Voting lawsuit getting new judge; hearing canceled

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A lawsuit by the state Democratic Party over voting procedures has been reassigned to a new judge, and a hearing scheduled for Wednesday was canceled.

The party and three Kansas City residents filed suit last week against Secretary of State Matt Blunt, claiming a state voting law violates the federal Help America Vote Act, enacted after the election troubles of 2000.

The residents cast provisional ballots in the wrong places in the Aug. 3 primary election but say their votes should be counted anyway. Missouri law says provisional ballots cast at the wrong polling place do not count. Provisional ballots are used when someone's eligibility cannot be immediately verified at the polling place. In unofficial results, election officials tallied 847 provisional ballots cast in the primary, not enough to change any race outcomes.

Provisional ballots only include federal and statewide candidates and issues, not local contests.

Senior U.S. District Judge Scott O. Wright had issued a temporary restraining order blocking certification of Missouri's primary election results and set a hearing on whether to count the ballots of some people who voted at the wrong polling places.

On Friday, the case was reassigned to U.S. District Judge Richard Dorr. Chief District Judge Dean Whipple said in a court order that the case was inadvertently assigned using the wrong pool of judges and needed to be reassigned.

On Monday, Dorr canceled the Wednesday hearing and had not rescheduled it. He said the order blocking election certification remains in place.