Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

The Dems plan to keep counting votes of those who have left Louisiana

AP via NOLA:

Elections go on through rain or shine, so several Democrats figure a hurricane shouldn't stop people from voting either.

Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala., and Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., touted their bill Thursday that would allow evacuees of Hurricane Katrina to vote absentee in their home districts through the 2008 elections, regardless of where they move temporarily. They must first sign an affidavit indicating an intent to move back after the area is reconstructed.

"Counting all the votes in this case is simply not enough," Feingold said. "We must do everything we can to ensure that those votes are cast."

Election laws vary from state to state, but in most places, getting a job or buying a home somewhere else is legal proof that a voter has moved and that his registration should too.

Davis said that's fine for people who intend to move permanently, but he believes hundreds of thousands of evacuees intend to return to Louisiana, Mississippi or Alabama once they can. In that case, they should have the right to vote for the officials who will preside over the reconstruction, Davis said.

It would be "de facto redistricting" to have a political upheaval in the Gulf states just because the hurricane caused an exodus of voters, Davis said.

"When I pick up newspapers and read about political operatives and candidates salivating about being able to win elections in New Orleans that they otherwise could not have won because of a hurricane, that is absolutely wrong," Davis said.

Why? Isn't voting suppose to be by people who live in a district? It would only be "defacto redistricting" if Louisiana lost one of its congressional seats now as opposed to 2010 after the next census. Right now those who stayed in Louisiana have a more powerful voice than people in the rest of the country. It is hard to call that redistricting. The districts have not changed, just the voters who reside there. Would this proposal disenfranchise all the hispanics that have moved to New Orleans to help the city rebuild? Would they be required to vote in their former community also? This is a bad idea being pushed by Democrats desperate to hold on to power they are not entitiled to.