Blanco postpones New Orleans elections indefinitely

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Gov. Kathleen Blanco has postponed the New Orleans mayoral election, setting up a legal battle with voters who filed a lawsuit seeking to ensure the election is held as scheduled in February.

In an executive order, Blanco cited the recommendation of Secretary of State Al Ater, the state's top election official, who has said the city is incapable of holding elections in February because Hurricane Katrina caused so much damage to polling sites and voting machines. Blanco did not set a new date for the elections; her order says they should be held "as soon as practicable."

The postponement affects primaries for mayor, sheriff and city council seats. Blanco's order also puts off the runoffs in those races, which had been set for March 4. Qualifying for candidates to get on the ballot had been set to begin Wednesday.

Blanco signed the order Friday; it was released Monday.

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http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-21/11344112523170.xml&storylist=louisiana

government by holding an election few will be able to vote in.

It seems to work in 3rd world countries.

Folks, meet two-time repuke congressional candidate Rob Couhig.

http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWL120905couhig__.12141f2e.html

The suit was filed in Baton Rouge by lawyer and two-time (repuke -Ed.) congressional candidate Rob Couhig, on behalf of six New Orleans residents who Couhig said want the right to choose who will make decisions on rebuilding the city. Couhig said he doubted the city is incapable of holding elections on time, as Ater has suggested.

"It may be inconvenient, it may be expensive, but there are very few things that are as important as the right to vote," Couhig said. "I mean, we're going to have an election in Iraq this week."

So all of a sudden, out of a clear blue (Red?) sky, the repukes' top concern is the right to vote?! Katherine Harris, white courtesy phone... :rofl:

Involved in this lawsuit someway? O'Dwyer's a whining piece of shit...he's Uptown and somebody needs to go and give his ass a good kicking and send him floating down the Mis........ yeah, well you know, where I mean for him to be sent floating down.

On Edit:

This Gelderman and his wife Katherine have relocated to NY...where they're filing this BULLSHIT lawsuit from.

MOTHERFUCKERS!!

This is incredibly important, there should be NO elections in Orleans Parish UNTIL the up to 400,000 NOLA citizens are permitted to vote in the place where they live NOLA...or there is a fool proof system in place that can get these people an absentee ballot that is GUARANTEED NOT TO CONVENIENTLY GET LOST EN ROUTE...ala 58,000 absentee ballots in the 2004 Election in Florida.

People would be calling for their head.

at best, back in town?

Nightmare scenario: Most of those who are back in already are white and affluent; many are, unsurprisingly, repukes. So a repuke gets in with a "turnout" of maybe 25% of the total electorate.

Now, what incentive does Mayor Repuke have to continue the resettlement process? It would end right there; adieu, la Nouvelle-Orleans. :(

edit: Another point to ponder is that the postponement might not have been thought necessary at all had only FEMA come across with a promised $2 million in aid to the La. office of elections. Ah, the irony!

:eyes:

This site went apeshit when Guiliani suggested postponing elections in New york after 9/11. I hold Democrats to that same standard.

The elections should occur as planned. Absentee ballots should be issued for those persons still displaced.

The mayoral primary was going on that fateful Tuesday. It was held the following week -- but bear in mind, the area affected was largely commercial; a MUCH smaller percentage of voters were involved.

Absentee ballots should be issued for those persons still displaced.

Agreed. Once again, (surprise!), foot-dragging by FEMA has led to the delay. In this case, they resisted sharing their list of evacuees, the only comprehensive one available, with La. election authorities. I seem to detect a pattern here... :tinfoilhat:

Sadly, the election can't happen unless and until EVERY displaced New Orleans voter has an absentee ballot in his/her hand, AND the means to submit it. La. election law requires the ballots be mailed to the Registrar of Voters in the appropriate parish, in this case Orleans, and not to the state elections office; bear in mind that New Orleans is STILL reporting up to two-week delays in postal mail.

Could the Orleans Parish registrar set up a P.O. box outside the city? Perhaps -- but the repukes would doubtless challenge that in court, too.

issued to residents out of state. The article I read about this said they have to return to Louisiana to apply for absentee voting status. That would be difficult for many of the poorer residents.

The legisltature of Louisiana needs to act on this issue post haste!

It appears that La. has absentee voting both in person and by mail, and that absentee by mail is available to those temporarily (we hope) out of state.

http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/elections/misc/RS_18_1303.pdf

B. By mail. The following persons, otherwise qualified to vote, who expect to be out of the parish on election day, may vote absentee by mail upon
meeting the requirements of this Chapter:
(1) A member of the United States Service, as defined in R.S. 18:1302, and his spouse and dependents.
(2) A student, instructor, or professor in an institution of higher learning located outside the parish in which he is qualified to vote and who lives
outside of said parish by reason thereof, and his spouse and any dependent accompanying and residing with him.
(3) A minister, priest, rabbi, or other member of the clergy assigned to a religious post outside the parish in which he is registered and his spouse and
any dependents accompanying and residing with him.
(4) A person who is or who expects to be temporarily outside the territorial limits of the state or absent from the parish in which he is qualified to vote
during the absentee voting period and on election day....

Still and all, an absentee election of this magnitude would be unprecedented anywhere (except Ore. which conducts most elections by mail), plus it makes your head hurt to think how you would mount a campaign, particularly for City Council which is on the ballot along with the mayoralty, spread across several states.

And then, especially if there is a "gold rush" of candidates seeking to capitalize on Mayor Nagin's perceived weakness and/or the temporary (again, we hope) demographic shift, we would be most likely looking at a runoff 30 days afterwards... :eyes:

Two imperatives are clashing here: 1) The machinery of democracy is not to be tampered with for partisan purposes, and 2) Systematic disenfranchisement of poor voters and voters of color is always unacceptable. Ordinarily this type of situation ends up in the courts...

...which brings me to Nightmare Scenario #2: This thing bounces around in the courts, most likely the federal courts, since voting is involved (poor, put-upon, aggrieved affluent whites suing under the Voting Rights Act?! :sarcasm: ), ends up in N.O.'s own Fifth Circuit, the second most conservative after Richmond's 4th, maybe even moves on to the Supremes (think Bush v. Gore ) -- and we end up having to hold it on Feb. 4 after all, with maybe only a couple of weeks' notice.

There should be a date

Indefinitley? Rotten idea.