{"id":43776,"date":"2013-09-30T18:30:42","date_gmt":"2013-10-01T01:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=43776"},"modified":"2013-10-02T15:07:55","modified_gmt":"2013-10-02T22:07:55","slug":"palmdale-to-appeal-judges-decision-to-cancel-city-council-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2013\/09\/30\/palmdale-to-appeal-judges-decision-to-cancel-city-council-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Palmdale to appeal judge\u2019s decision to cancel council election"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2013<\/a>PALMDALE \u2013 Trial Judge Mark Mooney on Monday granted a preliminary injunction stating that Palmdale\u2019s upcoming City Council election must be canceled. The City of Palmdale plans to immediately file an appeal and seek an emergency ruling, officials announced in a press release.<\/p>\n

Currently, absentee ballots are in circulation to voters and some have already been cast.\u00a0 However, this ruling would prevent tabulation and certifying the vote outcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince Palmdale\u2019s election has already begun, we encourage those who have received their absentee ballots to vote and mail in their ballots,\u201d said Palmdale City Attorney Matthew Ditzhazy. \u201cThe City of Palmdale wants to protect the Constitutional rights of its residents to have their voice heard through the voting process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe regard this as a wildly unprecedented and radical ruling,\u201d Ditzhazy said. \u201cThere has never been a reported case in California where a superior court judge has enjoined a regularly scheduled election five weeks before people are scheduled to go to the polls.\u201d<\/p>\n

City officials say not only is this ruling without precedent, but it is contrary to the Elections Code provisions set forth by the Legislature. While the Code does provide the exclusive means for a judge to interfere with an election, it also requires that the ruling would not \u201csubstantially\u201d interfere with the conduct of the election. The California Voting Rights Act, which has never been ruled on before and the complex provisions which have never been interpreted, has resulted in the elimination of the election for more than 153,000 Palmdale residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis ruling is not only highly unusual, it strikes at the heart of our republic, directly thwarting the will of the people,\u201d Ditzhazy said. \u201cOur City will immediately appeal the decision to fight for the rights of voters to voice their opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEqually as perplexing is the fact that by halting the election, it will prevent what the voting rights lawsuit intended to do,\u201d stated Ditzhazy. \u201cFour candidates \u2013 Tom Lackey, Fred Thompson, Sir Daniel Duplechan, and Richard Loa \u2013 are vying for two seats. Three of the four candidates are minorities. That means at least one and possibly two minority candidates would be elected to the Palmdale City Council in November if the election were held.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the ruling the current council, which was elected at large, will remain seated until the future election is held.<\/p>\n

(Information via press release from the City of Palmdale.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Previous related story<\/span>: Shenkman\/Parris file injunction to halt Palmdale election<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALMDALE \u2013 Trial Judge Mark Mooney on Monday granted a preliminary injunction stating that Palmdale\u2019s upcoming City Council election must be canceled. The City of Palmdale plans to immediately file an appeal and seek an emergency ruling, officials announced in a press release. Currently, absentee ballots are in circulation to voters and some have already […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43776"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43776\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}