Progress Illinois

The legal dispute over the opening of three early voting centers in Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago, IN, continues to ricochet around the state's court system, this despite the fact that early voting commenced in these cities yesterday. 

While District Court Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen ruled on Monday that the matter belongs in the state system, there is still disagreement regarding which court -- circuit or superior -- has jurisdiction.  Following Van Bokkelen's decision, Circuit Court Judge Lorenzo Arredondo approved an injunction yesterday to open the three centers and several hours later the first votes were cast.  Just as those first ballots were being submitted, however, a separate hearing got underway before Superior Court Judge Calvin Hawkins, who already ruled once in favor of blocking the early voting sites from opening.  At the end of the day, Hawkins asked the state Supreme Court to settle the jurisdictional issue.  The Post-Tribune's John Byrne fills us in on the latest developments:

Indiana's Supreme Court stepped into fight Tuesday night, saying the dispute should be settled in the county's Superior Court. The high court also ruled that the injunction opening the early voting centers would remain in effect pending further action by the Superior Court.

Meanwhile, Hawkins sounds conflicted:

Though he expressed serious misgivings about the way Lake County runs its elections, Hawkins said he did not want to add to the chaos by stopping voting that was already under way.

"This court isn't going to be a party to any disenfranchisement of legitimate voters," Hawkins said. [...]

Hawkins left open the possibility he may still stop the remote location voting, setting a hearing for 8:45 a.m. Thursday. He told the lawyers to be prepared for closing statements on a motion by Republicans asking for an order closing the sites.

As Thomas at Blue Indiana wrote yesterday, if the GOP succeeds in getting Hawkins to step in and stop any more votes from being cast in these heavily minority, heavily low-income cities, the Republicans risk a "PR nightmare."

Finally, check out the response to the opening of the early voting sites by GOP lawyer David Brooks.  He argues that the Democrats, labor unions, and civil rights groups are "playing partisan politics" by trying to open the early voting centers:

Last week, I responded directly to this idea that providing early voting access to the large populations in Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago is somehow unfair:

Access to voting booths should be proportional to population -- not to partisan geography, as he suggests.  Indeed, over 40 percent of Lake County's population live in Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago, all of which are located side-by-side at the northernmost boundary.  Meanwhile, the sole, open early voting center is located in the center of the county, a half-hour drive away for those with cars and much longer for those on public transportation. 

If anyone was playing "partisan politics," its the Republican members of the Lake County Board of Elections, who voted against opening these sites back in September.