Montana Judge Blasts GOP Voter "Chicanery"

Republicans must be getting worried in red-trending-blue Montana, where their recent challenges to the eligibility of 6,000 voters in Democratic-leaning Missoula and Lewis and Clark counties brought down the wrath of one obviously irked U.S. District judge.

From The Missoulian:

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy...stopped short of an actual ruling in the case.

However, the judge left little doubt about his thoughts on the voter challenges.

"The timing of these challenges is so transparent that it defies common sense to believe the purpose is anything but political chicanery," Molloy wrote.

The Montana Democratic Party and the Barack Obama presidential campaign in Montana charged that the challenges were a transparent effort at suppressing voter turnout in predominantly Democratic areas. Had the challenges gone forward, all these voters would have received a letter in the weeks before Election Day asking that they provide notarized proof of their current address.

Although the state GOP has since withdrawn all of its voter challenges and vigorously denied that they were politically motivated, Art Noonan, executive director of the Montana Democratic Party, told reporters Wednesday he was pressing forward with the lawsuit.

"I'm a Butte boy," he said. "They taught us a long time ago that if you want to stop bullying on the playground, you stand up to the bully."

Judge Molloy was pretty clear about what he thought of "the bully":

"One can imagine the mischief an immature political operative could inject into an election cycle were he to use the statutes, not for their intended purpose of protecting the integrity of the people's democracy, but rather to execute a tawdry political ploy."

A spokesman for the Obama presidential campaign in Montana, which is assisting the state party in the suit, told The Missoulian that the party may seek punitive damages or its legal fees, if they succeed in court.

"All options are on the table," he said.