Republican Judge Thomas Phelan just issued his ruling on the notices Judge Brandveen ordered delivered last night to all poll sites and poll workers regarding ID checks.
Phelan did not rule that the instructions on ID were wrong. He ruled that, technically, the County Attorney had no standing to file the suit that resulted in last night's ruling that Notices informing voters of their rights with regard to presenting ID should be posted in polling places and given to poll workers.
Phelan ruled that because of this technicality, poll workers should not have received these notices, and should instead refer to their manuals and their training. Of course, these manuals say the same thing the notices say--that blanket ID checks are not allowed, and that voters should not have their IDs checked unless indicated on the poll ledger.
Judge Phelan's order has been subject to an automatic stay while it is appealed. This is good, since it seems like Phelan's order is likely to generate the sort of confusion that the Republican intimidation strategy was intended to generate in the first place.
Bottom line: Blanket checks of IDs remain illegal, and the notices informing voters, poll workers, and election officials of this fact are still up in the polling sites.
But the campaign is redoubling its voter protection efforts.
Stay tuned...
They just can't win without cheating. This is your NY GOP's death rattle...
