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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Ind. Decisions - Decision in the Lake County early voting case

Here is the 23-page opinion of Special Judge Diane Kavadias Schneider, in the Lake County early voting case, Curley v. Lake County Election Board, issued late this morning. The ruling concludes:

Intervenors' and Steelworkers Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction is GRANTED. The Lake County Board of Elections and Registration is hereby enjoined from terminating the operation of in person absentee voting currently being conducted in the offices of the Clerk of the Lake Circuit Court in the courthouse buildings in Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago and the offices of the Lake County Board of Elections and Registration in Crown Point..

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that all ballots that have been already been cast at the early voting locations in Gary, Hammond, East Chicago, and Crown Point shall not be invalidated except for instances of voter fraud.

In other words, voting can continue. More from the opinion:
22. Indiana courts routinely interpret the election laws to ensure that the maximum number of legitimate votes will be cast and counted, despite technical violations. As the Indiana Supreme Court has recognized:
To disenfranchise [voters] because of a mere irregularity or a mistaken construction of the law by a party committee or election commissioner would defeat the very purpose of all election laws.
Lumm v. Simpson, 194N.E. 341, 342 (Ind. 1935).
23. Early voting is proceeding and votes are being cast in Lake County. To stop voting now on the basis of an alleged technical irregularity (that only a majority of the Board of Elections voted to establish the voting locations) would contravene the very purpose of the election laws and the longstanding judicial principle of construing election laws to broaden, not restrict. the franchise.

24. The Steelworkers Plaintiffs are likely to prevail on their claim that denying access to early voting in the cities of Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago would violate the Indiana Constitution.

25. Article 2, Section 1 of the Indiana Constitution proclaims that "[all] elections shall be free and equal."

26. In Morris v. Powell, 25 N.E. 221.225 (Ind. 1890), the Indiana Supreme Court announced a constitutional standard for the regulation of elections under Article 2, Section 1 that has stood for the past 11 8 years: all voting regulations must be reasonable, uniform and impartial.

27. The failure to provide the opportunity for in person absentee voting in the cities of Gary, Harnmond, and East Chicago violates these constitutional principles in several respects:

(A) It would be neither reasonable nor fair to deny accessible early voting to residents of Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago. If Gary and Hammond have no early voting locations, the); would be the largest cities in Indiana without early voting facilities.

(B) Travel to Crown Point is impractical or impossible for many residents of Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago. It is not reasonable or fair to allow voters residing in Crown Point or in close proximity thereto to cast an early ballot there, while at the same time requiring the many more voters in Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago to make an onerous and lengthy round-trip there to vote.

(C) There is no reasonable justification for a change in election procedures from the 2008 Primary Election and the 2008 General Election. To provide for fewer early voting locations during the 2008 General Election, in which many more Lake County residents will vote, than existed during the 2008 Primary Election is unreasonable and makes voting comparatively more burdensome and difficult for the large population of voters in Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago.

(D) Making early voting comparatively more burdensome and difficult for the large population of voters in Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago also cannot be deemed fair and equal. The Court in Brewer v. McClelland, 32 N.E. 299,300 (Ind. 1892) held "it cannot be demonstrated by any course of sound reasoning that an election held under a law which imposes upon one class of citizens burdens not borne by others is equal."

28. Providing early voting in the community of Crown Point, with an overwhelming white population, and denying accessible early voting to the majority of Lake County's Afiican- American and Latino residentsi would violate Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 22, 2008 01:35 PM
Posted to Ind. Trial Ct. Decisions