Opinion ID: 770321
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Derrick Marshall

Text: 48 Derrick Marshall was unquestionably a registered voter and a resident of Crawfordsville. His name was listed in the city precinct register. However, the word absentee had been stamped by his name. Both Ms. Freeman and Ms. James informed Mr. Marshall that he had already voted by absentee ballot, and would not be allowed to vote again. Tr. 238, 243. Mr. Marshall denied that he had voted. Tr. 239. No phone call was made by poll workers to the County Clerk's Office to determine if a mistake had been made when the register was stamped. Tr. 173, 597. Ms. Carlson testified: He really insisted that he had not voted. But we couldn't - with an absentee marked we couldn't - he had already voted as far as we were concerned. It was on the book. Tr. 728-29. 49 The fact that the word absentee was stamped beside Mr. Marshall's name was certainly sufficient to raise a question in the minds of the poll workers. It was not, however, conclusive as to whether or not he had already voted. According to the County Clerk, when someone writes in and requests an absentee ballot, the ballot is mailed to the voter, and the word absentee is then stamped next to the voter's name in the precinct binder. The stamping occurs at the time of mailing, not when the ballot is returned to the Clerk's Office. Tr. 576-77. Some ballots that are mailed out to people requesting them are not returned. A voter who requests an absentee ballot, but does not use it, is presumably entitled to vote in person on election day. This could have been the case with Mr. Marshall. Moreover, there are things that the poll workers could have done to investigate further. They could have telephoned the County Clerk's Office to try to determine whether an absentee ballot had been returned by the person in question, and apparently no such call was made. In addition, Mr. Marshall himself could have taken the initiative to go to the County Clerk's Office and request an investigation. When this happens, the County Clerk will do research, and, if it's justified, send the voter back to the polling place with a slip instructing the poll workers to allow him to vote. This also was not done in the instant case. 50 The District Court found that the defendants' actions towards Mr. Marshall were not motivated by race. The evidence is fairly even. On the whole, we are not persuaded that this finding was clearly erroneous. The stamping of the word absentee on the voting register raised a concrete and serious problem. Decisions in polling places on election day are made rather quickly. There is often not enough time to investigate thoroughly each individual case. Our judgment is further influenced by the fact that Carla James, the black poll worker, took the same position with respect to Mr. Marshall that the defendants Howe and Freeman took. We will affirm the District Court's decision with respect to the plaintiff Derrick Marshall.