Appeals court tells Mich. to open the polls to 5,500 people whose voter ID cards were returned

[babylonsister]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/10/michigan_loses_federal_appeal.php

Michigan loses federal appeal over voter rolls

Appeals court tells Mich. to open the polls to 5,500 people whose voter ID cards were returned

ED WHITE
AP News

Oct 30, 2008 10:39 EST

A federal appeals court says Michigan must not throw registered voters off the rolls if their registration cards were returned as undeliverable.

With the election just days away, the court refused to stop an injunction ordered by a federal judge in Detroit. The case involves 5,500 people who have registered since January 2006, just a fraction of the more than 7 million state voters.

The appeals court said Thursday that Michigan voters are properly registered when applications are approved and names are added to the rolls — not if they receive a card.

In a 2-1 ruling, the court says poll workers still can require voters to show proof of residency when they ask for a ballot Tuesday.

[Bozita]

1. Detroit News just posted this ...

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081030/METRO/810300442

Thursday, October 30, 2008
Appeals court declines stay in Michigan voter registration case
Paul Egan / The Detroit News

A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land's request for a stay of a ruling by a lower federal judge in Detroit that will require her office to restore more than 5,000 names to the voter rolls before Tuesday's election.

But the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals did say it would give speedy consideration to her appeal of the order by U.S. District Judge Stephen J. Murphy.

The order requires Land to remove the "rejected" marking in the state's qualified voter file for everyone whose original voter ID cards have been returned to the state as undeliverable since Jan. 1, 2006.

Murphy ruled this month that the method the state uses to purge its voter file violates the National Voting Rights Act.

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