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Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Ind. Courts - Judge Arredondo orders early voting locations to open

Updating this ILB entry from early this morning about the dueling county courts, the first one convened this morning. From a report by Bill Dolan of the NWI Times:

CROWN POINT | Lake Circuit Court Judge Lorenzo Arredondo on Tuesday morning ordered election officials immediately to open early voting centers in Gary, Hammond and East Chicago, giving Democrats, the NAACP and the United Steelworkers union at least a short-term victory.

Lake County Elections Board Director Sally LaSota said she would open early in-person voting in the county courthouses at 15 W. 4th Ave., Gary; 232 Russell St., Hammond; and 3711 Main St., East Chicago, sometime after 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Arredondo ruled it is unfair to bar early voting centers in the county's largest cities. He agreed with Democratic arguments that early voting was essential to avoid long lines expected on Election Day.

Arredondo's ruling follows a Hammond federal court decision to leave the early voting question up the county courts.

Meanwhile, Lake Superior Court Judge Calvin Hawkins has scheduled his own court hearing on the matter for 1 p.m. Tuesday. He could either agree with Arredondo's decision or rule early voting centers to be illegal -- as he did last week.

Conflicting court rulings would appear to ensure a Supreme Court hearing in the coming days.

Karl Mulvaney, a lawyer for Republicans, said he will ask the Indiana Supreme Court on Tuesday to close down any satellite voting centers. Republicans claim the opening of such early voting centers require unanimous bipartisan support of county election boards. The Lake County elections board voted to open the early locations even though two Republican members of the boards dissented.

Check back this afternoon for more.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 14, 2008 12:12 PM
Posted to Ind. Trial Ct. Decisions