Many states are facing legal challenges over possible voting problems Nov. 2. A look at some of the developments Sunday:
In Florida, Gov. Jeb Bush is advising local election officials to remove people who interfere with voters at early voting sites after one county reported numerous complaints about campaign solicitors, observers and members of the media. Early voting began Oct. 18 in Florida.
Kentucky Republicans will not post challengers at voting sites in the mainly Democratic Louisville area on Election Day. Last year, the GOP’s decision to station challengers at predominantly black precincts stirred charges that the party was trying to intimidate voters. The GOP pulled its challengers after arranging to have two Republican election officers at nearly every voting site.
In Michigan, a federal judge’s order requiring some provisional ballots to be counted even if they are cast in the wrong precinct was put on hold by an appeals court panel. State officials had ordered that only provisional ballots cast in the correct precinct should be counted, but the lower-court judge ruled those ballots should be counted if cast in the wrong precinct but the right city. The appeals court promised a quick resolution to the case.
In North and South Carolina, as many as 60,000 people may be registered to vote in both states, an investigation by the Charlotte Observer and WCNC-TV of Charlotte, N.C., found. Nearly 200 people were found to have voted in both states in 2000 and 2002.
An advocacy group for tougher immigration laws said it believes illegal immigrants may be registered to vote in North Carolina because they were able to sign up when obtaining driver’s licenses without Social Security numbers. State officials said they have run checks on people receiving licenses without proof of citizenship and found only a handful who had registered to vote.
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