Yesterday, U.S. citizens in Iraq
received an e-mail from the State Department advising them that Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) has resigned ... and notifying any overseas citizens registered to vote in the 16th Congressional District of Florida that although Foley's name will remain on the ballot, a vote for Foley is in fact a vote for his Republican replacement, state Rep. Joe Negron.
More below the fold ...
"Foley's name will remain on the ballot for both absentee and regular ballots," the e-mail reads. "Any votes cast for Foley will count toward the total of the substitute candidate."
Officials from the campaign for Negron's Democratic challenger, Tim Mahoney, are livid over the correspondence, saying it is a Republican ploy to maintain the GOP stronghold in Congress.
"Here they go again -- Karl Rove and his crowd are interfering with another Florida election," said Charles Halloran, a spokesman for the Mahoney campaign.
But Negron scoffs at those accusations, saying it is only fair that absentee voters overseas be informed of the unusual twist in the election to fill the district seat.
"It's important that people -- all over -- know how their vote is going to be counted," he said. "Their votes are just as important as our votes."
The e-mail began as a news release from the Department of Defense's Federal Voting Assistance Program, which is responsible for advising U.S. citizens abroad regarding their right to vote. However, given that a legal opinion already determined that written notices of the candidate substitution could not be included with mailed absentee ballots, doesn't the e-mail essentially do the same thing?
Perhaps this is much ado about nothing, but we have seen time and time again that the Bush "Administration" is willing to flout the law for its own ends. In a volatile political atmosphere where you would expect the Bushistas to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, this suggests either they aren't paying attention or they just don't care.
Either way, this is yet another way to keep the Foley cause celebre in the headlines ... and in the minds of voters.
(Cross-posted to the prodigal blog, Blast Off!)