Vo Still Standing: Challenger Should Withdraw

[gmoses]

By Greg Moses
Texas Civil Rights Review

While it may be another week before the Master of Discovery releases a report on the challenge brought against the election of Texas State Rep. Hubert Vo (D-Houston), informal signs indicate that the challenge will fail. In fact, given irregularities discovered in voter questionnaires that have been returned by the challenger with two kinds of ink and two kinds of handwriting, it would seem best if the challenger gracefully withdrew as soon as possible.

By the time that Master of Discovery Will Hartnett (R-Dallas) called the first break on the second day of hearings Friday, it would have been clear to him that the challenge had failed. That was the point at which he had completed his review of voter depositions. While his case-by-case assessment of depositions resulted in a net loss of some 20 votes from Vo's 33-vote election victory, his informal rulings would not have reversed the outcome.

http://texascivilrightsreview.org/phpnuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=157

[Nothing Without Hope]

1. I don't think the challenger is CAPABLE of grace, he will not stop

until forced to do so by others. This kind of single-minded, stupid selfishness seems familiar, somehow...

[PDittie]

2. Here's a take from Keir Murray:

Hour after hour, voter after voter was challenged by Heflin's lawyer, Andy Taylor -- yes, the same Andy Taylor who collected hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars defending the GOP's Congressional redistricting plan.

It was not lost on this observer that nearly every one of those challenged voters had an Asian, Latino or African surname. This makes perfect sense given Heflin's announcement that "we're going to be looking at a certain kind of voter, in a certain part of the district." Subtle, Talmadge.

*snip*

In his opening, (Vo attorney Larry) Veselka made a point that really hit home. In a society where cynicism about the political process abounds, where folks distrust elected officials and wonder why they should even bother voting, accusing a bunch of responsible, well-meaning citizens of voter fraud is the last thing we need. It seems to me the people are on trial here, and that stinks for democracy.

http://www.houtopia.com/