PA NIGHTMARE? Could NADER ABSENTEE ballot snafu hurt Kerry in PA?

[gauguin57]

Many large PA counties mailed out absentee ballots with Nader's name on them RIGHT BEFORE STATE COURT KICKED HIM OFF REGULAR BALLOT.

Could be an election NIGHTMARE! Dems. in Lanc. County asking for new absentee ballots to be sent!

http://www.lancasteronline.com/pages/news/local/4/9113

(very easy registration)

snip...

"Lancaster County (PA) was certainly not alone in mailing out thousands of absentee ballots with Ralph Nader’s name on them before a court decided he was ineligible. Some of the largest counties in Pennsylvania — Bucks, Montgomery, Philadelphia and Allegheny — did exactly the same thing. “We couldn’t wait for the Commonwealth Court to decide whether he stays on the ballot for fear we would disenfranchise people,” Michael Wojcik, Allegheny County’s solicitor, told The Post-Gazette newspaper.

"But Nader’s appearance on literally tens of thousands of absentee ballots statewide has touched off controversy in an already poisonous election-year atmosphere. It has also raised the possibility of a Florida-style fiasco.

“The head of Lancaster County’s Democratic committee, Bruce Beardsley, argues that Nader is not legally a candidate, and therefore should not appear on the ballot. ... "The effect is to circumvent the petition requirements of candidates for public office,” he said in a letter to the Lancaster County commissioners this morning seeking corrected ballots be mailed out.

"Beardsley has also alleged that the Republican-controlled board was politically motivated when it ordered the 4,500 absentee ballots mailed just hours before the Commonwealth Court kicked Nader off the ballot on Wednesday. They’re now worried that Nader will siphon votes from Kerry."

[WI_DEM]

1. will this disqualify those ballots?

[jean]

2. he's not legally a candidate? You'd think they'd disallow any absentee

votes for him and let those people vote for the legally certified candidates. It seems to me those absentee ballots would themselves be 'not legal' since they feature an illegal candidate.

Here in MN, after Paul Wellstone died, the absentee votes that arrived (voting for him) weren't allowed to count for the replacement Dem candidate, Walter Mondale. All of those Wellstone votes just got thrown away.

[gauguin57]

4. So, they throw away the vote for just president, but consider the votes

for others on the ballot? I don't know the answer ... and how could they only throw away Nader votes and not all the absentee ballots (after all, if we were brain-dead, you or I could write the asshole in!).

And, get this:

"It is unclear how many absentee ballots have been mailed out across the state. But in the hotly contested 2000 presidential race, about 240,000 of the state’s 4.9 million votes were done by absentee ballot, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

The margin of victory — Democrat Al Gore beat now-president George W. Bush in Pennsylvania — was only 204,840, illustrating the important role absentee ballots can play in a close election.

If the election is close in Pennsylvania — and polls have shown that it is — Nader’s appearance on some absentee ballots opens the door for lengthy, post-election court battles...

[jean]

5. no - I said it seems like the abs ballots themselves are screwed up

because of the presence of a non-legal candidate on them. They'd have to sift through them all to find the ones with Nader listed as a candidate and pull them out. Then somehow (unbeknownst to me) let those voters re-vote their whole ballot. It would be costly and time consuming.

I'd like to see them say, excuse us, but we have some impropriety in our absentee ballots and we need to correct the problem and require further voter input.

[gauguin57]

7. Lancaster County is run by fascist Republicans.

They aren't gonna do SQUAT about this unless someone legally FORCES them to!

[gauguin57]

3. Dept of state sez it's legal

"Brian McDonald, a spokesman for the Department of State, said Lancaster County’s decision to mail absentee ballots before the court ruling — thus with Nader’s name — was perfectly legal.

"Counties are under no obligation to send corrected absentee ballots, he said. The deadline for counties to mail out absentee ballots is Tuesday.

"The state’s top election official had advised each county to hold off until after the court’s decision on Nader — “to alleviate any kind of headache they might see from their end,” McDonald said. “But that was only an advisory,” he added. “If they chose to go ahead and start delivering them, that was fine. It’s the counties’ call. We can only offer an advisory.”

[jean]

6. however this plays out I would really love to know how many votes

for Nader came in on those abs ballots

[gauguin57]

8. Analysts are saying if this election is really close and these absentees

are allowed to stand, we could be SCREWED in one of the most important battleground states in the country!!!

[gauguin57]

9. kick for the night shift.

Isn't this bullshit?