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David Cole is taking his election challenge back to the Alabama Supreme Court, but his May 17 deposition still looms.

Cole is asking Alabamas highest court to intervene and overturn a Madison County Circuit Court judges order that determined deposition questions submitted in the challenge did not have to be limited to 40 or fewer. The judge also ruled that the questions more than 400 possible questions were not unduly burdensome.

Coles election as a state representative for House District 10 is being challenged by Libertarian candidate Elijah Boyd over Coles residency. A home that Cole and his family reside in is located outside of the 10th district, in District 4. In an apparent attempt to get around that issue, Cole supplied the home address of a family friend when submitting his qualifying documents to run for office.

Cole told APR, which first reported the discrepancy in October, that he and his family of five moved into that friends home, because the family wanted to downsize. The family friend and his wife, who still own the four-bedroom home, remained in the home at the same time, Coles campaign told APR.

In the nearly 18 months since that alleged move, the Coles have never placed the District 4 home on the market, and as recently as last week, still appear to reside in the home. Coles campaign provided APR with a lease for an apartment in District 10 that it said Cole and his family moved into last September. (Even if true, that move would have still left Cole ineligible to hold his current seat because state law requires a candidate to reside in the district where they run for one calendar year prior to the general election date.)

Cole has now twice turned to the Alabama Supreme Court in an attempt to overturn decisions by Madison County Judge Ruth Ann Hall. He first challenged Halls ruling that the Madison County Circuit Court the circuit court in the county where the election challenge was filed had standing to govern the case before ultimately presenting it to the Alabama Legislature for a proper hearing on the gathered facts. The ALSC agreed with Halls ruling.

The court also seems unlikely to overturn Hall on the latest issue. As Hall notes in her ruling on the matter of the number of questions, the unique nature of an election challenge deposition which requires written questions that must be asked by an impartial commissioner forces attorneys into a guessing game in which they have to submit follow-up questions for all reasonable potential answers.

The Court has reviewed the direct examination questions, cross examination questions, and the rebuttal questions and obviously recognizes that they are voluminous, Hall wrote. At the same time, this Court acknowledges the difficulty of trying to draft sufficiently thorough and unambiguous questions and potential follow-up questions. Having reviewed the questions, the Court finds that the areas of inquiry are material and relevant to the residency issue that is the subject of this election contest and that the questions submitted are not unduly burdensome as many of these questions may not be necessary dependent upon the initial response.

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David Cole again takes election challenge to the Alabama Supreme ... - Alabama Political Reporter

Johnson County election board member Phil Barrow holds the door open for County Maintenance Worker Shaun Spears, as he delivers voting machines to the Franklin Community Center on Monday.

Noah Crenshaw | Daily Journal

Today is Election Day, the day for voters to make their voices heard.

From 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. today, voters will cast ballots to select candidates in multiple contested races at the local level. In some races, whoever wins today will likely be the person to hold office next year, unless Democrat or a Libertarian enters races to challenge them before the November municipal election.

Voters taking the Republican ballot have choices for every city and town, though only Bargersville, Franklin, Greenwood, Princes Lakes, Trafalgar and Whiteland have contested primaries. Only Johnson County residents who live within municipal boundaries can vote this year.

A total of 81,033 Johnson County residents who live in municipalities are registered and eligible to vote in the primary election. For the primary, 3,007 people cast their vote through in-person early voting by close of early voting at noon Monday, according to Johnson County Voter Registration.

From left, Johnson County maintenance workers Aaron Miller, Noah Henson and Shaun Spears unload voting machines at the Franklin Community Center on Monday.

Noah Crenshaw | Daily Journal

Johnson County maintenance workers Aaron Miller, left, and Noah Henson deliver voting equipment to the Franklin Community Center on Monday.

Noah Crenshaw | Daily Journal

Johnson County Maintenance Worker Shaun Spears delivers voting machines to the Franklin Community Center on Monday.

Noah Crenshaw | Daily Journal

Johnson County election board member Phil Barrow holds the door open for County Maintenance Worker Shaun Spears, as he delivers voting machines to the Franklin Community Center on Monday.

Noah Crenshaw | Daily Journal

Johnson County Election Board Member Phil Barrow, left, signs off on election equipment delivery paperwork as board member Kevin Service watches from above at the Franklin Community Center on Monday.

Noah Crenshaw | Daily Journal

Johnson County Election Board Member Kevin Service signs off on election equipment delivery paperwork at the Franklin Community Center on Monday.

Noah Crenshaw | Daily Journal

Supporters of Mayor Mark Myers and Greenwood City Council District 4 candidate Teri Manship campaign outside the Greenwood Public Library during early voting on Saturday.

Leeann Doerflein | Daily Journal

Greenwood mayoral candidate Joe Hubbard, far left, and Greenwood City Council at-large candidate Erin Betron, second from left, campaign outside the Greenwood Public Library with supporters during early voting on Saturday.

Leeann Doerflein | Daily Journal

Steve Moan, an at-large candidate for Greenwood City Council, speaks to a voter outside the Greenwood Public Library during early voting on Saturday.

Leeann Doerflein | Daily Journal

Linda Gibson, an incumbent seeking reelection in Greenwood City Council District 1, and Ronald Palmer Jr., son of at-large city council candidate Ronald Palmer, Sr., campaign outside the Greenwood Public Library during early voting on Saturday.

Leeann Doerflein | Daily Journal

In Greenwood, there are contested races for mayor, city judge, city council districts 1, 4 and 5, along with city council at-large. Bargersville voters will see contested clerk-treasurer and town council at-large races, while voters in Franklin, Princes Lakes and Trafalgar all have contested city or town council at-large races.

Whiteland voters have contested races for town council districts 1 and 2. Though the town council is split into districts, everyone in the town votes for these offices regardless of where they live.

There are Democrats on the ballot for Bargersville and Whiteland town council at-large, along with Greenwood city council districts 3 and 4, but none of these races are contested. Democrat ballots will only be available for voters who live in Bargersville, Whiteland, or districts in Greenwood with a Democrat on the ballot.

A total of 15 vote centers will open in churches, libraries and government buildings across the county. Johnson County voters can use any vote center in the county.

Voters going to the polls must remember to bring their state-issued drivers license or ID, or another form of acceptable identification. These other forms include passports, military IDs or an ID from a state-funded college, according to the Indiana Secretary of States Office.

The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles locations will be open to issue a voter ID for anyone who doesnt have one, according to the agency. The BMV will have extended hours from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

ELECTION DAY VOTE CENTERS

Here is a look at where you can cast your ballot in person from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. today:

Mt. Auburn Church, 3100 W. Stones Crossing Road, Greenwood

White River Public Library, 1664 Library Boulevard, Greenwood

Community Church of Greenwood (main entrance foyer), 1477 W. Main St, Greenwood

Greenwood Christian Church, 2045 Averitt Road, Greenwood

Greenwood Public Library (east door), 310 S. Meridian St., Greenwood

Greenwood Bible Baptist Church, 1461 Sheek Road, Greenwood

Grace Assembly of God, 6822 N. U.S. Highway 31, New Whiteland

Clark Pleasant Public Library, 350 Clearwater Boulevard, Whiteland

Bargersville Town Hall, 24 N. Main St., Bargersville

Franklin Community Center, 396 Branigin Boulevard/State St., Franklin

Grace United Methodist Church, 1300 E. Adams Drive, Franklin

Trafalgar Public Library, 424 S. Tower St., Trafalgar

Princes Lakes Town Hall, 14 E. Lakeview Drive, Nineveh

John R. Drybread Community Center, 100 E. Main Cross St., Edinburgh

Scott Hall, Johnson County Fairgrounds, 250 Fairground St., Franklin

A map of Johnson County vote centers for the May 2 primary.Map provided by Johnson County Voter Registration

ELECTION CENTRAL

Stay in the loop. Get the latest vote totals tonight on our website: dailyjournal.net.

Need to know more about the candidates in this years election? Go online to dailyjournal.net/local/elections/.

TELL US YOUR STORY

Let us know how voting goes for you. Lines wrapped around the building? Didnt have the correct ID? End up at a vote center thats closed this election? Call us at 317-736-2774 or email newstips@dailyjournal.net.

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What to know before you vote in Johnson County - Daily Journal

Small States Are Best, and the E.U. Is Huge

Affirmative: Daniel Hannan

Small is beautiful. That, in a nutshell, is the case against the European Union. If you want to make the same point in more grandiose language, you can quote Aristotle: "To the size of a state there is a limit, as there is to plants, animals and instruments, none of which can retain their natural facility when too large."

Here's one practical test of his thesis. Which states or territories have the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per head? Depending on whose measure we use, the top five are Qatar, Macao, Luxembourg, Singapore, and Brunei (according to Worldometer); Monaco, Liechtenstein, the Isle of Man, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands (according to the International Monetary Fund); or the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, the Faroe Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam (according to the United Nations). Notice what they all have in common?

Europhiles might object that the E.U. is not a state, and that the very presence of Luxembourg in one of those tables suggests that it can't be doing too badly. But look at the direction of travel. At first, the European Economic Community (EEC)the clue was in the namecould reasonably be described as an international association, focused on eliminating trade barriers among its members. True, it did so at the expense of trade with nonmembers. Unlike NAFTA or the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the EEC was not a free trade area but a customs union, controlling all commerce on behalf of its members and artificially redirecting trade away from the rest of the world. Still, it was a club of nations rather than a superstate.

That changed when the Maastricht Treaty came into force in 1993. Suddenly, Brussels had a hand in almost every field of government activity: foreign policy, criminal justice, the environment, culture, immigration, defense. It was now that, in recognition of its vastly expanded ambitions, it stopped being the EEC and became the European Union.

A big polity can prosper, but only if it behaves like a confederation of statelets. The supreme exemplar is the U.S., the only large nation that gets anywhere near the top of those GDP rankings (coming in, respectively, at 7, 7, and 10 in the three lists cited above). American states and counties have powers that exceed those of any local authorities in Europeexcept in Switzerland, which, largely because it wants to retain its devolved political system, has declined to join the European Union. Delaware, unlike Denmark, can set its own sales taxes. Pennsylvania, unlike Poland, can decide whether to allow capital punishment.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not wild about the direction the U.S. has been taking either. Power is shifting from the states to Washington, D.C., from the legislature to the executive, and, indeed, from the citizen to the government. But the U.S. is starting from a much better place. It was designed according to Jeffersonian principles. Power was dispersed, decentralized, and democratized.

The E.U., by contrast, was designed to weld nations into a supranational bloc. The first article of its founding charter, the Treaty of Rome, commits its members to an "ever-closer union." The European Court of Justice has repeatedly cited that clause to justify power grabs that go beyond anything foreseen by the treaties.

The U.S. Constitution is an imperfect document, but, as P.J. O'Rourke said, it's better than what you've got now. The E.U. treaties, by contrast, don't even pretend to restrict state power. Where the Declaration of Independence promises life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, its European equivalent, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, entitles people to "strike action," "affordable housing," and "free healthcare."

True, nation-states can be as intrusive and dirigiste as the European Union. But the aggregate picture is clear. The cheapest and most accountable administrations are those closest to the people. Local government is (not always, but on average) more efficient than national government, national government more efficient than supranational government.

In theory, one could imagine an E.U. that did not concern itself with behind-border issuesan E.U., in short, more like EFTA or NAFTA. But that is not what we have. The real E.U. has policies on every aspect of life, from permissible noise levels to the status of disabled people, from the rights of asylum seekers to space exploration. No wonder most British libertarians voted to leave it.

Negative: Dalibor Rohac

Many valid criticisms can be addressed at the European Union. The Brussels machinery is bureaucratic and largely insulated from accountability. When it comes to new markets and new technologies, European institutions regulate first and ask questions later. The E.U. controls a sizable budget, part of it wastefulincluding generous agricultural subsidies and transfer programs that have entrenched aspiring autocrats in countries such as Hungary.

Yet the E.U.'s existence is infinitely preferable to its absence. It is a prime example of the "nirvana fallacy" to compare the E.U. and its flaws to a libertarian ideal of free trade and unregulated markets. The relevant comparison is between the E.U. and the politically plausible alternatives.

Those alternatives almost certainly involve protectionism, heavy-handed industrial policy and planning, or state aid to politically connected companiesand they could involve ethnic conflict and war. If it weren't for the pressure of the European Commission in the late 1980s, it is fanciful to think that Italy or France would have just given up state ownership of utilities, banks, or their industrial giants.

Conversely, the United Kingdom has not become a free market paradise after leaving the European Union. Quite the opposite. The U.K. economy, already constrained by self-imposed "not in my backyard" (NIMBY) regulations, is being burdened by new barriers to cross-border commerce with continental Europehence the dismal growth record three years into leaving the bloc.

Again, the E.U.'s "single market" is far from perfect. It is effectively nonexistent in the area of services, for example. And in areas where it does work, it often goes hand in hand with harmonized European rules rather than with simple mutual recognition of national standards.

Yet the single market is a singular achievement. It is one thing to prescribe the free movement of goods, capital, and people within the continental United States under the auspices of a powerful federal government. It is quite another to arrive at such an outcome through the largely voluntary efforts of E.U. member states.

Could we imagine an alternative that would be superior, from a libertarian standpoint? Sure: Eliminate tariffs and embrace mutual recognition of national rules. But that's never going to happen. The experience with existing mutual recognition arrangements from around the world shows that under wide differences between regulatory regimes, mutual recognition is politically unsustainable.

In other words, the layer of E.U. rules is a price to pay for the absence of nontariff barriers. This is arguably not a very hefty price to pay, given that some E.U. countries (the Nordics, Baltics, the Netherlands) are among the most competitive economies around the world, and given that nonmembers have voluntarily embraced those rules (Norway) or are very keen to do so (Ukraine).

It is misleading to compare the E.U.'s single market with 19th century Europe, and not just because 19th century Europe did not have a modern regulatory state. The "first age of globalization" was driven more by improvements in transportation than by wise trade policy. If anything, the free trade system started gradually eroding in the 1870s before completely collapsing in World War I.

Contrary to conservative-nationalist folklore, the E.U. is not a nefarious top-down plot to subvert national sovereignty and self-governance. It is an imperfect compromise resulting from decadeslong efforts by democratically elected leaders, and it enjoys broad, consistent popular support. (Two-thirds of Europeans back it, according to a recent Eurobarometer poll.)

One can understand why Americans or Brits might look with suspicion at the E.U.'s convoluted decision making processes. Yet the E.U.'s odd architecture reflects something distinctly Europeanthe uneasy tension between common cultural references and the sheer diversity of the continent. It is not a coincidence that for almost two millennia Europe saw a succession of weird, multilayered, quasi-federal structures of governance, from the Holy Roman Empire through leagues of city states to multinational "republics" such as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

England aside, the "sovereign" nation-state is a late19th century addition to Europe's political realities. And needless to say, the founding generation of the modern libertarian movement had a keen understanding of the fact that this period was not exactly friendly to freedom, markets, and peace.

Has the E.U. lived up fully to the ideals of Hayekian international federalism? Of course not. But it is blindingly obvious that it has performed better than the relevant alternatives.

Subscribers have access toReason's wholeMay 2023 issue now. These debates and the rest of the issue will be released throughout the month for everyone else. Consider subscribing today!

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Debate: The E.U. Was a Mistake - Reason

In HBO's The Last of Us, a handful of human survivors struggle to get by in a world overrun by formerly human, zombie-like monsters. It portrays its post-apocalyptic America as bleak and authoritarian, with a quasi-federal security apparatus, FEDRA, maintaining brutal control over the remaining population centers. Trade and travel are heavily restrictedthe show presents the zombie apocalypse as a libertarian nightmare.

The third episode specifically can be understood as a vindication, or at least humanization, of libertarian survivalists, who are normally portrayed as cranks. The story follows Bill, a gun-nut bunker-dweller who mumbles rants to himself about how FEDRA is the New World Order. When an uninfected man named Frank falls into a trap Bill has set, he lets Frank into his home.

Over time, they fall in love, squabbling about gardens as well as politics: "You live in a psycho bunker where 9/11 was an inside job and the government are all Nazis." Bill retorts, "The government are all Nazis!"

In the show's world, he's right, but it's not his politics that make him sympathetic. His capacity to love and be loved, and the ways that human bonds transcend ideology, give him dignity.

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Review: 'The Last of Us' Humanizes Libertarian Survivalists - Reason

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) The slaughterhouse cleaning company that was found to be employing more than 100 children to help sanitize dangerous razor-sharp equipment like bone saws has continued to lose contracts with the major meat producers since the investigation became public last fall.

For its part, Packers Sanitation Services Inc., or PSSI as it is known, said it has taken a number of steps to tighten up its hiring practices but it says the rising number of child labor cases nationwide is likely related to the increase in the number of minors crossing the U.S. border alone in recent years.

The scandal that followed the February announcement that PSSI would pay a $1.5 million fine and reform its hiring practices as part of an agreement with investigators also prompted the Biden administration to urge the entire meat processing industry to take steps to ensure no kids are working in these plants either for the meat companies or at contractors like PSSI.

Federal investigators confirmed that children as young as 13 were working for PSSI at 13 plants in Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee and Texas. It wasn't immediately clear if any additional children have been found working for the company because PSSI declined to answer that and government officials haven't offered an update on the investigation since February.

The Labor Department has said there has been a 69% increase since 2018 in the number of children being employed illegally nationwide, and it has more than 600 child labor investigations underway. Officials have said they are particularly concerned about the potential exploitation of migrants who may not even have a parent in the United States.

PSSI maintains that it prohibits hiring kids and the only way children could have been hired is through deliberate identity theft or fraud at a local plant. Regardless of the reason they occurred, it is our responsibility to address the problem.

As has been widely reported, the recent record rise in unaccompanied minors from abroad and rising prevalence of identity theft has clearly revealed new vulnerabilities in the area of underage labor across hundreds of different businesses including ours, PSSI spokesman Ray Hernandez said.

Companies like PSSI are put in a difficult situation of having to turn away applicants who appear to have a valid ID when they want to hire workers, and they also have to be careful not to discriminate by imposing extra scrutiny on immigrants, said David Bier, an immigration policy expert at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute that advocates for more open immigration laws. The fact that more than half a million children have crossed the border without their parents since 2019 creates a large group of minors who may try to get jobs.

"Seventeen-year-old, 16-year-old or 15-year-old even gets an ID and a company needs workers, its difficult to police, Bier said. And the meatpacking industry is always desperate to find more workers. If youre willing to do the work and you have an ID, then youre going to be able to get a job.

Cargill, Tyson Foods and JBS have all terminated contracts with PSSI at at least some of their plants particularly any plants where Labor Department investigators confirmed children were working although Cargill went furthest and cut ties with the Kieler, Wisconsin-based company entirely. Another meat processing giant, Smithfield Foods, said only that it is taking a close look at its contracts with PSSI, which currently cleans about one-third of the companys 45 plants, to ensure that all labor laws are being followed.

Those four companies, along with National Beef, control over 80% of the beef market and more than 60% of the pork market nationwide. National Beef didnt respond to questions about its actions.

Cargill spokeswoman April Nelson said the company notified PSSI in March that it would end all 14 of its contracts because we will not tolerate the use of underage labor within our facilities or supplier network.

Tyson and JBS officials also reiterated their commitment to eliminating child labor in their plants, and they said each of their companies had ended PSSI contracts at several plants. But they declined to provide specific numbers about how many contracts they cut and how many plants PSSI is still cleaning for them.

Tyson Foods is committed to compliance with all labor laws and holding those we do business with to the highest standards of accountability, said Dan Turton, a senior vice president at Tyson, in a letter to members of Congress about their child labor concerns. He promised Tyson would step up its audits of contractors and continue cooperating with federal officials to ensure its own hiring meets all standards.

The major meat processors say they are looking to bring more of the cleaning work at their plants in house, but they will likely continue to rely on contractors in many places. Tyson, for instance, said that its own workers clean about 40% of its plants.

PSSI wouldn't say how many workers it has laid off after losing contracts, but the way it describes itself on its website hints at the job losses. PSSI now says it has about 16,500 employees nationwide working at more than 400 plants, down from the more than 17,000 it cited last fall before the investigation. Still, it remains one of the largest cleaners of food processing plants.

PSSI says it is going above and beyond what the official court agreement required to ensure no kids are working there. And the company, which is owned by the New York-based private equity firm Blackstone, named a new CEO who just took over last week after its longtime top executive retired after 24 years.

PSSI hired a former U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officer to help strengthen the training its managers get to spot identity theft, and brought on a former Labor Department official to conduct monthly unannounced checks on its practices. The company also set up a hotline for employees to anonymously report any concerns.

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Firm that hired kids to clean meat plants keeps losing work - Jacksonville Journal-Courier