Maryland again defied the Supreme Court & rejected Murray Hill Inc.'s voter registration.

[progressoid]

Corporations are People Too!

Corporate Candidate for Congress Blasts "Anti-Corporate Bigotry" in Voter Registration Rejection by Maryland Board of Elections


Murray Hill Inc. Warns of "Chaos and Confusion" in Post Citizens United Environment


In a stunning and alarming decision that could have wide-ranging consequences to the electoral process, the Maryland Board of Elections again defied the Supreme Court and rejected Murray Hill Inc.'s voter registration for the second time.

The Maryland State Board of Elections' 438-word written opinion denied Murray Hill Inc.'s appeal of the board's initial refusal to register the corporation. The board's rejection memo concluded that "Under Sec.3-102 of the Election Law Article, Annoted Code of Maryland, only "an individual" is qualified to register to vote."

Murray Hill filed for voter registration in January 2010. The state rejected the application in March and today denies an appeal filed in early April.

In a statement, Murray Hill Inc. said, "This is the same old anti-corporate bigotry and cultural myopia that refuses to accept the new world the Supreme Court has charted for us in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission. We are shocked and outraged by this attack on our fundamental and inalieanble rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness by profit."
Citing what Murray Hill Inc. has previously called the canard of human-only age requirements, the Board of Elections wrote, "Although a corporation may in some instances be a 'person' within the meaning of Maryland law, see Article 1, Sec. 15, Annotated Code of Maryland, a corporation is not included within the term 'individual,' as that term is used in Election Law Article, Sec. 3-102. This is made abundantly clear by the age requirement of Sec. 3-102 (a)(2)."

But Murray Hill Inc. says the Board of Election's logic is flawed. A corporation is a fully formed person from the moment its charter is filed with a Secretary of State.

"Unlike bodied persons," Murray Hill Inc. says, "corporations do not follow an aging process in which they are born, go through childhood, adolescence and then are old enough to buy beer."

Murray Hill Inc. has cited a passage in Justice John Paul Stevens' dissent in Citizens United that clarifies the rights of corporate persons to participate fully in the democratic process.

"Under the majority's view," Stevens wrote, "I suppose it may be a First Amendment problem that corporations are not permitted to vote, given that voting is, among other things, a form of speech."

more...http://murrayhillincforcongress.blogspot.com/2010/05/voter-registration-release.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CorporationsArePeopleToo+%28Murray+Hill+Inc.+for+Congress%29

If you are unaware of Murray Hill Inc. It (an advertising agaency) is trying to run for Congress on the Republican ticket as a corporation.

Here is the memo that started it all:
http://networkedblogs.com/30l1T

And their announcement video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHRKkXtxDRA