Speed Of Sound V. Gabu

[Speed of Sound]

I bring this suit seeking an amendment to the June 29th-July 2nd election runoff for the Northeast Senate Election. I would like to make the argument that the June 12th registration cutoff date applies to this runoff election as well, meaning that a 60 day period had not passed by June 12th for Kevin's California re-registration to be valid, which also means that his vote in the runoff is in fact valid, and should be counted as such.

[SPC]

Thank you for bringing this up.

[Ebowed]

No precedent for your argument whatsoever.  Only thing different is that it affects a result this time.

[DownWithTheLeft]

I will pick this case up for SoS because I am a member of the region

[Sam Spade]

The only hope for this lawsuit's success is to get the court to notice a difference between the phrases "on the tenth day before an election" and "in the ten days before an election".  Mainly b/c I think past SoFA precedent on the first phrase is solid logically.

Just FYI.

[DownWithTheLeft]

The only hope for this lawsuit's success is to get the court to notice a difference between the phrases "on the tenth day before an election" and "in the ten days before an election".  Mainly b/c I think past SoFA precedent on the first phrase is solid logically.

Just FYI.

I am banking on that, although if we want to do logically, Kevin thought that by having his move blocked it was no longer valid and therefore though he was not leaving the Northeast

[TomC]

Seems doubtful but for any further consideration, please actually submit a quote of or link to the re-registration in question. Submitting evidence is not our responsibility. Then, get the attention of the other Justices.

[DownWithTheLeft]

Kevin's move:

Kevin
CA
Republican

Then Gabu informed Kevin his move was not valid:

Kevin
CA
Republican

Just a note... you can only change your state once every 60 days.  You last changed your state of residence on April 20; as the deadline to register for the election was June 12, you are still counted as residing in Rhode Island for the purposes of the June election.  You will be in California thereafter, however.

Therefore, Kevin thought he was clear to vote in the Northeast election as demonstrated by this:

I haven't moved yet...I'm still leagally a NE citizen. 

Now I do not know if personal messages can be used as evidence but that was in response to me asking Kevin if he had retracted his move or if he was still moving.

[Sam Spade]

Looking at the Constitutional provision, I really don't see how intent of the citizen is relevant, DWTL. 

Similarly, I fail to see how the general election cutoff date could be used as the runoff election cutoff date.  The Constitution does not differentiate between general elections, runoff elections and special elections, and such an interpretation would appear to fly in the face of the 10-day requirements in both clauses.

A more interesting question would be whether Kevin could have negated his registration before it went into effect by posting such notice in the registration thread.  That did not happen here.  If I were writing the law (and yes it should be statute, not Constitutional provision), I would make it so that registrations before the allowable time period to change registrations are null and void, but that is simply my opinion.

I maintain that the only cause of action here is a determination that "on the tenth day before that election" means something substantively different than "in the ten days before the election". 

This argument would state that "in the ten days" is inclusive language, designed to encompass each and every one of the ten days before the election began in which that registered voter has changed state of registration.  Rather, "on the tenth day before that election" is a statement of where that person is in that time and place with respect to being a registered voter.

The runoff election began on June 29.  The date of Kevin's registration was June 19.  June 19 is the tenth day prior to June 29.  Under my proposed interpretation, the language of "in the ten days before the election" is thus meant to encompass all ten days before the election, including the day of June 19.  Kevin would have cast a ballot in Rhode Island, since the election commenced at that point.

This whole lawsuit may be made moot, however, if Ernest's lawsuit succeeds.

[TomC]

Assuming that the new certification of the NE Senate race (June 22-24) ends in something other than a tie, the Court has nullified the run-off certification. There is no cause for this case.