Louisiana anti-SSM amendment passed

Newsmax reports, 27% of Louisiana’s registered voters turned out yesterday and overwhelmingly passed an amendment banning same sex marriage in Louisiana. The amendment will be challenged by opponents on at least two grounds. One is failure to deliver ballot boxes to polls in a timely fashion. The other is a constitutional challenge, alleging the amendment has more than one purpose, which violates the Louisiana constitution. A previous constitutional challenge had been turned down by the courts, which ruled that challenges can only be lodged after the vote.

For more visit CNN.

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13 Responses to Louisiana anti-SSM amendment passed

  1. 1
    juggler says:

    Is this the same as the Oregon will vote on?

    And do you wonder way the press only mentions “gay marriage”. Doesn’t it prohibit polygamy too?

  2. 2
    lucia says:

    The wording of amendments is slightly different in each state. That said, Oregon will also have a vote– as will several other states. My impression is the wording of the amendements generally would also ban polygamy. However, few think there is much risk of polygamy being legalized.

  3. Being from Louisiana myself, I just want to apologize to the world for the way most (80%) of my fellow voters voted on Saturday… It’s truly depressing.

    That being said, there’s more to the “voting machines not being delivered on time” than the original post implied. This only happend in New Orleans, the one place in the whole state that would not have overwhelmingly voted for this amendment, and even though the polls opened at like 6 a.m., many of the machines were not delivered until 3 or 4 p.m., effectively not allowing a ton of people to vote (those who had to go to work or had other obligations). There is still some confusion over the matter: one report said that the contract company set to deliver the machines had NO ONE show up that morning, another said that the delivery personnel DID show up to deliver but that no one was at any of the polls to open the place up. Both scenarios imply foul play.

    Another problem with the constitutionality of the amendment is that in Louisiana, constitutional amendments can only serve ONE purpose. This one serves at least three: banning gay marriage, banning civil unions, defining marriage as only between a man and woman, and possibly even banning legal contracts and agreements between two unmarried romantic partners (the wording is very vague). So this is the grounds on which the amendment will probably be challenged in court, as well as the lawsuits filed over the voting machine fiasco.

    Anyway, just FYI…

  4. 4
    NancyP says:

    ccooper521, this certainly makes me think about a Nov. 1 surprise – Republican-ordered explosion or unconfirmed report of biowarfare somewhere urban and Democratic-leaning, with intent on suppressing turnout the next day, with no time to debunk false reports.

  5. 5
    lucia says:

    That being said, there’s more to the “voting machines not being delivered on time” than the original post implied.

    The reason I didn’t say more is I had (and still have) only news reports to go by. I’m in Illinois!

    What you are reporting from New Orleans is extremely interesting, and I would suspect evidence to support that would be included in any suit!

  6. 6
    ccooper521 says:

    lucia, I’m rereading my sentence now that you put in your comment and it definitely came out kind of snarky! I didn’t mean to sound mean or nasty about your post at all, I just figured y’all might want to know the full scoop! I’m sorry!

    Nancy, I’m worried about that too. It’s just too suspicious that the one liberal area in the state had this happen. Granted, we had a mass evacuation last week due to the hurricane and things probably weren’t running too smoothly, but still– it’s just too coincidental…

    I also really thought that this would make the national news in a bigger way than it has. The New Orleans mayor just about had an aneurysm Saturday night, he was so angry. And if it can happen here, it can happen anywhere. I’m disappointed in the major news outlets for not reporting more on the story; they’re only focusing on the 80% of voters who voted to pass the amendment and nothing else. There’s a full-scale investigation being ordered on the issue that’s supposed to start today, so maybe when we get some answers the media will take note.

  7. 7
    lucia says:

    ccooper: I actually assumed you were not intending to be snarky. Things tend to sound snarkier than they are meant on the web– so unless snarkiness is *obvious* I assume it’s not snarky!

    I figure, sometimes it’s good to get the item up, rather than wait. Then people who were actually there post comments– which others find enlightening. So, I’m glad you posted your observation.

    I’ve worked the polls, and I would tend to guess that if there is a story at all, that means the machines were delivered very, very late, and the problem affected quite a few polling places. One polling place getting machines up at 6:30 when they should be up at 6:00 is not good– but it’s not going to make the papers.

  8. 8
    ccooper521 says:

    Well, 52 polling places in New Orleans did not get the machines until at least noon or so. I’m not sure if that’s all of the polling places or even a majority of them (I live in the suburbs of N.O. and wasn’t directly affected). Some, like I said, didn’t get the machines in until 3 or 4 p.m. That’s 9-10 hours late! This really SHOULD be a big deal to the rest of the country and the news media…

    You can copy and paste this link to our local newspaper’s story on the issue for a more detailed and local perspective: http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1095658128151400.xml

    Anyway, I’m so sorry to hijack the post and comment section! And thank you for understanding that I wasn’t trying to be mean with my earlier comment… :)

  9. 9
    lucia says:

    Sounds like a fiasco!

    BTW, I don’t think you are hijacking! I think you are providing very valuable information.

  10. 10
    lucia says:

    Cooper: Farkleberries seems to appreciate your comments too!

  11. 11
    yvelle says:

    What about the hurricane? Even though I didn’t register in time to vote in this election, I know LOTS of people who were still out of town for the hurricane.

  12. 12
    ccooper521 says:

    Well, unless the hurricane either specifically hit the New Orleans area or was scheduled to land on Saturday itself, I don’t think they could have cancelled or rescheduled the election. They are already using the hurricane as an excuse for the voting machines not being delivered, but to 52 places? In only New Orleans, a place that did not have a mandatory evacuation? Plaquemines and St. Charles parishes, at least, had mandatory evacuations, and St. Tammany parish had a south-parish-wide “voluntary” evacuation order in place, yet there were only problems in New Orleans…

    It may turn out just to be the hurricane and how hectic last week was, but the whole thing just smells way too fishy to me.

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