Court puts off challenge to absentee ballots Court puts off challenge to absentee ballots (October 22, 2004)

The state Supreme Court declined to issue a ruling in Mountain View attorney Scott Rafferty's challenge to a new law that requires absentee voters to waive their right to a secret ballot if voting by fax.

The court referred the case to the Sacramento Superior Court, but ordered it to wait to act until after the results of the November election have been certified.

Rafferty, who was on the California steering committee for the John Kerry campaign, is representing three overseas Californians, including Mountain View resident Edwin Lau. Lau had not received his ballot by Tuesday, and Rafferty said that he was planning to file a complaint in federal court that would allow his client to use a federal "back-up ballot."

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