William J. Kemble reports in the Daily Freeman that a second court ruled on Oct. 29 that there should be a voting location on the Bard College campus. Republicans have tried for years to block a polling location on the Dutchess County college's campus, to make it less convenient for the students to vote. On Oct. 29 State Supreme Court Judge Maria Rose agreed with an earlier court decision to allow voting locations at the school’s Bertelsmann Campus Center as well as St. John the Evangelist Church at 1114 River Road. Bard College officials said this was a two-year, expensive effort by Dutchess County Republican Elections Commissioner Erik Haight to make it more difficult for students to cast ballots. “It is unfortunate that the county leadership has condoned, actively or through their silence, Commissioner Haight’s efforts to undermine democracy, even as he has now wasted well over $100,000 of taxpayer money over the past decade in failed attempts at voter suppression that have been repeatedly rejected by the courts,” Bard College Executive Vice President Jonathan Becker said. Haight could not be reached for comment. A four-judge panel wrote Rosa had properly determined that Haight’s decision “was arbitrary and capricious” and the court ruling had “properly directed” that both the college and church be used for the Nov. 2 elections. he Andrew Goodman Foundation, Election@Bard student group, student Sadia Saba, Vice President for Student Affairs Erin Cannan, and Bard College President Leon Botstein filed the lawsuit in state Supreme Court in Poughkeepsie. Nov. 2 is election day. Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.