[EL] Virginia Voter Purge Case ELB News and Commentary 10/19/13

Sat Oct 19 04:44:28 PDT 2013

I observed the hearing before Judge Hilton in this case brought by the
Virginia Democratic Party yesterday.

.

Among the several reasons Judge Hilton denied the Motion for a Preliminary
Injunction was that he bought the State Board of Elections argument that
provisional ballots cast by persons who were wrongfully dropped from the
rolls would be counted.

Unfortunately, we know that this cannot be taken for granted. Here in
Fairfax County, Virginia, for example, a significant number of provisional
votes were not counted for reasons completely immaterial to questions about
the identity and qualifications of the voter. For example, I am told that
over 20 ballots were rejected because election officers in the precincts
forgot to sign the outside of the absentee ballot envelope. Others were
rejected for lack of a full or partial social security number - a violation
of section 7 of the Privacy Act

The Fairfax County Democrats continue to sue the State Board of Elections in
state court over questions about what is a material omission from the
absentee ballot envelope. But if every vote enjoys constitutional protection
because it is "preservative of all other rights" the voter purge means that
significant numbers of people's constitutional rights will be violated, and
the provisional balloting process will provide no cure.

Irreparable harm is likely, and IMHO, Judge Hilton got this one wrong.

By the way, I almost never see my own posts on this list-serve. I would
appreciate it if one of you on the list serve could write back, just to
confirm you got this.

Best,

Marc Greidinger

Outside Counsel, Fairfax County Democratic Committee

(703) 626-1363

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Rick
Hasen
Sent: Friday, October 18, 2013 11:22 PM
To: law-election at UCI.edu
Subject: [EL] ELB News and Commentary 10/19/13

 <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56084> "Judge denies injunction in voter
lawsuit brought by Democrats" 

Posted on October 18, 2013 10:56 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=56084>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>  

Times-Dispatch
<http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/judge-
denies-injunction-in-voter-lawsuit-brought-by-democrats/article_c78b1904-380
e-11e3-9a05-0019bb30f31a.html> : "A federal judge has rejected a request
from Virginia Democrats who want the State Board of Elections to reinstate
nearly 40,000 voters who were recently purged from the voter rolls."

<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%
3Fp%3D56084&title=%E2%80%9CJudge%20denies%20injunction%20in%20voter%20lawsui
t%20brought%20by%20Democrats%E2%80%9D&description=> Share

Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> , The
Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> , voter registration
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=37>  

-- 
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu
http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org
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