Judge Refuses to Delay New Orleans Vote

By CAIN BURDEAU
Associated Press Writer

A federal judge Monday refused to delay New Orleans' April 22 mayoral election, but told lawyers on both sides of the case to identify any problems that might hinder displaced residents' ability to vote and then solve them.
http://interestalert.com/story/siteia.shtml?Story=st/sn/03270002aaa03799.ap&Sys=rmmiller&Fid=NATIONAL&Type=News&Filter=National%20News

Tell those lawyers to not only identify problems but also identify solutions. In my humble yet relatively well informed opinion on the matter, this case was a waste of the courts time. If you are a resident of New Orleans (regardless of where you are now residing) and you want to vote in the city election in April you can. However, no doubt, if the lawyers bringing suit don't get there way in the election, there will be intense caterwauling and whining about those "unable" to vote. Meanwhile those planning on caterwauling aren't lifting a finger to help the city like the thousands and thousands of volunteers who have come from all over the country to lend a hand.

I've been trying to get some reason into this debate for a while now. I don't believe that anyone who wants to vote is going to be denied in this election.

Many want to vote.
They cannot because:
they have never voted in person;
they did not register to vote in person;
they have not received absentee ballot;
they cannot vote at satellite voting booths during early voting;
they cannot vote at satellite on election day because none exist;
they cannot vote at satellite outside of Louisiana because none exist;
they cannot get to New Orleans during early voting to vote at Registrar's office;
they cannot get to New Orleans on election day;
they cannot vote at their polling place because it is one of 300 destroyed;
they do not know where their new polling place is;
they were told their new polling place is one place, it has been changed to a different place, and they were not told;
they have no access to a phone;'
they have no access to the Internet;
they have no access to a radio;
they have no access to a newspaper;
they have no access to a vehicle; or
they have no money.
Democratic?
I think not.
Fair, definitely NOT!

You can not vote if you can not get to the NOLA Registrar of Voters Office during the early voting period.
You can not vote if you can not vote at your residential polling place because it is one of the 300 destroyed out of 442.
You can not vote if you do not have a phone number to call to find out your new polling place.
You can not vote if you do not have an absentee ballot.
You can not vote if you do not have a way to get to NOLA.
You can not vote if you do not have access to internet to determine where to vote and how to vote.
We have set up voter assistance centers all over the country, the Secretary of State has NOT!
We have assisted voters in registering and requesting absentee ballots, the Secretary of State has NOT!
Howard Dean agrees: <http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=%5CCulture%5Carchive%5C200603%5CCUL20060317a.html>
Why do you disagree with Howard Dean?
Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE for accurate information.

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breaking/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_localbreakingnews/archives/2006_03_27.html#125110

elections delayed since early feb. will be held on april 22 as planned by the city

leading candidates in crowded mayor's race are nagin, landrieu, forman

Judge won't postpone New Orleans election
Despite displaced voters, races go on
. . . .
Yesterday, a federal judge refused to postpone New Orleans'first election since Hurricane Katrina, despite complaints from civil rights groups that too many blacks scattered by the storm will be unable to take part in the voting.
. . . .
Some civil rights leaders say the state's plan to allow mail voting for residents in other states, along with satellite polling places elsewhere in Louisiana, won't do enough to give all displaced residents the opportunity to vote.

. . . .
Yesterday's hearing was called after the NAACP and other civil rights groups argued that the cost of traveling to New Orleans to vote amounted to the "modern equivalent of a poll tax"- something outlawed a generation ago by an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

. . . .
"This is a Florida in the making," warned National Urban League President Marc Morial, a former New Orleans mayor, referring to the debacle during the 2000 White House race.

<http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060328/REPOSITORY/603280363/1013/48HOURS>