Louisiana: judge denies request for quick elections in N.O. (but urges them)
AP reports: A federal judge on Tuesday urged state officials to quickly set a date for postponed elections that would decide the next mayor for this hurricane-battered city.
The destruction of polling stations, dispersal of election day workers and the difficulties of contacting tens of thousands of evacuees prompted state and local elections officials to call off a mayoral primary set for Feb. 4.
At a hearing on a lawsuit challenging the decision to postpone the elections, U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle said voting is an essential part of democracy and that elections would give New Orleanians "a sense of normalcy." ...
But the judge denied a plaintiffs motion to get Lemelle to set an election date. Lemelle said he wanted to let the process unfold rather than stepping in. But he held up his index finger and thumb close together and said: "I came that close to doing that (taking over the election process) today." -- Judge: Set date for N.O. elections - The Clarion-Ledger