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Ada-Hocog’s TRO ends today
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Posted on Sep 14 2005
The court order that has temporarily halted the dispute between Covenant Party candidate Rose Nelly T. Ada-Hocog and the Commonwealth Election Commission expires today.
Whether or not the case will proceed depends on the enactment of Senate Bill 14-96, which now awaits the signature of Gov. Juan N. Babauta.
“It does not matter to my client whether a court order finds the [election] statute unconstitutional or the statute is modified. We’ll just find out. If the bill is signed before 9am [today], there will be no need for a hearing. Otherwise, we will ask the court to issue a long-term preliminary injunction,” said Matthew T. Gregory, attorney for Ada-Hocog.
The election commission has refused to certify the nomination of Ada-Hocog based on her failure to meet the two-year voter registration requirement allegedly provided by election law.
Ada-Hocog then sued CEC to stop a lottery that would determine the position of Precinct 1 candidates on the Nov. 5, 2005 election ballot. She also asked the court to provide its interpretation of eligibility requirements for House candidates, particularly the provision concerning a requirement for candidates to be a registered voter for at least two years.
The Superior Court originally issued a temporary restraining order that expired on Aug. 31. This order was extended until Sept. 15, following the introduction of Senate Bill 14-86. The bill seeks to remove the provision of Public Law 12-18 requiring a candidate for a House seat to be “a registered voter and a resident of the election precinct where he or she is a candidate for at least two years immediately preceding the date of election.”
The bill also proposes to shorten the residency requirement for House candidates from five years to three years.
