Recall vote being postponed! (MSNBC)

Breaking on MSNBC. Judge may be postponing recall vote due to concerns expressed by civil rights groups.

But it said "may" postpone...not definite.

Team Bush will be bummed they can't play their little punch-card game. Of course this would leave a lot of time for voter roll purges.....another favorite tactic. Of course a Dem Sec. of State could be a helpful foil to this.....

Julie

it's probably because they want better control of the candidates. Maybe they found Arnold's first cinematic work? Everyone's a critic.

It's the Justice Department that must approve things in four counties. That is all that is required.

I say there is no hope of this judge stopping things.

August 16, 2003
U.S. Judge May Put Recall Vote on Hold
By Maura Dolan, Times Staff Writer

SAN JOSE -- A federal judge Friday warned that he may put the Oct. 7 recall election on hold because four California counties have not complied with a key civil rights law governing voting procedures.

U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Fogel gave officials two weeks to resolve the problem and, in the meantime, ordered Monterey County not to send any absentee ballots to people living overseas.

If the issue is not resolved by Aug. 29, the judge said, he could order a complete halt to preparations for the vote — a move that state officials said would force a postponement of the election.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-mn-court16aug16,1,7075643.story?coll=la-home-headlines

"The Voting Rights Act requires that state and local governments in some parts of the country have to receive permission from the U.S. Justice Dept. before changing any voting procedures....a requirement known as pre-clearance."
-snip-
Clearance by the Justice Dept. could come at any time...
This involves 4 counties: Monterey, Kings, Merced and Uba.

(So, basically this is in the hands of the Justice Dept. which
shouldn't make any of us feel better.)

****
A spokesman for Bill Simon Jr.'s campaign said "the will of the people should not be thwarted by a federal judge."

"If you're speaking of voters' rights, you have to think about the rights of the nearly two million people who signed the recall petition to see this election go forward," spokesman K.B. Forbes said.
****

How can 2 million people be considered the "will of the people" when California's population is 35+ million? That is less than 5.7% of the population. Also, that nearly 2 million weren't all certified signers of the petition so it might be about 5.1% or less. It would be about 6.86% of those eligible voting age.

This is not the "will of the people" it is a coup d'état by the bush scum and nothing more. Wait... more like a lynch mob?? Isn't that how the old west handled suspected criminals? Without a trial or a staged trial? With a rope immediately?

I was taught the majority rules... provided it is constitutional and legal. This is not!


26.25 million

I don't know that there's a text equivalent to an instrumental, so you'll just have to recall the tune yourself.

-- Allen

I still say there's a song in there somewhere!


rocknation

Let those Rove Scumbags attack a high profile hispanic!?:mad:
At your PERIL,Boys!

Just heard on KNBC Los Angeles, that new polls show Cruz @ 25% and Arnold @ 22%.

The recall itself is still showing as passing. The delay would help Democrats IMO.

... I hear that man screaming like he's running away (or into?) fire in The Beatles, White Album, Revolution No. 9 ... I think there might be some carnival music found in that collage of fused sounds ...

I hope the Democratic power structure in California is doing some strategizing of their own - whatever - to throw a roadblock here, a thwart there, etc., ....... as I see this power play ... we're at war with a ruthless Rovian wrecking machine with a democracy-be-damned-at-least-we-made-a-lot-of-money-during-our-abusive-destructive-behavior theme ... if we clothe everyone in neat red coat uniforms and march in rows to a drum beat in a guerilla political warfare environment -- we may not have learned from our own history ...



"I was walking along the road with two friends.
The sun was setting.
I felt a breath of melancholy -
Suddenly the sky turned blood-red.
I stopped, and leaned against the railing, deathly tired -
looking out across the flaming clouds that hung like blood and a sword
over the blue-black fjord and town.
My friends walked on - I stood there, trembling with fear.
And I sensed a great, infinite scream pass through nature."

- Edvard Munch

Liberté * Égalité * Fraternité

postponement or anything else that would help.

Doesn't it just leave everything up in the air for longer?

What's the up side?

If the election is in October, there will be nothing on the ballot of interest to get anyone out to vote except the people who are most energized about this, and those are the people who hate Davis (I understand that there's an initiative to stop CA from collecting racial data which is bad for people who care about race, but there's no way that it would get enough publicity in two months so that people -- democrats who care about race -- would get energized by it).

If the recall election is delayed then it will fall into a window of time which means that it would be place on same ballot as Dem primaries. And who shows up to vote in Dem primaries? That's right. Dems who would be energized to Vote No/Vote Bustamante.

By the way, the Republican strategy of making the recall look like a circus is designed to hide the fact that this is a serious political issue. If it doesn't seem serious, Democrats and moderattes inclined to vote NO will not be energized to run.

where there will be a much larger turnout of Democrats. For special elections such as the October recall, it's typically the conservatives that show up in large numbers to vote.

The judge says the Justice Deparment must certify the election plans in a few counties that have historically low voter turnout.

Tell me you REALLY believe that Ashcroft won't do that at the drop of a hat.

Judge warns he may postpone recall election
Friday, August 15, 2003 Posted: 10:56 PM EDT (0256 GMT)

SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- A federal judge warned Friday that he may postpone California's October 7 recall election over voting rights questions, and ordered Monterey County to refrain from mailing out overseas ballots until the questions are resolved.

The new uncertainty in the already chaotic special election came on a day a poll showed support building for the ouster of Gov. Gray Davis, and when a billionaire adviser to candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger was widely rebuked for suggesting California property taxes are too low.

U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel's ruling came hours after two civil rights groups argued that the hurry-up election doesn't give the Justice Department enough time to approve changes in the voting process.

Under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the federal government must approve voting changes in four California counties with a history of low voter participation. The cases argued Friday focus on Monterey County, which plans fewer polling places and fewer Spanish-speaking poll workers for the election.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/08/15/california.recall.ap/index.html

The Justice Department must approve the voting methodologies in four counties.

The man who has the power to nip this thing in the bud right now is John Ashcroft.

Do you REALLY believe Ashcroft is going to allow this thing to be postponed? After all, the truth could come out if he did!

Trying to SUPPRESS the HISPANIC Vote!

Make your move, Preacher Boy!?:evilgrin:

The subject line for this post is also a bit misleading. Please continue discussion about the potential delay of California's recall vote here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=68836

Thanks!
VolcanoJen
DU Moderator