Even (Senator) Gillibrand’s ballot challenged (NY-20)

[brooklynite]

Source: Albany Times-Union

This just in from Columbia County: when Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s absentee ballot came up in the queue, the poll watchers for Jim Tedisco objected to it, saying the senator was in the county on election day and should have voted in person.

Read more: http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/13527/even-gillibrands-ballot-challenged

---

This could go longer than Minnestoa...

[stillcool]

1. You can't vote absentee...

if you're in the state? Jeesh!

[Renew Deal]

3. Yes you can.

Qualifications to Vote by Absentee Ballot:

unavoidably absent from your county or, if a resident of the city of New York absent from said city, on Election Day;
unable to appear at the polls due to illness or disability;
a patient in a Veterans’ Administration Hospital;
detained in jail awaiting Grand Jury action or confined in prison after conviction for an offense other than a felony;

http://www.elections.state.ny.us/Voting.html

[TankLV]

5. In some jurisdictions, you can't - that's the purpose of ABSENTEE ballots...

I know when I was living in New York and Hawaii it was that way...

ONLY if you could not physically vote in your polling place on election day could you qualify for an absentee ballot...

[CreekDog]

9. And that is ridiculous, I vote absentee (by mail) and have done so since 2003

everyone should be able to under any circumstances.

i work on my ballot (exhaustingly long in California) for about a week and i don't fill in any space without doing a little research or reading. when i'm done i drop it in the mail --i check online to see that it was received.

the west coast has got this right.

[TankLV]

19. I said it was the law at the time in HAWAII and NEW YORK...

you are from CALIFORNIA...

the poster was claiming that EVERYONE could vote absentee for any reasons - I gave examples where this was patently NOT SO...

[stillcool]

10. How do New Yorkers..

vacationing in Florida vote?

[TankLV]

20. If they know they're going to be OUT OF STATE or AWAY from their polling place AHEAD OF TIME

they request an ABSENTEE BALLOT like I did on MANY occasions, like when I was in COLLEGE and attending a SEMINAR!

[karynnj]

13. How do you deal with people who MIGHT have to be out of town?

At the point that she made the decision, it is very likely that she did not know whether the Senate might be in session and a vote scheduled. If that were the case, she would unavoidably be in DC. You can use an absentee ballot rather than voting on the floor of the Senate. :)

I assume there are business people in the same situation - who vote absentee, but are then in town as meeting schedules change.

[w4rma]

15. Sounds like a law that needs to be changed. (nt)

[Dumak]

18. Yeah, that would be obvious to most thinking people,

and even Jim Tedisco knows that

[rpannier]

8. Yes you can

I've done it many times.

When my father was still a federal judge he always voted absentee because he could never be sure he wouldn't be out of town hearing a case.

[murielm99]

11. I don't see how this poll watcher thinks he has the right

to question the judgment of the election authority in granting someone an absentee ballot.

If the granting of an absentee ballot was clearly fraudulent, such as granting a ballot to someone they knew would be voting in another state or another precinct, then he might have a right to object.

The election authority election authority decides who gets absentee ballots. Is the poll watcher calling the county clerk a crook? I don't get it.

[karynnj]

12. I bet there are more than a few Repubican businessmen who

voted absentee because they could not be sure of being in town on election day. In addition, it depends on the state. In NJ, I know many people working the election who voted absentee to give them more time on election day. (I voted absentee for the first time because I went to Boston for a few days around the election. There was no question asked about why I wanted to vote absentee even though I opted to do it in person at our county Courthouse. It was very nice.)

As long as she didn't VOTE on election day (which first of all would be impossible after voting absentee), there is no reason that her absentee ballot should be rejected.

[loyalkydem]

2. OH GOOD GRIEF

Repukes don't know when to take a hint

[DinahMoeHum]

4. Sheesh, watta buncha fuckin' sore losers. . .

"Ballwalkers"

Psss psss psss psss psss! Psss psss psss psss psss!

:evilfrown:

[KamaAina]

6. So, let me see if I've got this straight...

Gillibrand was in the House at the time. The House meets in Washington, D.C. (Lurking FReepers may not know this.) So she requests an absentee ballot ahead of time, votes absentee ahead of time, and then just happens to be back in the district (a largish district; she may not even have been in her home town) on Election Day. And so Coleman Tedisco wishes to challenge her ballot. :eyes:

[jkappy]

7. you nailed it.

[karynnj]

14. Correct - except she was in the Senate already - but it is also in DC

This was not a regular November election - so it was entirely possible that her presence in DC would have been needed.

[jimlup]

16. GOP challenges Senators ballot

Source: CNN

(CNN) — New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand accused Republicans of stooping to a "new low" Wednesday amid reports GOP lawyers have challenged her ballot in the election to name her successor in the state's 20th congressional district.

"Their latest move to challenge my ballot is part of a much larger attempt to disenfranchise legal Democratic voters and delay Scott Murphy's inevitable victory in the 20th," she said in a op-ed on the Huffington Post.

Read more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/15/gillibrand-said-gop-stooping-to-new-low-over-her-ballot-challenge/

---

The Great Obstructionist Party

[bdamomma]

17. repigs backed in a corner like rats.

jerks.