U.S. Justice Department files brief in provisional ballot case

October 18, 2004

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- The U.S. Justice Department asked a federal judge on Monday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Michigan Democrats in an effort to get the state to count provisional ballots cast by voters in the wrong polling precincts on Nov. 2.

The Justice Department argued in a friend-of-the-court brief that the Help America Vote Act does not give individuals the right to sue if they believe their state has violated the law passed by Congress in 2002. Rather, those citizens should go through a state administrative complaint process or rely on a U.S. attorney to file suit, government attorneys said.

The Justice Department also opposed Democrats' request that citizens who appear in the right city, township or village should have their votes counted regardless of whether they show up in the correct precinct.

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