Attorney General Thurbert Baker, one of the highest-ranking Democrats left in state government, clashed today with the Republican-dominated State Elections Board.
You’ll remember that last month, the Georgia Democratic Party filed another lawsuit challenging the state’s voter ID law — even though the U.S. Supreme Court had recently upheld a similar law in Indiana.
The elections board — Secretary of State Karen Handel included — voted to serve the Democratic party formal notice that it considered the lawsuit “frivolous,” and would thus seek to be reimbursed for the cost of attorneys should the lawsuit not prevail in Fulton County Superior Court.
On Tuesday, Baker declined to transmit that notice to his fellow Democrats.
My colleague Rhonda Cook was a witness to the event. “I am personally disappointed that [Baker] chose to put his political interests ahead of the interests of the people of Georgia,” said board member Randy Evans, general counsel to the state Republican party.
Sitting next to Evans, board member David Worley, a former chairman of the state Democratic party, stuck up for Baker. “The litigation is not frivolous and there is no reason to send that letter. [Baker] is within his rights,” Worley said.
You’ll remember that last month, the Georgia Democratic Party filed another lawsuit challenging the state’s voter ID law — even though the U.S. Supreme Court had recently upheld a similar law in Indiana.
The elections board — Secretary of State Karen Handel included — voted to serve the Democratic party formal notice that it considered the lawsuit “frivolous,” and would thus seek to be reimbursed for the cost of attorneys should the lawsuit not prevail in Fulton County Superior Court.
On Tuesday, Baker declined to transmit that notice to his fellow Democrats.
My colleague Rhonda Cook was a witness to the event. “I am personally disappointed that [Baker] chose to put his political interests ahead of the interests of the people of Georgia,” said board member Randy Evans, general counsel to the state Republican party.
Sitting next to Evans, board member David Worley, a former chairman of the state Democratic party, stuck up for Baker. “The litigation is not frivolous and there is no reason to send that letter. [Baker] is within his rights,” Worley said.
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers. Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections; the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.