Voters Drop Ohio Election Suit, Saying Certification of Electoral Vote Makes It Moot
Three dozen voters challenging the
presidential election results in the Ohio Supreme Court asked to drop
their lawsuit Tuesday, saying it is moot with last week's certification
of the electoral vote and the upcoming inauguration. Citing fraud,
lawyers representing 37 voters on Nov. 2 had asked the court to examine
several problems with voting procedures in the hopes of overturning
President Bush's victory in the state. The election turned on Ohio's 20
electoral college votes, and not until preliminary results were
available early on the morning of Nov. 3 did Democratic presidential
candidate John Kerry concede. Chief Justice Thomas Moyer of the state
Supreme Court must still rule on the motion to dismiss the case, and is
expected to go along with the request. In a ruling last month declining
a request that he remove himself from the case, Moyer, a Republican,
called voters' evidence "woefully inadequate." Without giving
specifics, attorney Cliff Arnebeck said challenges of the results would
continue in state or federal courts. But he conceded that there was
nothing available now to try to prevent Bush's inauguration. "We are
not quitting. We are going on to any other forum that's available and
we intend to pursue those avenues aggressively," Arnebeck said. The
Bush campaign welcomed the announcement. "This lawsuit was going be
dismissed by the Supreme Court because it has no merit it looks like
the people who filed it understood that," said Mark Weaver, an attorney
representing the Bush campaign. [more]
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
See website for complete article licensing information.