Voter Lawsuit Filed in Arkansas' Blanche Lincoln, Bill Halter Senate Runoff - PoliticsDaily

[WillyT]

Voter Lawsuit Filed in Arkansas' Blanche Lincoln, Bill Halter Senate Runoff
Suzi Parker

<snip>

A lawsuit on behalf of three Arkansas voters against the Garland County Election Commission was filed late Tuesday afternoon, adding a dramatic twist to Tuesday's runoff between incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Lt. Governor Bill Halter for the Democratic Senate nomination.

The lawsuit, filed by Hot Springs attorney Ben Hooten, states that the commission intentionally scheduled only two polling sites for "the purpose of disenfranchising " minority, elderly, poor and disabled voters" in the county. It also says that "the greater part of the voting electorate are unable to find or reach" the polling places and are "thereby deprived of their right to vote and were disenfranchised."

"They've tried this before," Hooten said in an interview with Politics Daily. "They tried it in 2008 and I fled suit then. It was a special election on bonds that year, but they closed all the polls citywide, but one."

The suit filed Tuesday asks the court to stop the certification of the votes and challenges the validity of the runoff election. Once votes are certified in Arkansas, 10 days after an election, it is almost impossible to challenge them.

The lawsuit may be the first in a string of possible protests in Garland County, a populous area 55 miles from Little Rock that both the Lincoln and Halter campaigns have focused on with get-out-the-vote efforts.

County election officials decided to open only two polling spots for Tuesday's runoff instead of the 41 precincts that were open for the May 18 primary. The action was to save money, the county election commissioner said, but the state pays for primary and runoff elections.

A notice was supposed to be mailed by the county clerk under the direction of the county election commission to registered voters within 15 days of the election. That did not happen in Garland County.

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More: http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/06/08/voter-lawsuit-filed-in-arkansas-blanche-lincoln-bill-halter-se/

:shrug:

[Bryn]

1. Yay!!

So far Lincoln is ahead of Halter by 6%. I am so pissed for what they did to Garland County in city of Hot Springs, AR where Halter is very popular. 42 voting places reduced to just 2!!

[Hawkeye-X]

2. I certainly hope Hooten succeeds on the lawsuit

and the election results of Arkansas invalidated, ordered to open every entire polling places. Charles Tapp needs to resign effective immediately and placed under arrest for election fraud.

Hawkeye-X

[rocktivity]

3. CUE THE VONAGE THEME!

:woohoo:
rocktivity

[AlinPA]

4. 40 of 42 polling places in Garland County, AR were closed to suppress Halter voters.

What can be done about this?

[PM Martin]

5. A blatent sham. It sounds like a banana republic.