removed by Mike Coffman, the Colorado secretary of state, who said he did so because the voters had moved out of state or were listed more than once on the rolls. But Mr. Coffman was sued by a coalition of voting rights and other groups who said such purges were generally prohibited by federal law within 90 days of an election.Dig the highlighted part, the burden of proof of eligibility has been shifted to the state. Imagine that, voting until proven guilty.
Under the agreement, voters removed from the rolls will be permitted to cast provisional ballots, and those ballots will be counted unless election officials can prove the voters were not eligible. To strike such ballots, county election officials must conduct an extensive records review on each one, a decision that must then be reviewed by Mr. Coffman’s office.
And in Michigan, a federal appeals court has ruled against a similar purge in that state.
In Michigan, a federal appeals panel in Detroit delivered a similar victory on Thursday for about 5,500 voters who had been dropped from the rolls. The 2-to-1 ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said state elections officials should not remove registered voters from the rolls, even if their voter ID cards had been returned as undeliverable.Two states are setting precedents in defeating the GOP's favorite voter scam. Things are looking up.
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