Washignton Times editorial on Cuyahoga County (OH).   It pertains to Spanish language ballots.

A new film is coming out called “Neshoba”  about Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner.  I hope it opens also on the east coast.  It is about a visit to Neshoba county and extensive interviews with Preacher Ray Killen before and after his trial.  I wrote about Neshoba County and the memorials to the three at Pajamas Media.
 

Hawaii is almost as bad as Wisconsin when it comes to what is going to happen to military voters.  Hawaii is not in compliance with the MOVE Act and DOJ should act now.

Bob Carey and his shop at the Department of Defense (FVAP) did a great job and found that Hawaii, home to Pearl Harbor and six other major military installations totaling over 45,000 men and women, didn’t deserve a waiver from the MOVE Act.   Hawaii provided only 35 total days to send ballots to military voters, a full 10 days below the required 45 days under the MOVE Act.  Hawaii overseas voters must generally return the ballots by postal mail unless the voter asserts that they have not received their ballot within 5 days of the election and request a replacement ballot to be sent by fax or email to allow the ballot to be returned by fax.  Again, the Department of Defense recognized the truth that the use of fax is about as up to date as sending messages to the troops by 8 track cassette or vinyl record. People suggesting technological solutions to this problem sometimes have a financial interest in the solutions.  If you happen to be in the Navy at the tip of the spear deployed on a U.S. carrier in the Pacific or Indian Oceans or the Persian Gulf from your home base in Hawaii, you never sacrificed your right to vote.  This year you might have to add it to the long list of sacrifices unless the Justice Department immediately brings a lawsuit to remedy the problem.

The DOD analysis, in reviewing this waiver request, was quite succinct and to the point:  Denied. 

Military voters from Hawaii need a little more action and a little less behind closed doors talk.

Pajamas TV report on military voting.  Click here.

On local Fox News 6 a Wisconsin lawmaker says  the military “voting debacle the result of incompetence.”  

We don’t disagree.  On the video, State Representative Stone says Wisconsin’s going to have a big problem on election day.  “It’s just basically inept management that allowed the situation to get to this point.” 

Why did the Wisconsin government accountability board presume they would be allowed to ignore MOVE?  State officials are saying they cannot get the ballots out in time.  What is the DOJ waiting for?  A lawsuit should be filed immediately before Wisconsin’s equitable arguments that DOJ sat on their hands for months are further strengthened.  Every day that goes by with only secret negotiations between DOJ and Mr. Kennedy makes it more likely that soldiers from Wisconsin will lose their right to vote.

Well that didn’t take long.  A guilty plea in the voter fraud trial fo the former Hale County (AL) circuit court clerk.  More details here with a hat tip to RL. 

Singleton was the circuit clerk of Hale County (AL) we previously wrote about here.   During elections monitored by the Justice Department from 2006-2007, certain DOJ lawyers did not want to pay close attention to her behavior because they were hostile to equal enforcement of the civil rights laws.  They explicitly did not want the Voting Rights Act to be used to monitor the bad behavior of national racial minorities.  I wrote about this hostility in Hale County here at Pajamas Media, and it has been sworn to under oath here.  

A voter fraud trial in Hale County (AL) has begun involving the former Circuit Clerk of Court.  The Tuscaloosa News has more.

“Gay Nell Singleton was arrested in 2008 and faces 13 felony charges, including accusations of forging absentee ballots, stemming from a voter fraud investigation led by the state Attorney General’s office. She was freed on $13,000 bail and has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors say she committed the voter fraud offenses during her term as Hale County Circuit Clerk from January 2001 to December 2007.”

I have previously written about Hale County Alabama and electoral trickery taking place there for Pajamas Media.  Some attorneys at the DOJ were willing to investigate and monitor elections in Hale County, while others were hostile to doing so because the wrongdoers were members of a national racial minority group.  I wrote there:

“Perry wasn’t the only place in Alabama this racially motivated rigging of elections occurred. Hale County was also victimized. The Department’s opponents of race-neutral enforcement of the civil rights laws were particularly obstructionist in Hale. But some courageous lawyers persisted, and sought to ensure federal election observers memorialized all of the racially motivated illegal assistance and vote denial.”

The defendant in the trial that started this week was the protagonist which certain DOJ lawyers wanted to give a pass to.  It plainly demonstrates the danger of refusing to enforce the law in a race neutral fashion.

Praise for Bob Carey at the Pentagon’s FVAP unit from the American Spectator.   Criticism for DOJ.  Praise for Senator John Cornyn.  Questions for Michael Steele.  All here.

Fox News ran a segment today about the DOJ’s threat to sue Cuyahoga County (OH) to have Spanish language ballots used countywide.  You an view the debate here.  For previous Election Law Center coverage on the issue click here and here.

From the Washington Times:

“The Justice Department should file suit this week against dozens of states that appear not to be in compliance with a 2009 law to ensure voting rights for military personnel stationed abroad. Failure to file suit will expose the Obama administration’s lack of commitment to military voting.”

The article notes that the National Association of Secretaries of State identified only 11 of 38 states as in compliance with ballot tracking requirements of MOVE.  By my math, that means at least 27 states could be immediate defendants in cases brought by the Justice Department only on tracking capabilities, much less all the other provisions states are ignoring.  So far, DOJ has filed ZERO lawsuits to enforce MOVE despite having knowledge for a month or more about which states are not in compliance with MOVE.   More from the Times:

“Former Justice Department voting rights lawyer J. Christian Adams told The Washington Times that Justice could and should file suit within 24 hours against all noncompliant states, and that there is no reason the department can’t secure temporary injunctions from judges within the week to force compliance. Otherwise, he explained, states can argue – and in previous years have indeed argued – that the lawsuit and injunction are too late to make compliance physically possible. ‘Every day that goes by will strengthen the legal position of those noncompliant states and make it more likely that some military votes will go uncounted,’ Mr. Adams said.

Sen. John Cornyn, the Texas Republican who co-authored the 2009 law, agreed yesterday that more must be done. ‘The ball is back in the attorney general’s court,’ he said. ‘Now is the time for DOJ to act, or further disenfranchisement of our troops will certainly result.; Those defending our freedom must not be denied their right to vote.”

If the Justice Department wants Deputy Attorney General nominee James Cole to be confirmed anytime soon, they would be wise to stop having secret discussions with noncompliant states like Wisconsin and start suing them.