Judge: "NO" Polling Place Signs for Foley (Vote for Foley = Negron Vote)

[truthpusher]

http://www.sun-herald.com/breakingnews/bn_328.cfm

Judge: Florida law won’t allow polling place signs for Negron

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida law doesn't permit polling place signs saying a vote for former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, a Republican who sent suggestive messages to congressional pages, will go to a replacement candidate, a Democratic Party lawyer argued in court today.

The Florida Democratic Party sought a temporary injunction to stop election officials from using signs to tell voters that while Foley's name remains on the ballot, state Rep. Joe Negron will get his votes.

To remain neutral the signs would also say Democrat Tim Mahoney and unaffiliated candidate Emmie Ross each also would get the votes cast for them. Democratic Party lawyer Mark Herron, though, argued the signs still are political. "

That type of notice favors the Republican candidate," Mark Herron said. "There's no need to state that a vote for Mahoney is a vote for Mahoney."

Herron said the signs amount to campaign materials, which state law prohibits from being distributed or displayed within 100 feet of any polling place.

(snip)

more: http://www.sun-herald.com/breakingnews/bn_328.cfm

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. I don't know, sounds like bullshit to me.

If there's gonna be confusion as to why Foley's name is still on the ballot, then I think the people have a right to have that confusion lessened.

I think the Democrats shot themselves in the foot again with this nonsense.

What's next - we can't put the nominee's names anywhere on the ballot, and people just have to guess which checkbox goes with which candidate?

Fer fuck's sake.

[Richard Steele]

4. If the law is flawed, then we need to change the law, not IGNORE it.

This ruling simply says that Repubs can't ignore the law.

And if this particular application of the law happens to
favor our party, the blame rests soley with the party who
created the situation by concealing and enabling a known
sexual predator they COULD HAVE rid themselves of years ago.

[never_get_over_it]

5. There is no confusion why Foley's name is still on the ballot

its still on the ballot because it is Florida law....as it is not to "campaign" withing whatever the distance is from the polling place.

The repunks have plenty of opportunity to post signs within the allowed limit to help their oh so confused voters

and truthfully how many people who will actually go out to vote do not know about this Foley scandal and all the details that go with it including the replacement candidate....

The court made the absolute correct decision based on the Florida election law - whether the election law is appropriate is another issue entirely.

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. When I ask myself, "How would I feel if it was a Democrat

who was on the ballot but no longer running due to a sex scandal (or any issue)?", I find myself answering in the same way: that putting up a sign letting voters know what will happen to their votes is the only right and just thing to do when the ballot has name or names on it that are no longer eligible to be voted for.

As much as I wallow in the misery of Foley and the scandals of the Republicans, and as much as I would love to see them punished in every way possible, I know that if it were a democrat and democratic voters being punished unfairly, I would speak out; and I know that, after two elections rife with fraud, and remembering the debacle with confusing ballots in Florida in 2000, we should be doing everything possible to ensure that every vote gets counted as the voter intended, and that every vote cast gets cast as the voter intended, whether they be for us or someone else.

And so I speak out in favor of doing what is fair, right, and just. What is the harm in an explanatory note that tells people where their vote will go? I see no harm in it whatsoever, and I see no way in which putting up an explanatory note counts as "campaigning".

[mdmc]

8. actually, I kinda like the consistency of election law

It works pretty well in most instances.

It sucks when someone dies, for instance, and their name has to remain on the ballot. Shit happens. I like the way the law consistently remains neutral.

I understand the desire to reform election law to be more open (so it is easier for people to join the process), but both partys are pretty much against it (cause they will lose control of the process, the process which they currently have a monopoly on).

Bring it on, I guess. (Bring on the reform).

[never_get_over_it]

9. There is absolutely nothing stopping the repunks

from passing out flyers, talking to voters or having signs explaining the situation to voters - they just CAN NOT do it within so many feet of the polling place as the law states that there is no campaigning within that distance. And I can not fathom why or how you think that such an explanation is not campaigning.

Florida state law says that the name can't be taken off the ballot - but a vote for the name on the ballot will go to the replacement candidate and Florida laws says you can't campaign within a certain distance of the polling place. The ruling was correct.

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. Since you can't fathom how I can't understand it, how about explaining it?

I still don't see how it is campaigning.

I don't see it any different than if somehow a typo or other error made it to the ballot, and a sign was put up to explain what the ballot SHOULD say.

It's not campaigning if it's merely stating a bona fide, absolute, true fact: if a vote for Foley goes to what's his name, what's the harm in explaining it?

I truly don't see how they consider that campaigning.

If I go to the Met Opera, and the lead singer is sick and the replacement is going to do the show, they put a little slip of paper in the program saying "So and so is ill - she will be replaced by such and such". Just so we know.

Considering how tenuous the relations in this country are, I am in favor of handing out more information, rather than less, just to be absolutely sure that everyone is on the same playing field.

I don't know - maybe there's a perfectly logical, sensible reason for it - if so, I'm absolutely not seeing it.

[never_get_over_it]

13. Is a yard sign campaigning?

if this new repunk candidate makes a TV commercial stating that Folley's name is staying on the ballot because of Florida law but if you vote for him it will be counted as a vote for me - is that commercial campaigning? Anything that brings attention to a candidate's name and their race is a possible advantage to that candidate and therefore is campaigning. All three states I have lived in have forbidden "campaigning" within a certain distance of the polling place. In Virginia we were not even allowed as poll workers to tell someone what party a candidate is in. I stated in an earlier post that whether this restriction is appropriate or not is a different subject. The law would be equally applied to a Dem if the situation were reversed. This incident happened five weeks before the election - plenty of time to get the word out ESPECIALLY with all the publicity around this one. It is the candidate's responsibility to get their message out to the voters - to campaign - it is the voter's responsibility to know who the hell they are going to vote for before they come to the polls. For the most part the campaigning is over on election day which is devoted to GOTV if the campaign hasn't done their job - or the voter hasn't informed themselves of the candidates so be it...and you are still missing the point that outside of the restricted area the campaigns are completely able to hand out flyers - sample ballots and whatever to get their messages out to potential uninformed voters- I have personally spent countless hours doing just that - but beyond the distance to the polling place as required by law - it is not necessary inside the polls. And one final thing to have poll workers posting signs for a particular candidate - these poll workers are being paid from tax payer's funds - a tax payer who just might not want one of their "employees" promoting candidates they don't support.

[gkhouston]

10. nah, 100 feet from the polling place is still quite close. They can put

up signs and even have people handing out flyers. Hell, I find my polling place when they shift it to a new address by looking for a rash of signs.

[KingFlorez]

2. One point for fairness

It was illegal for them to attempt do this.

[Eugene]

3. Good call. Let's hope it stands up on appeal.

The Repubs will just have to get the word out about Joe Negron
outside the polling place as it should be. They made this mess
for themselves, they shouldn't be allowed to bend the law to clean
it up.

[soothsayer]

6. Good!

[warrens]

12. Good one

No need reminding numbnuts Repukes that Foley isn't running. Hopefully, a bunch will either vote Dem or leave it blank in disgust. But that's actually not a Repuke district, or not much of one. Foley won by being at every event ever held in his district, shaking every hand, etc. Some no-name ain't going to get squat. It shouldn't even be close.