|
2024-09-20 Home Front: Politix
|
|
Letitia James to be handed 'unprecedented' election power ahead of November: election attorney
|
[FoxNews] A new requirement in New York that will take effect this weekend is set to grant Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James widespread power over the state’s election process, a New York election attorney said.
"Nobody is really talking about it or what a big effect it's going to have," election attorney Joseph T. Burns, partner at the law firm Holtzman Vogel, told Fox News Digital in a phone interview this week. "But it's interesting because, look, there's a lot of bad stuff that happens in New York when it comes to the elections and everything else, but this strikes me as being particularly bad. And it's certainly quite a power grab by the attorney general as well."
Under the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York, which Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law in 2022, a preclearance requirement in the law is set to take effect on Sept. 22. The new rule requires certain jurisdictions in the Empire State to request preclearance from the attorney general or a designated court to make election-related decisions, which range from changing the hours of early voting to culling deceased residents from a voter list, Burns said.
Burns published an op-ed in the New York Post this week, warning that the new law hands James "unprecedented power over election processes in some of the most hotly contested congressional districts in the nation, including those on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley." The upcoming requirement has flown under the radar, Burns said, telling Fox Digital, "Nobody's talking about. It's pretty remarkable."
"The new rule upends the system of constitutionally mandated, bipartisan election administration that has served New York’s voters ably for generations," Burns wrote in his op-ed, which was published on Sunday. "The law requires certain counties, cities, towns, villages and school districts to get the blessing of the AG or a designated court before making election-related or voting-related changes."
The new rule covers massive jurisdictions such as New York City and nine counties on Long Island, including America’s largest township of Hempstead, as well as other areas known as "covered entities" under the requirement.
The jurisdictions are determined by a handful of factors, including arrest rates for residents of "protected classes" and whether a jurisdiction committed civil rights or voting rights violations in the last 25 years, Burns said, citing documents from James’ office last year that detailed the rules.
Burns, who has a background in Republican politics and election legal issues, told Fox Digital there are "four triggers" that label a jurisdiction a "covered entity."
"Any political subdivision which, within the previous 25 years, has become subject to a court order or government enforcement action based upon a finding of any violation of this title, the Federal Voting Rights Act, the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution or a voting-related violation of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution," Burns said, reading from the 2023 document published by James’ office.
Burns gave an example of Erie County, which is considered a "covered entity" under the new rules, when the jurisdiction was hit with a court order involving the 14th Amendment about a decade ago.
"You think, ‘Wow, this sounds really sinister,’" he said of the 2014 court order. "‘They're probably doing something. They're disenfranchising a minority.’"
"No, not at all. What happened was the county executive and the county legislature couldn't agree on a redistricting plan," Burns said of the case. "… Something like that would put a local government under preclearance."
|
Posted by Skidmark 2024-09-20 09:25||
||
Front Page|| [11126 views ]
Top
File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
|
|
13:00 NN2N1
12:59 alanc
12:51 swksvolFF
12:46 Skidmark
12:46 MikeKozlowski
12:44 swksvolFF
12:40 swksvolFF
12:38 swksvolFF
12:38 MikeKozlowski
12:36 MikeKozlowski
12:26 Skidmark
12:10 Skidmark
12:08 Skidmark
12:06 Abu Uluque
12:04 Anguper Hupomosing9418
12:04 trailing wife
12:02 Anguper Hupomosing9418
12:00 Anguper Hupomosing9418
11:58 Anguper Hupomosing9418
11:56 Skidmark
11:52 Skidmark
11:44 illeagle
11:41 Skidmark
11:38 Skidmark
|
