My latest on the 2012 election, Mitch Daniels and lawlessness at Pajamas:
“South Carolina politics are changing, but they aren’t changed. Pro-business mainstream conservatives who give no offense to evangelicals and mainline Protestants — and, ideally, who have demonstrable national security credibility — are the candidates who win the South Carolina primary. Everyone wondering who will be the GOP nominee in 2012 should read that last sentence ten times over. Failure on any point means failure in South Carolina.”

Daytona (FL) is finally holding an election to replace a disgraced City Commissioner who was removed from office after he committed voter fraud.  Derrick Henry was unseated after he and a campaign aide, Genesis Robinson, made dozens of illegal absentee ballot requests.  Derrick Henry’s brother, Patrick Henry, is now running for the same seat.  More here.

“Last October, Commissioner Derrick Henry was unseated following allegations of voter fraud. A special run-off election slated for Jan. 11 between candidates Mario Henderson, 23, and Patrick Henry (Derrick’s older brother), 50, should finally deliver representation back to Zone 5 residents.  ‘Our seat sits empty,’ Mr. Henderson said at a NAACP-sponsored election forum Monday night. ‘This races is about giving our community a voice.’ Mr. Henry did not attend the forum.”

After the storm of controversy last fall over the waiver it received, Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed is asking the Legislature to move Washington’s Primary Election two weeks earlier, to early August, to ensure that Washington complies with a new federal law requiring military ballots to be mailed 45 days before Election Day. 

Reed said Washington needs to move the state’s Primary Election to the first Tuesday in August to comply with the Military & Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act, passed by Congress in 2009. The Primary date must be earlier because the MOVE Act requires military and overseas ballots to be mailed 45 days before November’s Election Day instead of Washington’s current law of 30 days before Election Day.

“Last year, our state was able to receive a waiver from the Department of Defense and Department of Justice that allowed us to mail our military-voter ballots when we would normally, but federal officials made it clear that we shouldn’t count on getting that waiver in the future, so we need to move up the Primary to follow the MOVE Act,” Reed said.   

In 2010, Reed asked legislators to allow military and overseas voters to return ballots by fax or e-mail rather than by slower surface mail. That measure was unanimously passed by the House before failing to be brought to the Senate floor for a vote.

“Military and overseas voters have repeatedly asked for the ability to scan and return their ballots by e-mail,” said Reed, noting that 20 other states use this approach and that it’s working well for them. “When you’re a soldier stationed in the hills of Afghanistan or on a ship in the middle of the ocean, you don’t have much time to mail back your ballot, so this bill provides a modern, practical solution that allows military voters to return their ballots in a timely way.”

“With complaints filed by both parties, the state Attorney General’s Office has been asked to investigate an allegation of ‘criminal conduct’ in The Woodlands Road Utility District No. 1 election. 

Attorney James Stilwell, who represents the three RUD board incumbents, filed a complaint with the Secretary of State that certain persons ‘swore to false residence addresses on their voter registration applications and subsequently voted illegally’ in the district’s election on May 8, McGeehan stated in her letter.”

Full story here.

Memo Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell:  You aren’t heading in the the right direction when DOJ makes a “more information” request.  It means you have problems. 

Louisiana wants to move to open primaries.  They made a submission under Section 5 to the DOJ.  The DOJ made a more information request instead of preclearing the submission.  This means there are problems with the submission, despite the rosy statements by state officials.

What to do?  Submit the open primary plan direction to the District Court in DC.  Georgia figured it out that the best way to ensure your plan is approved is to go straight to court.  When you sue, and particularly when you allege that Section 5 is unconstitutional, the DOJ may be more likely to agree to settle and approve the plan in a close case.  Court is easier, faster, cheaper – and most of all – more honest.  Georgia won.   Louisiana can too.

In particular, someone should let Sharon Kleinpeter know that the pattern of more information requests indicates the submission is not on a smooth glideslope to approval.  There is BOTH an October 8 and December 7 request for more information.  Double more information requests do not bode well for preclearance.  In fact, had Buddy Caldwell filed the action in District Court on August 8 instead of with the DOJ, the plan would have most likely already been approved already.  According to NOLA.com:

AP.

A candidate thinks they win an election, but finds out she doesn’t live in her district, and a Federal court is involved.  More at The Town Talk.

A former Justice Department lawyer is writing a book about his experiences as a Justice Department lawyer and the inside story of protecting the right to vote in Mississippi and other places.  More at ABC.

Full story.

A boy, a war, an ocean journey and a miracle. 

No story today about elections could be a better read than this American Thinker piece.