By
The Associated Press
PHOENIX - A Virginia voters' rights organization's lawsuit over the Arizona Democratic Party's online presidential primary is settled, and the one-time foes said the challenge ended in cooperation.
Terms of the settlement reached last week were not disclosed.
The primary was the first binding election for public office using the Internet.
The Voting Integrity Project had filed suit in U.S. District Court in Phoenix two weeks before the March 2000 election asking that it be halted as discriminatory.
The organization contended that voting via the Internet would leave minorities and poor people at a disadvantage because few owned or had access to computers.
Judge Paul Rosenblatt refused to block the election but expressed concern that the so-called digital divide between computer users and non-users could disenfranchise some voters.
The party-conducted election covered the period of March 7-11. Ultimately, the voter turnout was more than double the previous record, and fewer than half of the 86,000 ballots were cast online.
Marty Harper, general counsel for the Arizona party, said two experts' analyses of the turnout showed no pattern of discrimination.
"We're very pleased," said Phoenix attorney Tim Casey, who represented the Voting Integrity Project. "This turned out to be a very cooperative effort between our clients and the Democratic Party."
The party had contended that it had avoided potential discrimination by providing varied ways to participate - by mail, by paper, by electronic means during the voting period, or by paper or electronic ballots at 124 conventional polling places statewide the last day of the period.
Those polling places included computers, and the number and location of such spot polling places was increased in light of the Virginia organization's concerns.
Al Gore defeated former Sen. Bill Bradley by a 4-1 ratio. Bradley had withdrawn while the Arizona vote was being taken.
