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Lawsuits Filed by Democrats in Two States Push to Keep Polls Open Late. More Suits May be Pending. In Colorado, a Suit Rejected.

A judge in Colorado denied an emergency request by Democrats to keep polls in Denver open an additional two hours after computer problems and unusually high turnout led to lines of up to 100 people.

According to the Denver Post, District Court Judge Sheila Rappaport argued that she didn’t have the authority to keep the polls open, citing case law from Missouri and Arkansas. The Post story and a story in Denver’s Rocky Mountain News didn’t elaborate on the judge’s reasoning.

In Ohio, CNN reported Democrats are awaiting a ruling on a similar suit. Democrats are asking that 16 precincts in Cuyahoga County—the Cleveland area—stay open until 10:00 pm tonight. Confusion over the use of new electronic voting machines had created long lines there. (Four to five House Republicans are in danger in Ohio, as well as Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who has been running behind in his race for governor)

According to Bloomberg, the voting rights group Election Protection is considering filing suits in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Florida to extend voting hours due to similar delays.

Posted by Josh Harkinson on 11/07/06 at 3:52 PM | E-mail | Print | Digg | de.licio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Yahoo! MyWeb | StumbleUpon | Netscape | Google |