District Court Ruling on Missouri Provisional Polling Rules

I have posted the opinion in Hawkins v. Blunt here. Key language from the opinion (which uses Bush v. Gore as precedent, by the way) is the following: "Plaintiffs’ equal protection rights are not violated by the simple requirement that before a voter will be allowed to cast a viable provisional
ballot, the voter, provided the election official is able to determine the voter’s correct polling place, will first be directed to his proper polling place. Plaintiffs’ equal protection claim does not survive."

More cases raising this important issue are on the way in a number of jurisdictions. The best way to get up to speed on this important issue is by reading Dan Tokaji's analysis here and Ned Foley's analysis of the legislative history on this issue here.

UPDATE: Dan Tokaji notes the status of the other pending provisional ballot litigation here.

Posted by Rick Hasen at October 12, 2004 04:13 PM