Judge Orders Virginia to Count Late Military Ballots

This decision could end up being important, if VA is as close as people are saying.

A federal judge has ordered election officials in Virginia to preserve late-arriving absentee ballots that Republican John McCain's campaign claims should be counted.

The McCain campaign says in a lawsuit that absentee ballots weren't mailed on time to many military members serving overseas. The complaint asks the court to order the state to count absentee ballots from overseas troops postmarked by Tuesday and received by Nov. 14.

The deadline for ballots to be received is 7 p.m. on Election Day.

U.S. District Judge Richard Williams said Tuesday that he will hear the lawsuit on Nov. 10. He ordered election officials to keep the late-arriving ballots until then.

The McCain campaign praised William's decision.

"This will help to ensure that local election officials do not destroy or dispose of these ballots before the court has had an opportunity to rule on our complaint," spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said in a written statement.

"The McCain-Palin campaign strongly believes that no military ballot should be discarded as a result of a failure on the part of several counties and independent cities to mail ballots to service members in a timely manner," Gitcho continued.

"We believe without exception that the servicemen and women on the front lines protecting our freedoms deserve every opportunity to make sure their vote counts," she added.

How fitting would it be if Obama lost VA based on his parties attitude towards the military?