Breaking in Florida tonight....
State Democrats filed a lawsuit against Republicans today asking a judge to keep elections supervisors from forcing some challenged voters from being able to cast a regular ballot.
Lawyers for the Florida Democratic Party filed the lawsuit against the Republican Party of Florida and the Republican National Committee in Leon County circuit court late this evening asking the judge to lay out what constitutes “frivolous” challenges to prevent an anticipated slew of challenges to voters, including those whose homes have been foreclosed on.
State law allows anyone to challenge a voter who must then vote by provisional ballot. Provisional ballots have a much higher chance of being tossed than regular ballots, studies have found, alarming Democrats because of reports that Republicans plan to use the challenge mechanism against Democratic voters.
The anticipated mass challenges are unprecedented in Florida elections history.
Well, we were expecting chaos in Florida on election day and it appears that the Democratic Legal Eagles are proactively seeking to cut the Repubs off at their knees. If this information, as alleged by the Democratic party, is true, the judge needs to make sure that severe penalties are in place if this activity is found at the polls.....
with apologies to the Palm Beach Post, I've posted the entire blog post from their political blog page as it's a complicated story and is best explained by reporter Dara Kam and I don't yet find any other news stories on the lawsuit....
The lawsuit in part relates to an unknown number of mailers sent to voters, including Democrats, that included a “party affiliation voter registration card” with the recipients’ name, address, congressional district, party affiliation and alleged voter identification number. A letter from GOP presidential candidate John McCain included in the mailer asked voters to donate to his campaign and to update the enclosed card.
The Florida Democratic Party filed the suit on behalf of a life-long registered Democrat in Leon County who received one of the mailings and a voter in Glades County who was on a list of about 300 other voters challenged by a Republican candidate for sheriff. That list was invalid because it was included in a single challenge; state law requires that a separate challenge oath be given for each voter.
The lawsuit alleges that the list was in part compiled by information from the mailings. RPOF officials have said the mailer was a typical fundraising letter and that Democrats were accidentally included in it.
The mailings also instructed the Post Office not to forward the flyers if they could not be delivered.
Republicans plan “to claim that the voter’s failure to return the partisan mailings proves that the targeted voters do not actually reside in the precincts in which they are registered to vote,” the lawsuit charges. Those are grounds for a challenge.
Democrats fear the challenges will come the day before or on election day “in an effort to postpone judicial scrutiny of their unlawful scheme until after the deed is done and the election is over,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit asks a judge to issue an order that county supervisors can ignore frivolous challenges and allow voters to cast regular ballots instead of provisional ballots.
The lawsuit also asks the judge to rule that frivolous challenges are based on: The failure of a voter to return mailers sent by Republicans. The fact that a flyer sent by Republicans was undeliverable. The Glades County list or similarly compiled lists. Only that a voter’s home has been foreclosed on.