Police officer charged.

This one involves tampering with absentee ballots.  More here.

The Rome News has more.

“Dead in Ohio but still voting.”   Washington Times.

Sounding like some groups who used to do good work for military voters, the state of Wisconsin is questioning whether military voters really need their ballots 45 days in advance, and whether technology might instead be an adequate remedy.  Of course Congress rejected Wisconsin’s argument and hopefully the Justice Department will also.  Electronic mitigating factors are NOT adequate work arounds under MOVE.  But you can see Wisconsin’s contempt for military voters getting a ballot on time here.

“To deny a waiver because you don’t have 45 days seems to be a misuse of waivers,” said GAB Chairman Gordon Myse.

Sorry Gordon, that’s inaccurate.  FVAP knew better.  Hopefully, so will the DOJ attorneys negotiating the case.  Frankly, one wonders why Wisconsin hasn’t been sued already.  And in a turn of events from the twilight zone, Wisconsin may be dumping thousands of military voters into he inactive category thus blocking them from voting.  Yet another reason for DOJ to launch a lawsuit immediately.  There is no reason not to as it strengthens their negotiating position and mitigates the same argument that has been used against their military voting cases in the past – the DOJ waits too long to sue states.

As we have reported, Wisconsin is in negotiations with the Department of Justice regarding their military voting procedures which are not compliant with the MOVE Act. More here.  Wisconsin thinks that electronic measures are enough to solve the problem, which of course they are not.  Many, including Senators, are waiting to see if DOJ agrees with this middling solution that lets them avoid hard litigation. The solution is to print and mail the ballots on time using one of the many vendors who can get the job done.  The solution isn’t electronic measures front line troops can’t use.  It may take a private plaintiff to intervene or sue Wisconsin to bring someone to the negotiating table to truly implement a remedy that protects front line troops, and not just someone studying at the Sorbonne.  Some organizations care about students at the Sorbonne, others care about military voters.

Palm Beach Post has more.   The story says, “The court also tossed the lawmakers’ redistricting proposal, Amendment 7, finding that it lacked crucial information telling voters that, if passed, lawmakers would no longer be required to craft districts that are contiguous.”

The Plain Dealer has more.   After the electoral board deadlocked, Jennifer Brunner cast the deciding vote to impose Spanish language ballots county-wide instead of targeting precincts where there is need. The Plain Dealer article places the cost at between $500,000 and $1 million dollars.   A good day for Jon Husted.   A very bad day for Maryellyn O’Shaughnessy.

I’ll be on KSKY  in Dallas, Texas on the Wells Report on Friday.  Hopefully I will be able to talk about all of the lawsuits Eric Holder’s Justice Department filed to protect military voters this week in states like Hawaii or Wisconsin. 

Commander (USNR) Eric Eversole appeared on WAVA-FM to discuss the Department of Justice failing to adequately protect military voters.  Eversole’s interview begins about minute 28. You can listen to the interview here.  Eversole takes particular issue with the argument that electronic delivery can solve this problem – an argument being made by Wisconsin and some nonprofits who have been involved in this issue.  Eversole describes statistics demonstrating that many overseas military members have no access to computers and printers.