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Thursday, October 16, 2008
Ind. Courts - Latest on Lake early voting case
We learned last evening that it would be up to the Supreme Court to name a new judge in the Lake County early votting case, after the two sides failed to agree on a judge before yesterday's 3:00 PM deadline.
Today John Byrne reports in the Gary Post-Tribune, in a long story that begins:
EAST CHICAGO -- A fifth court now will get a crack at settling Lake County's early voting fracas.Bill Dolan has this report this mornng in the NWI Times.The Indiana Supreme Court announced Wednesday it will appoint a special judge to consider the partisan fight over in-person absentee balloting in Gary, Hammond and East Chicago, where 330 more people voted Wednesday.
The move came after litigants failed to agree Wednesday on a judge to replace Lake Superior Court Judge Calvin Hawkins in a hearing on a Republican motion to stop early voting in the Democratic bastions.
"The ping-pong match continues," said Gary Mayor Rudy Clay, who supports the early voting sites as a way to help people who would otherwise have a hard time getting to the polls.
The court's decision to appoint a special judge -- who could be named as soon as today -- comes after three weeks of jockeying between Republicans and Democrats over the satellite early-voting sites.
The issue grows in significance each day as presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain compete in a key battleground state. As the race tightens, whoever wins Northwest Indiana could very well take the state, observers say.
So, both parties have pulled out the stops over the early voting sites.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 16, 2008 08:21 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts