Pa election court battles cont.

Timothy McNulty | October 29, 2008

Two of the (many) court cases to keep a watch on, with judges promising speedy decisions in both:

Federal judge hears case on paper ballot suit against the state, in case machines break down Tuesday. From the Inquirer:

The NAACP State Conference of Pennsylvania and individual voters sued Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro A. Cortes on Thursday to force the use of paper ballots if 50 percent or more of machines in any polling place fail. On Sept. 3, Cortes instructed poll workers to issue emergency paper ballots only if all machines failed at once.

The lawsuit alleges that voters would be disfranchised if they had to wait hours in line for machine repairs.

"We think people will become disgruntled and leave, and maybe even take stronger action," NAACP conference president J. Whyatt Mondesire told Judge Harvey Bartle III in Philadelphia.

But election officials expressed confidence in the machines and said Tuesday's election was too close to change procedures.

And Commonwealth Court hears another suit against the state, this time on the (asinine) T-shirt ban. From the AP/Erie T-L:

HARRISBURG - A state court judge promised a speedy ruling Tuesday in a case that questions whether Pennsylvanians should be allowed to vote if they are wearing partisan political attire.

Two local elections officials say the Pennsylvania Department of State lacked authority in issuing an advisory opinion last month that said counties should let voters cast ballots if they are wearing political shirts, buttons, stickers or similar items.

Richard Kraft, a judge of elections in Bethel Park, and John Dickinson, a minority inspector of elections in Pittsburgh, also contend that the legal position the state is promoting lacks support in Pennsylvania law.

"What the commonwealth - or the Department of State - is trying to do is legislate," said Ron Hicks, the plaintiffs' lawyer.

Louis Lawrence Boyle, representing the state, called the lawsuit "a tempest in a T-shirt" and said Hicks' clients waited until too close to the Nov. 4 election to seek a ruling that could affect counties throughout Pennsylvania.

"There is no constitutional right to procrastinate," Boyle told Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson. "It is much too late to do anything."