Republican attorney general candidate Leslie Rutledge finally registered to vote today. Her registration had been cancelled because she was also registered in Virginia and Washington, D.C. Could be chalked up to an honest, if sloppy, mistake, but Rutledge’s response was to blame Pulaski County Circuit and County Clerk Larry Crane and blather about “Chicago-style politics.” She demanded that he reinstate her. Crane countered that, legally, his hands were tied and she should simply register to vote. (Lindsey Millar explains all the ins and outs here.) The “blame Crane” response was goofy on its face and with her candidacy in jeopardy, Rutledge finally bowed to the inevitable this afternoon and registered to vote. (Maybe she decided to take the Blue Hog Report’s free advice.)

But wait! She only did so “under protest.” Insufferable to the end. Along with her application for registration, sent not to Crane but to Secretary of State Mark Martin, she included a letter of protest. From the letter: 

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The cancellation of my registration was improper, invalid and illegal. I am filing this application, under protest, solely because the Pulaski County Circuit/County Clerk’s has informed me that, unless I do so, Pulaski County Circuit/County Clerk’s office will prohibit me from exercising my fundamental constitutional right to vote in the upcoming election.

Via Talk Business, you can read the whole thing here

There still remains the thorny issue of her candidacy, since she was supposed to be a registered voter at the time she filed to run for attorney general, though many observers (see, for example, Blue Hog) believe that today’s registration will resolve that issue.  

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