This is maddening. I kept hoping for something a little more definitive than this:
Columbia officials cannot have its District 2 City Council election Tuesday unless it gets approval from the Justice Department, according to a ruling from a three-judge panel.
Judges Clyde Hamilton, Cameron Currie and Joseph Anderson ruled unanimously that the city needed approval from the Justice Department to hold the special election to replace former Councilman E.W. Cromartie.
As of 4:30 p.m. today, the Justice Department had not made a decision.
Kathryn has complained that I haven’t posted about this, but I’d been waiting all day for it to be CERTAIN, which it isn’t, according to what Adam has posted.
He was a little more certain on his blog:
A federal three-judge panel has postponed tomorrow’s District 2 City Council election.
Click here to read the judges’ opinion.
Here’s the decision in a nutshell: The city is required to have approval from the Justice Department to hold the special election to replace former District 2 Councilman E.W. Cromartie. As of 5:11 p.m., the city does not have that approval. Therefore, they cannot have the election.
IF, however, the justice department approves the election between now and 7 a.m. tomorrow, the city can have the election.
So there’s not going to be a vote in district 2 tomorrow. Or maybe there is. Let’s just say, this being almost 10:30 at night, that there won’t be…
I’ve never in my life seen such a case of voters being jerked around this way. Not that I think there should have been a vote to replace Cromartie this soon. It’s this last-minute nonsense that gets me.
What do YOU think?
How messed up is this situation? This messed up: Steve Morrison felt it necessary to send out this message at 7:18 p.m., just to make sure his supporters didn’t get confused and stay home tomorrow:
THAT’s how messed up…
And on Twitter, Adam said this several hours ago: “PLEASE NOTE: The District 2 election is cancelled. The election for mayor and at-large council seats will proceed as planned.”
I guess I’m just being obsessive, wanting it without caveats. I guess I should be satisfied with that…
I first thought “justice delayed is justice denied”, but the most sensible outcome has probably resulted from the least respectful process.
“Kathryn has complained that I haven’t posted about this”
I believe I would say that I “commented” on it–I realized that you had pasted up your front page before there was a result, and I was just adding to it.
Sheesh, you and my husband. What is it with you INTPs? Just because I say something doesn’t make it a “complaint.”
I don’t often quote Ronald Reagan, particularly saying the most irritating thing I ever heard him say, but “There you go again”…
Dude, that WAS a complaint…
I always thought poor comprehension of what I said was a function of my female voice. Now I see it is far more pernicious than that. [sigh]