Judge grants Democrats' request to block election results

KELLY WIESE

Associated Press   11 August 2004

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - A federal judge temporarily blocked certification of Missouri's primary election results in federal and statewide races Wednesday and set a hearing for next week on whether to count the ballots of some people who voted at the wrong polling places.

The Missouri Democratic Party had asked the court to block certification of the Aug. 3 election results until the lawsuit is resolved, to require election officials to count the provisional ballots of the plaintiffs, all of whom voted in Kansas City, and to declare parts of the state law in violation of federal law and the equal-protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Judge Scott Wright issued a temporary restraining order blocking election certification for federal and statewide offices and issues. He set a hearing for Aug. 18.

Provisional ballots are used when a voter's eligibility cannot be determined and can only be cast for federal and statewide candidates and issues, not local contests. State law says that registered voters who cast provisional ballots at the wrong polling place cannot have their votes counted.

Federal law says people should be allowed to cast a provisional ballots if they affirm they are registered voters in that jurisdiction, but also specifies that election officials should count such votes only if voters are eligible "under state law."

The lawsuit was filed against Missouri Secretary of State Matt Blunt and others. Blunt is the Republican nominee for governor, facing Democratic State Auditor Claire McCaskill in November.