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October 25, 2006

Puzzle #3

Posted by John Baez

For which 1998 referendum in Washington D.C. did the United States Congress pass a special bill to prevent the votes from even being counted?

Extra credit: do you know other cases where special laws were enacted to prevent votes from being counted?

Posted at October 25, 2006 7:32 AM UTC

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2 Comments & 0 Trackbacks

Re: Puzzle #3

If I have it right, Initiative 59 - medical marijuana. See here, under `Washington, DC’ for details.

Posted by: Anon on October 25, 2006 8:15 AM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: Puzzle #3

Right! Thanks for the details.

The Washington D.C. referendum to legalize medical uses of marijuana occurred as part of the 1998 fall elections. The fight to prevent the vote from being counted was led by Representative Bob Barr, a Republican from Georgia. Similar referenda passed in Nevada, Oregon and Alaska, following the lead of Arizona and California.

My source was: “The Drug War Isn’t About Combating Use”, column by Robert Scheer in the Los Angeles Times editorial section, November 17, 1998.

I’m interested to know if the US Congress has ever passed any other laws to prevent votes from being counted in elections or referenda.

Or, maybe people know examples from other countries?

Posted by: John Baez on October 25, 2006 8:40 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

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