DoJ Sues CT to Hold Primary Open Over Military Ballots

[Rose Siding]

The heat may not be the only thing that makes Connecticut feel like Florida this month.

If the results of next Tuesday's U.S. Senate primary are close - within 700 or so votes-we may not know who won for 21/2 weeks.

Visions of Florida's delayed 2000 presidential vote count arose Wednesday with a legal agreement and federal court order to hold open until Aug. 25 the results of next Tuesday's nationally watched Democratic primary for U.S. Senate between Sen. Joseph Lieberman and anti-war challenger Ned Lamont.

The action would guarantee the voting rights of about 700 Democrats, most believed to be in the military, who applied for absentee ballots from overseas for the 2004 election. Under federal law, absentee ballots for Tuesday's primary were supposed to be automatically sent to those Democrats a month ago, but municipal clerks in about 75 of their Connecticut hometowns either failed to send them, or did so too late to allow their return by primary day Tuesday.

To resolve that problem, the results of the Aug. 8 Senate primary now will remain open until Aug. 25 to allow counting of any of those overseas and military ballots that may arrive late. A federal court order was entered to that effect Wednesday - after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state and immediately settled it, under an agreement negotiated in advance with Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz and state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-absentee0803.artaug03,0,7195292.story?coll=hc-headlines-local

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. A last ditch effort to guarantee a Lieberman win

OF COURSE the vast majority of those ballots will be for the pro-war GOP "compromise" candidate, Joseph Lieberman. On orders from the higher ups, who will oversee the filling out of those ballots.

[catnhatnh]

2. This is GREAT NEWS.....

Lieberman will be forced to declare himself as running independently before the winner is announced or to abandon his petion run which has to be filed by Aug 9th-read'em and weep,creep!!! K&R