According to this story, three voters in Monterey County, California, are about to file a lawsuit against the June 22 special election date to fill the vacant State Senate seat, 15th district. The lawsuit will charge that holding a special election on June 22, only two weeks after the primary, represents a “change”, and therefore the date must be pre-cleared with the U.S. Justice Department, Voting Rights section. Monterey County is one of four California counties that is covered by section five of the Voting Rights Act. Monterey County is partly in the 15th district. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
Areas covered by section five of the Voting Rights Act may not change any election law or election practice without approval from the Voting Rights Section of the Justice Department, or from a 3-judge U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
The 1965 VRA is one giant perversion of the 15th Amdt.
The MORON courts can NOT detect that the 15th Amdt was an emergency fix by the Elephants to get black votes in the NORTHERN States in 1870-1872 — after the very close election of Prez Grant in 1868 — i.e. the votes from the many black men who had fought for the Union in the horrific Civil War in 1861-1865.
Compare 14th Amdt, Sec. 2 and 15th Amdt, Sec. 1.
The party hack super-MORONS in the gerrymander Congress are too brain dead ignorant to pass a simple law —
Any Federal or State/local officer or employee who violates 15th Amdt, Sec. 1 shall be guilty of a FELONY and be put in jail for 150 years, be fined a BILLION dollars and may have a civil action for UNLIMITED damages against him/her by the Elector(s) whose 15th Amdt rights have been violated by such officer or employee.
Add a more drastic section for conspiracies violating 15th Amdt, Sec. 1 — a DEATH penalty.
Likely result – NO more violations of the 15th Amdt by the party hacks in the States — esp. in the ex-slave States.
Too difficult for the MORON Congress and worse MORON party hack Supremes to understand.
The date of special elections is covered if there is discretion as to when the election is held. The governor must issue his proclamation within 14 days of the vacancy, and may specify that the special general election be held on a Tuesday, 112 to 126 days in the future. There are some other provisions related to holidays, and regularly scheduled elections.
So since there is some discretion, it is considered a change in election procedure. I doubt that it makes a bit of difference whether the special election is coincident with another election or not. If the special primary were on June 8, it would be on the “non-partisan” ballot.
The question is why Monterey County and/or the Secretary of State have not already filed for pre-clearance on an expedited basis? Monterey County filed 6 different submissions in April alone. They either have a high-cost specialist on staff, or pay big $$$$ for an outside attorney to file the submissions. Since it is a multi-county election, the State may also file.
BTW, the reason that Monterey County is a covered jurisdiction is because of Fort Ord. The basis for inclusion was low turnout. Monterey County had low turnout because people stationed at Fort Ord were less likely to vote or voted absentee in their home towns in the 1972 election. By the time Section 5 expires in 2026, it will be using data on veterans in their 70s, most of whom live nowhere near Monterey County. Fort Ord was BRAC’ed in 1994.
Merced County has now filed for a bail out. Its inclusion was based on the presence of Castle AFB, which also was BRAC’ed in the mid-1990s. It has spent over a $1 million over the last decade, and has just signed a $200,000 contract for 2 years (it is unclear whether this is to handle the bail out or ordinary submissions.
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2010/04/27/1401088/merced-county-seeks-removal-from.html
Shelby County, Alabama has filed a direct challenge to Section 5.
http://newsblaze.com/story/2010042709260200001.pnw/topstory.html
The election administrator in Monterey County contacted the DOJ by phone the day after the governor’s proclamation. The formal request for pre-clearance was filed less than a week later, before the lawsuit was filed. Since then, the county has supplied supplemental information. Two polling places were changed because of scheduling conflict, which are likely to occur at any special election. The county plans to send the voter’s pamphlet and absentee ballot to mail voters in one envelope, and send overseas voters their ballot by e-mail with returned by fax.
BTW, Democrats tried the same scam to stop the 2003 recall election.