Guest Blogged by Steve Heller of VelvetRevolution's Election Protection Strike Force...
On Friday, Judge Tomi Green of the Hind County, Mississippi, circuit court issued an order [7 page pdf] pertaining to the case of Trudy Berger, et al. vs Governor Haley Barbour and Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann. For background on this case, see our coverage from Thursday, but in brief, Barbour and Hosemann recently issued a sample ballot for the upcoming general election, as required by state law. They buried the special election for Senator Trent Lott's (R) old seat --- between former Mississippi governor Ronnie Musgrove (D) and Roger Wicker (R) --- at the very bottom of the ballot, even though state law requires that races for federal office must be at the top of the ballot.
Despite the clear state law, Barbour and Hosemann claimed that, because this was a special election, it should go at the bottom of the ballot. We believe it was an attempt on their part to "hide" the race, because while Wicker is slightly ahead in the polls currently, he is thought to be vulnerable and Musgrove, a popular former governor, may well unseat Wicker (who was temporarily appointed by Barbour to fill Lott's seat following his resignation at the beginning of the year.)
In Judge Green's ruling, she ordered the Governor and Secretary of State to follow the law. She ordered that the Musgrove/Wicker race must be near the top of the ballot with the other federal races. She found that because the Musgrove/Wicker race is a special election, it should be indicated as such not by placing it at the bottom of the ballot, but that it "must be accomplished by simply bold typing 'SPECIAL ELECTION' as a 'header' above the title of the office sought."
Barbour has announced he will appeal the decision...