November 8, 2002
STEAL OR LOSE:
SUPREME COURT SAYS VOTERS SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ALLOWED EXTRA TIME (KTVH, Little Rock, Arkansas)The state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Pulaski County residents were not entitled to an extra 90 minutes of voting this week. The move clears the way for election officials to toss out ballots cast after the official close of the polls.The Pulaski County attorney's office says officials are currently reading the ruling.
A judge in the Arkansas' most populous county extended poll-closing time from seven-30 p.m. to nine p.m. on Tuesday, citing long lines at some precincts and the absence of ballots at others. The justices said today Circuit Judge Collins Kilgore was wrong to do so.
Republicans accused state Democrats of trying to steal the election by extending voting hours in the predominantly Democratic county -- a key U.S. Senate race was on the ballot -- and the state Supreme Court ruled late Tuesday that the extra hours were illegal.
It was unknown how many votes were cast in the extra 90 minutes. Some of the late ballots were challenged Tuesday night, allowing the local Election Commission to identify some of them.
So, let's see if we have this straight: all that kept Tuesday from being a complete disaster for the Democrats was SD and AR and they committed vote fraud in both? Posted by Orrin Judd at November 8, 2002 12:31 PM
Agreed. The results in SD and AR will probably stand (SD hard to prove the fraud, AR not enough votes to overturn result) but imagine if GOP won both - 53-45-1 with another possible in LA would have been a +5
Posted by: AWW at November 8, 2002 1:22 PMI need more detail. Were they busing in Pulaski Democrats after the polls closed? Or were the lines so long at closing time that it took 90 minutes more to work them through?
In this state, at least, if you're in line by closing time, you get to vote. That was made clear before the polls opened.
I can't speak on South Dakota but
cheating wasn't a factor in Arkansas
as regards the Pryor victory. Nor was this particular event in Pulaski County Arkansas related to Democrats per se (actually it was also occuring in Republcan areas.
I thought your comment was humorous anyway.