Judge delays ruling on provisional ballots

A judge has refused to rule on a controversy over voting in Iowa because the judge says it’s premature for the courts to get involved. Today (Thursday), Secretary of State Chet Culver is to send instructions to county auditors for how to deal with so-called provisional ballots. Culver has indicated he wants to have ballots that are cast in the wrong precinct counted. A group of five republicans has filed a lawsuit, saying only ballots cast in the precinct where the voter lives should be counted. Judge Arthur Gamble says if Culver formally issues that rule to county auditors today, then the republicans can come back and ask him to decide whether that’s legal. Gamble told lawyers yesterday he wanted to wait till Culver made the rule official.Lawyers for Culver asked Gamble to dismiss the lawsuit yesterday, but he said “no” to that request, too.