US Federal Judge May Delay California's Recall Election

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, August 16, 2003

US Federal Judge May Delay California's Recall Election

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A judge of the United States District Court for Northern California ruled Friday that he may postpone California's governor recall election set for Oct. 7, and warned that there cannot be an election without pre-clearance from the federal government.

District Judge Jeremy Fogel also ordered Monterey to refrain from mailing out overseas ballots until issues raised by two civil rights groups are resolved.

With the first governor recall election in Californian history just 53 days away, some counties in California are forced to make a number of money saving changes in their voting processes, such as reducing polling stations and hiring fewer minority language speaking poll workers.

The two civil rights groups argued that the planned changes in the voting require federal approval. Under a US voting law, any changes in the voting process must be pre-cleared by the US Justice Department in places like Monterey County that have a history of low voter participation.

"I don't think there can be an election without pre-clearance,"Fogel said during two hours of oral arguments Friday.

He also scheduled another hearing for Aug. 29 and suggested he might delay the election if federal approval hadn't been given by then.

"This court is extremely reluctant to intervene in or disrupt the electoral process unless it clearly is compelled to do so," Fogel wrote Friday. "At the same time, permitting voting or other forms of direct political participation to be affected by changes in voting procedures implemented in contravention of the Voting Rights Act cannot be countenanced."

Jorge Martinez, a spokesman for the US Justice Department, said the department was reviewing the state's pre-clearance request. "We are aware of the urgency of reviewing this matter" and have already begun studying it, he said.

If the federal government approved the changes before Oct. 7, the recall election will be held without delay. "There's no harm, no foul," said Leroy Blankenship, Monterey's assistant county counsel.

Monterey County is reported to have plans to reduce its usual 190 polling places to 86, and for hiring fewer Spanish-speaking poll workers in the recall election in a bid to save costs.

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