State, opponents set to argue over provisional ballot plan in court

10/12/2004, 11:06 p.m. ET

By DAVID EGGERT
The Associated Press

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan Democrats, the NAACP and voter-rights groups are asking a k a federal judge to stop the state's election officials from proceeding with a plan to address backup, or provisional ballots.

The groups say the state's plan would disenfranchise thousands of voters who cast ballots in the wrong polling place or those who must provide a photo ID or other proof of residency on election day.

U.S. District Judge David Lawson was to consider the issue - consolidated from two separate lawsuits - Wednesday morning in Bay City.

Provisional ballots are used when voters say they are properly registered but their names do not appear on the rolls.

The lawsuits name Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, a Republican, and state Elections Director Chris Thomas.

The state says the Help America Vote Act, which Congress passed in 2002, says provisional ballots should be counted in accordance with state law. The state says neither that law nor Michigan law gives citizens the right to vote in a precinct where they do not live.

Land spokeswoman Kelly Chesney said both Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the U.S. Justice Department approved the state's provisional ballot plan.

'We have a right to instill a process that ensures a representative government,' she said.

The Michigan Democratic Party and Bay County Democratic Party want Thomas to rescind instructions to the state's 2,438 county and local elections officials. A Sept. 24 memorandum instructs inspectors to tell voters that their ballots will not count if they vote in the wrong polling place.

Democrats say one of the Help America Vote Act's central purposes is to eliminate "arbitrary requirements" that a ballot be cast aside if a voter mistakenly appears at the wrong precinct.

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