The GOP continues its proud tradition of attempting to limit citizens' ability to vote where possible. In Lake County, Indiana (the northwest corner near Chicago) made up of cities including Gary, East Chicago, Hammond, and Crown Point, the county election board voted along party lines to open up satellite offices for early voting in Gary, East Chicago, and Hammond. The default, under Indiana law, is for in-person early voting to be available at the site of the county election board (in Lake County -- for other counties, it's the site of the clerk of the circuit court.) That happens to be in Crown Point, Indiana; a Republican friendly area of Lake County. The election board is permitted to open up satellite offices. When it voted to open such sites along a 3-2 party line vote, the fate of the satellite offices began a legal odyssey that has gone through 4 courts so far. More after the jump.
The Republicans who voted against opening up satellite offices declined to explain their vote but cried foul when the election board moved ahead with the satellite offices for the more Democratically inclined Gary, East Chicago, and Hammond. They filed suit in the county's superior court (with a Republican friendly judge) when the statute pretty clearly states that the county's circuit court (with a less Republican friendly judge) has jurisdiction. The superior court issued an order temporarily blocking the satellite voting centers. Since then, the case has bounced from superior court to federal court to the circuit court to the Indiana supreme court.
It bears mentioning that Blue Indiana and the Indiana Law Blog, in particular, have been doing a great job on the ongoing saga.
As I mentioned, initially only Crown Point had an early voting site in the Lake County government center there. On September 23, the Lake County election board voted, along party lines, to open satellite offices for voting in Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago. The Republican members claimed that it required a unanimous decision of the election board to open those satellite offices.
The Republicans filed suit in the Lake County Superior Court requesting that the satellite offices be enjoined. Superior Court judge Calvin Hawkins granted a temporary restraining order preventing the early voting in those largely Democratic cities. The Democrats removed the case to the federal court. In the meantime, a group of Democrats filed their own suit in the Lake County Circuit Court requesting that it enter an order requiring the satellite vote centers to be open.
The federal court kicked the Superior case back down to the Superior judge. The circuit court entered an order requiring the centers to remain open. The superior court declined to intervene any further as of yesterday.
The latest is that the Indiana Supreme Court has entered an order consolidating the circuit and superior court cases and putting them both back in the superior court. The Supreme Court specifically did not rule on whether the superior court had jurisdiction or on the merits of the case. It set forth an expedited procedure for the parties to exercise their right to an automatic change of the judge if they so desired.
Thomas at Blue Indiana has suggested that the statute appears fairly clear that disputes with decisions of the election board are to be taken to the circuit court per IC 3-6-5.2-9. On the other hand, the Republicans seem to have a case that satellite voting centers are to be opened only upon unanimous vote of the election board per IC 3-11-10-26.3(b). The circuit court, in allowing the vote centers to remain open, noted that the Republican members who voted against the resolution to open satellite offices declined to provide a reason and that allowing a vote center in Crown Point while denying them in Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago might very well be unconstitutional. (At the preliminary injunction stage of the proceedings the judge is considering likely outcomes when the case gets a full blown hearing.)
So, for the moment, voters can cast votes in Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago. I wonder what happens to the votes cast there if those vote centers are ultimately closed. One would think that votes should get counted even if voters' election officials failed them through inter-party wrangling. On the other hand: "Forget it, Jake. It's Lake County."
To give some idea of the numbers involved, Lake County, Indiana has a population of about 500,000, making it Indiana's second largest county (after Marion County (Indianapolis)). Overall, the racial makeup of the county is 66.72% White, 25.33% Black or African American, 0.28% Native American, 0.82% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 4.96% from other races, and 1.85% from two or more races. 12.20% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. However, for Crown Point, with a population of about 20,000, about 95% of the population is white. Meanwhile, Hammond has a population of 85,000 people, of whom 62% are white (non-Hispanic), 21% are Hispanic, and 15% are black. East Chicago has a population of 32,000 people of whom 12% are white (non-Hispanic), 51% Hispanic, and 36% black. Finally, Gary has a population of 102,000 people, of whom 84% are black, 12% are white, and 5% are Hispanic.
Lake County's 500,000 people represent approximately 8% of Indiana's total population and, as such, its vote can be expected to play a significant part in determining the fate of Indiana's 11 electoral votes. In addition, it has a substantial black population, and it is very much in Chicago's sphere of influence. As such, it can be expected to break heavily for Senator Obama. For low income citizens without good access to transportation, having to travel to Crown Point from one of the other cities represents a significant impediment. Early voting is an important tool to alleviate long lines for an insufficient number of voting machines, a phenomenon which seems to be more pronounced in low income urban areas. Given how close Indiana seems to be in the polls as between Obama and McCain, the availability of early voting in Lake County could very well be a determining factor in how those electoral votes are cast.