Harris County Voting Discrepancies Investigated
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NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION ‘CRAZY’ aBOUT GNARLS BARKLEY: NEW ALBUM ‘the odd Couple’ gets AN A+ PAGE 5 U.S. POSTAGE PAID BAYLOR UNIVERSITY ROUNDING UP CAMPUS NEWS SINCE 1900 THE BAYLOR LARIAT THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2008 Harris County voting discrepancies investigated McLennan County investigation, summoning the can national primaries. Kauf- reported that the delegate count “Other counties might encoun- tigation for voting irregularities, received complaints assistance of the District Attor- man’s offices reported that out on the precinct ballots were ter situations where people vote and that the state cur rently holds ney. The investigation follows of the potential infractions, they incorrect. There were still voters more than once because they no enforcement authority on the but primary integrity allegations that hundreds of vot- believe 389 people voted during who claimed that after polling don’t vote in the same place local investigation. remains intact ers in Harris County had illegal- the early voting period and on places officially closed, people according to precinct.” Burton said that the state ly cast votes at the early election March 4, participating in both continued to stream in to vote. Van Wolfe says that counties usually gets complaints from Victoria Mgbemena primaries and on March 4. Texas party primaries. McLennan County elections where voters have different vot- voters concerning improper pro- Staff writer bars voters from voting twice in Concerns over voting prac- administrator Kathy Van Wolfe ing locations for each precinct cedures at polling places and for an election cycle. tice continue to stream in fol- said that a situation where vot- face the task of consolidating pre-voting, including how mail- Voting discrepancies have The Associated Press report- lowing the primaries; McLennan ers could cast multiple votes results from each location. in ballots are handled. become the subject of interest ed that Harris County Clerk County has received its share of could not happen in McLennan Texas Secretary of State Com- “Some people have asked surrounding the March 4 prima- Beverly Kaufman presented the complaints. County. munications spokeswoman Ash- about the legality of what goes ries in Harris County. names of over 1,000 people who After polling places closed, “ M c L e n n a n C o u n t y h a s a j o i n t ley Burton said that the state has on at the polling places. Most The Harris County Clerk’s may have cast votes in both people complained about being primary where everyone gets in not been summoned by Harris office has officially launched an the Democratic and Republi- locked out and some precincts one line to vote,” Van Wolfe said. County to intervene in the inves- Please see PRIMARY, page 6 Democratic primary continues at county conventions By Christina Kruse Party Convention, where 81 del- nearly tripled, said John Cullar, The convention is now going will determine the eligibility of Rules of Order. This year, due Staff writer egates will be elected to attend McLennan County democratic to be held at the Waco Conven- a delegate to participate in the to increased participation, this the state convention in June. chairman. tion Center’s McLennan Hall. convention. A delegate could committee will calculate the The Texas two-step, a coun- The 948 delegates that were “Part of what we will be deal- The location was relocated to be disqualified if he or she did number of delegates for Sen. try western dance, is executed elected from the 92 precinct ing with is educating people,” accommodate the large num- not live in the same precinct in Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary with two quick steps and two conventions after polls closed Cullar said. ber of attendants and to avoid which they voted. Clinton. slow steps. This dance name on March 4 will attend the con- Delegates will be taught the the overcrowding problem that Sixty-two delegates will be The resolutions committee also refers to the Texas demo- vention. Alternate delegates l as rules and procedures of the state occurred during precinct con- elected from the precincts at the will verify the resolutions pre- cratic electoral hybrid process, will also attend, bringing the delegate nomination process. ventions on March 4. convention. The nominations sented by the other committees. the primary and caucus elec- total number of attendees esti- “It’s a day of business—the There are four committees committee will take applications “The turnout is going to be tions that were held March 4 — mation to roughly 1,400. business of the convention is to involved in the convention on from delegates who wish to be really good,“ said Ryan Young, the two quick steps. However, In comparison to the last elect delegates,” he said. Saturday: the credentials, nomi- one of the other 19 delegates. an Obama delegate from pre- one of the two slow steps will McLennan County Demo- Previously, the convention’s nation, rules and platform and The rules and platform cinct 3. Participation is not a be taken this Saturday at the cratic Party Convention held scheduled location was the the resolutions committee. committee will make sure McLennan County Democratic four years ago, attendance has Waco High School cafeteria. The credentials committee delegates follow the Roberts Please see TEXAS, page 6 Violence in Women make up 1.5 percent of Tibet causes capital punishment convictions Radford University Atwell is the author of three Faye Tucker, the first woman professor Mary Welek books on gender and criminal to be executed in the state of Bush to brave justice in the United States. Texas since the Civil War, and Atwell to discuss Her most recent book, with the the first woman in more than women on death row same titled as the presentation, a decade to be executed in the focuses on 12 women who have U.S. Chinese leader By Lynn Ngo been executed in the U.S. since Since 1998, two other Reporter the Supreme Court reinstituted women, Betty Lou Beets and By Terence Hunt capital punishment in 1972, Frances Newton, have been The Associated Press As of December 2007, 51 said Dr. David Longfellow, executed in Texas. out of 3,263 people on death associate professor of history. A t we l l ’s p r e s e n t a t i o n w i l l b e WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush sharp- row were women, according to “She is interested in what focused not only on the subset ly confronted China’s President Hu Jintao on the Death Penalty Information we can find in common about of women but also on capital Wednesday about Beijing’s harsh crackdown in Center Web site. these women,” he said. “The punishment as a whole. Tibet, joining an international chorus of alarm just In an effort to understand book is an examination of “I think the majority of the months before the U.S. and the rest of the world this gender disparity, the his- female victims of capital pun- general public supports the parade to China for the Olympics. tory, political science and ishment and how the system death penalty,” Johnson said. In a telephone call with Hu, Bush “pushed The Associated Press sociology departments are co- works or how it doesn’t work.” He cited public opinion very hard” about violence in Tibet, a necessity for sponsoring “Wretched Sisters: Dr. Byron Johnson, co- polls from the last 60 years as restraint and a need for China to consult with rep- Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive party presidential The Gendered Face of Capital director of the Institute for proof of the support for capital resentatives of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader candidate Frank Hsieh holds a torch symbolizing human Punishment,” a presentation Studies of Religion and profes- punishment. of Tibet, the White House said. rights and freedom Wednesday during a vigil in support of by Radford University’s depart- sor of sociology, expressed an Longfellow expressed the After days of silence by Bush as other world Tibet in Taipei, Taiwan. ment of criminal justice profes- interest in the large difference need for increased capital leaders raised their voices, it marked a rare, sor Mary Welek Atwell as part between the number of women punishment education. direct protest from one president to another. As if months. “It came up ver y brief ly,” National Securit y of Women’s History Month. on death row and the number “There are not more impor- to underscore how pointed Bush was, the White Adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters. “Basically, The event will be at 5 p.m. of men. tant issues than issues of life House said he used the call to “speak very clearly the president indicated that a mistake had been today in Bennett Auditorium. “If you’re going to do a story and death,” he said. “We all and frankly.” made. There was very little discussion about it.” All faculty, staff and students of women on death row, the owe it to ourselves to think At the same time, Bush was forced to address an Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had previ- interested in the issue of capi- story is why they were con- about this issue.” embarrassing blunder by the United States — the ously registered concern about China’s actions in tal punishment, national poli- victed,” he said. Longfellow said capital shipment of nuclear missile fuses to Taiwan and tics and women’s history are Atwell’s book will address the failure to discover the error for more than 18 Please see TIBET, page 6 welcome. the 1998 execution of Karla Please see WOMEN, page 6 No.