Who knew Ivan's last name was Bush?

When are the people of Florida going to stand up to their corrupt and blatantly partisan state officals?

Fla. official allows Nader onto ballot
Democrats howl; court review slated
by Jim Loney, Reuters

MIAMI -- Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader's name can appear on Florida ballots for the election, despite a court order to the contrary, Florida's elections chief told officials yesterday in a move that could help President Bush in the key swing state.

The Florida Democratic Party reacted with outrage, calling the move ''blatant partisan maneuvering" by Governor Jeb Bush, the president's younger brother, and vowed to fight it.

In a memo to Florida's 67 county supervisors of elections, Dawn Roberts, director of the Division of Elections, said the uncertainty of Hurricane Ivan forced her to act. The massive storm could hit parts of the state by week's end, forecasters say.

The ruling came in an ongoing legal battle over whether Nader should be allowed on the Florida ballot as the Reform Party candidate....

Florida Circuit Court Judge Kevin Davey issued a temporary injunction last week preventing the state from putting Nader on the 2004 ballot, siding with a Democratic challenge that the Reform Party did not qualify as a national party under state law.

A hearing on a permanent injunction is scheduled for tomorrow. But Roberts said Hurricane Ivan had raised ''a substantial question as to when such a hearing" will be held....

There's more here.

This is a total crock. Ivan is not expected to hit anywhere near Tallahassee, where the hearing was scheduled to take place. This is just another instance of Florida election officials taking the law into their own hands.

They are shameless, and yet the people of Florida seem to take precious little notice of the string of injustices and outrages undertaken in their name.

Posted by brett at 04:21 PM | TrackBack