Federal lawsuit alleging Ohio election system inadequacies moves forward News
Federal lawsuit alleging Ohio election system inadequacies moves forward

[JURIST] A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit that accuses Ohio election officials of violating constitutional rights to equal protection and due process. The League of Women Voters [advocacy website] sued [PDF complaint; fact sheet] state election officials, claiming that the current system deprives citizens of voting rights, citing examples from the 2004 election [JURIST news archive]. LWV insists that Ohio's system has harmed voters for 30 years [press release] by failing to issue absentee ballots, discounting legitimate ballots, and not accommodating disabled voters. It believes that improved training for local elections officials will work to redress these inadequacies. Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell [official website] and Governor Bob Taft [official website] have vowed to fight the allegations. The lawsuit does not challenge the results from the Ohio presidential election even though a handful of challenges to recount procedures and other issues remain. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, murdered by Henry II's knights

On December 29, 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by knights acting in the name of Henry II.

Becket and Henry had been entangled in a power struggle over, among other things, criminal jurisdiction over clergy. Read a contemporary account of the murder of Thomas Becket.

Texas attains US statehood

On December 29, 1845, Texas became the twenty-eighth state to join the United States of America when US President James K. Polk signed the Ordinance of Annexation. Texas had a complicated path to statehood because it had formerly been part of Mexico and then an independent republic. The US Congress passed the Annexation of the Republic of Texas Joint Resolution on March 1, 1845. Voters in Texas then approved the Ordinance of Annexation in October, before it was approved by the US Congress and signed into law by President Polk on this day in 1845. The US Supreme Court later ruled in Texas v. White that, despite its unique path to statehood, Texas did not have the right to secede from the union.