Georgia Judge Allows Another Saturday of Early Voting in Senate Runoff
By Jonathan OostingAugust 14, 2007
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb of New Hampshire ruled Friday that she will extend early voting in her state’s Senate race and allow another Saturday after the current Sunday is gone (July 18).
With the polls opening on Monday, the New Hampshire secretary of state said the ruling will be implemented.
Crabb also rejected plaintiffs’ arguments for an injunction, saying voters have a right to vote in the runoffs on their scheduled weekend in the state that includes two days off this week.
“No one should be forced to vote on a Saturday when it’s obvious that’s not the day to do it. No one should have to vote on a Sunday when they’re perfectly able to exercise their constitutional rights of voting,” Crabb said in a statement issued from her court in Manchester, the state capital. “And there’s no sound legal basis for an injunction that would prevent people from voting on the day that’s most convenient for them.”
Crabb also rejected arguments that lawmakers in the last week of early voting “have engaged in a deliberate and calculated tactic to suppress early voting and limit voter turnout by forcing an extended time frame for the Senate election,” and said the legislature “must respect the voters’ constitutional rights to come and go as they please.”
“This action by the legislature in the last few days has been a calculated attempt to suppress the vote of millions of New Hampshire voters, for no logical or just reason,” Crabb said. “No state, regardless of its population size, should be denied its right to vote on the day that is most convenient for its citizens.”
Voting in New Hampshire’s Senate race will be held over three different days, according to state law, with Sunday being the first day (July 18) for absentee voting and Monday being the second (July 20).
Although the ruling is the latest in a series of cases that have asked courts to curb the government’s ability to regulate early voting, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled Friday that it did not have the authority to do so, even in response to the Obama campaign’s challenge to
