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Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Ind. Decisions - Still more on: Remote voting sites at issue in Lake County

Updating yesterday's ILB entry, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen yesterday vacated Lake County Circuit Court Judge Lorenzo Arredondo's ruling from Monday that the satellite sites be opened. Bill Dolan of the NWI Times reports:

U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen met Tuesday afternoon with attorneys for county Republican and Democratic officials and issued an order forbidding the opening of early voting satellite offices in the county's three largest cities. Van Bokkelen is scheduled to hear further evidence Friday regarding whether such satellite offices would violate state law by opening. * * *

Democratic officials want the satellite offices in Gary, Hammond and East Chicago immediately opened because they expect a record voter turnout and want to avoid long lines and other impediments to voting by Nov. 4.

But Republicans sued in state and federal court last week to stop the satellite locations from opening, arguing too many early voting locations would strain the county election staff's efforts to stop vote fraud.

The GOP contends state law requires an unanimous bipartisan vote by the election board to establish satellite early voting offices.

The Lake County elections board voted 3-2 last month to open the satellite early voting centers in the Hammond, Gary and East Chicago downtown courthouses. The board's two Republican members dissented.

John Byrne of the Gary Post-Tribune, was had the initial stories on this dispute, reports today:
HAMMOND -- Union leaders joined the president of the Indiana NAACP Tuesday in pressuring Lake County election officials to open remote voting locations in Hammond, Gary and East Chicago.

But the federal judge presiding over the controversy decided Tuesday to take that option off the table -- at least, for now.

Standing outside the Hammond branch of the Lake County Superior Court -- where one of the early in-person absentee voting sites would be located -- state NAACP president Barbara Bolling said voters in the three northern cities are being disenfranchised each day they can't cast ballots at their local clerk's offices.

Currently, early voting is only available in Lake County at the Election Office in Crown Point.

"We believe the citizens of Gary, Hammond and East Chicago have absolutely the right to the same services as the citizens of Crown Point," Bolling said.

Lake County Circuit Court Judge Lorenzo Arredondo ruled Monday that the three sites should be opened immediately, though U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen had set a hearing on the issue for later this week.

However, federal court records indicate Van Bokkelen vacated Arredondo's order Tuesday during a conference call with attorneys in the case. * * *

The state Election Board says at least 10 Indiana counties -- Porter, LaPorte, Marion and St. Joseph counties, among them -- have instituted satellite early voting for the election.

Lake County Democrats had hoped to open the satellite offices on Monday.

But two Republicans on the Lake County Election Board voted against the sites last month, contending in-person absentee voting makes vote fraud easier.

Their three Democratic counterparts then decided they could institute the early voting centers without GOP support.

The Republicans sued in state court for a temporary restraining order, and the Democrats petitioned to move the case to federal court by arguing the case hinges on federal voting rights.

The hearing before Van Bokkelen had been set for Thursday, but was moved to Friday be-cause one of the attorneys has "health issues," according to federal records.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 8, 2008 08:39 AM
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