McCain-Palin out of Va. lawsuit

BY FRANK GREEN
Media General News Service
Published: November 18, 2008

A federal judge on Monday dismissed the McCain-Palin campaign from its lawsuit over late-arriving overseas military ballots but allowed the U.S. Department of Justice to join.

However, U.S. District Judge Richard L. Williams turned down a Justice Department request — for now at least — to count the absentee ballots of overseas voters that arrived after Election Day, Nov. 4.

A hearing has been set for Dec. 8 in the case, well after the Virginia State Board of Elections plans to certify the election results, set for next Monday.

The McCain-Palin presidential campaign filed suit against the State Board of Elections Nov. 3 asking for a 10-day extension for overseas military members, because some jurisdictions did not send absentee ballots early enough to ensure they could be returned by Nov. 4.

Williams dismissed the campaign from the suit in a hearing yesterday in Richmond, ruling that a private party cannot bring a suit to enforce the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act in federal court.

However, Williams said his Nov. 4 order preserving the late-arriving ballots at the request of McCain-Palin remains in effect.

William Hurd, a McCain-Palin lawyer, said there were 4,750 late-arriving absentee ballots in the state — not including an-as-yet-undermined number from Richmond, Hanover County and Covington.

Hurd said there were about 200 late absentee ballots in the 5th Congressional District, where Democrat Tom S.P. Perriello apparently leads Republican Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. by a larger margin.

Frank Green is a staff writer at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.