A federal judge in Richmond has ruled for the second time that Virginia violated the voting rights of American military personnel and overseas citizens by failing to mail absentee ballots in sufficient time for them to be counted in last year's presidential election.
"The right to vote means a right to cast a ballot that will be counted," U.S. District Court Judge Richard L. Williams ruled Thursday.
He said Virginia's failure to mail more than 2,000 absentee ballots at least 30 days prior to the Nov. 4 election violated the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, a federal law.
Williams ordered the Virginia State Board of Elections to count the ballots. The counting will have no effect on last year's election, which Barack Obama won by almost 233,000 votes in Virginia.
The lawsuit was brought before the election by the McCain-Palin Republican presidential ticket, but the ticket was dismissed from the suit after the election and the Justice Department was allowed to intervene.
Williams ruled in December that the State Board of Elections violated federal law, but he asked the Justice Department and the State Board to fashion a remedy. Lawyers for the Justice Department and the State Board met this month but could not reach an agreement.
Thursday's ruling gave the board and Justice Department 19 days to determine the process for counting, then 10 more days to count and certify the ballots.
Nancy Rodriques, secretary of the State Board, said the board will meet Wednesday to discuss the ruling. In the meantime, registrars in all 135 Virginia localities have been notified of the ruling, she said. In addition, the 2009 General Assembly changed the law to set a 45-day deadline, she said.
The State Board has maintained that Congress, when it passed the law, did not intend to set a deadline.
But Thomas E. Perez, assistant U.S. attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, said "the men and women who bravely put their lives on the line to serve their nation deserve, at the least, to know that their votes will be counted."
Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or twhitley@timesdispatch.com.
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