Color me confused.  After vacating Superior Court Judge Calvin Hawkins' ruling on the matter ten days ago, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen announced that the dispute over early voting centers in Lake County, IN ... belongs in Hawkins' court. 

Regardless of this roundabout ruling, this appears to be bad news for the Democrats, labor unions, and civil rights groups that were hoping Van Bokkelen would rule in favor of opening the early voting sites in Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago.  After all, it was Hawkins who originally approved a temporary restraining order put forth by county Republicans to prohibit these three towns from starting early voting.

That being said, the report from Munster Times' Bill Dolan includes this tidbit:

It was unclear Monday whether elections board Director Sally LaSota would open early voting centers tomorrow in the county courthouses at 15 W. 4th Ave., Gary; 232 Russell St., Hammond; and 3711 Main St., East Chicago.

With Van Bokkelen's ruling coming down this afternoon and Hawkins scheduled to take up the case tomorrow at 1 pm, there's technically nothing stopping LaSota from proceeding.  Pulling the trigger would be a bold move.  But once the early voting starts in these offices, it would be pretty tough to stop. 

We'll see what happens tomorrow.