A Growing, Shrinking Problem – Mississippi’s Challenges in Redistricting
January 26, 2022
By: Theo Weber
While federal congressional elections are not being held in Mississippi until 2022, and state house and senate races aren’t until 2023, the redistricting process in the “Magnolia state” is well underway. However, Mississippi is currently facing a problem that has been accelerating in recent years, causing issues for legislators drawing the maps: that problem is population decline.
From 2000 to 2010, Mississippi saw an increase in population just shy of 125,000 people, a 4.31% increase. However, from 2010 to 2020, Mississippi saw a decrease in population of right around 6,000 people, one of only three states in the United States to see a population decline in the decade.
Reformation or Regression? Michigan Election Laws Divide Opinions
January 24, 2022
In June of this year, a series of three election reform bills passed both houses of the Michigan state legislature. Republicans comprise the majority in each house of the legislature, and all three bills were passed on party-line votes with all Republicans in favor and all Democrats opposed. The first of the three bills, SB 285, would impose new voter I.D. requirements on absentee voters. It would require voters to provide a photocopy of their I.D. (among other forms of acceptable identification) with their mailed application or present I.D. to the officials at the county clerk’s office when applying in person. Any voter who did not do so would be mailed a provisional ballot and be required to prove their identity before their vote could be counted.
Louisiana Redistricting: Bipartisan or Power Struggle?
January 24, 2022
By: Nick Brookings
With the 2020 Census completed, time has come for states to officially begin the redistricting process. This once a decade process is hugely important as cleverly planned districts can make all the difference in a state legislature by guaranteeing one party a majority for years to come. With the divisive decision of Rucho v. Common Cause in 2019, the court ruled that partisan gerrymandering claims “present political question beyond the reach of the federal courts.” With this decision a federal hurdle in the way of gerrymandering has been cleared, signaling that the gerrymandering possibilities are open as long as federal racial gerrymandering standards are met. Redistricting is always hugely impactful for state and federal legislatures, and the dominant parties of each state, or redistricting commissions, are rushing to create their plans.
Colorado Proposes Ranked Choice Voting Legislation
January 22, 2022
By: Wes Zieke
The pioneer spirit is alive and well in Colorado, this time manifesting itself as legislation to change the way Coloradans vote in certain elections. In 2021, Colorado signed HB-1071 into law making it easier for cities and towns to switch over to a Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) scheme in their nonpartisan elections. RCV is an increasingly popular electoral system, though only two states currently use it for all of their congressional and state elections (Alaska and Maine). So, what does HB-1071 do? To answer that question, we first need to know what RCV is and what it purports to address.
RCV is a voting system that allows voters to rank their choices from most to least preferable. Next, the votes are tallied and if a single candidate gets over half of the first-choice votes, that candidate wins and the election is over. However, if no candidate receives over half the first-choice votes, an instant runoff begins. In the instant runoff, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and everyone who voted for the eliminated candidate will have their second choice receive their vote. This can take several rounds, but it ultimately ensures that the winning candidate gets more than half of the votes. Does that make RCV the “perfect” voting system, or even an improvement?
Utah’s H.B. 75 Proposes A New Strategy to Spread Ranked Choice Voting Across the State
January 19, 2022
By: Maxfield Daley-Watson
In 2017 Michael Kaufusi won the Provo mayoral race with only 40% of the vote. During the 2016 presidential election, 21% of Utah voters favored an independent candidate, Evan McMullin, as a result Donald Trump won the state with 45.1% of the vote. Instances of candidates winning elections without a majority of the popular vote is not new to American elections, but several states appear to be making a concerted effort to address the problem. One solution that is gaining momentum is the broader implementation of instant run-off elections or ranked choice voting. While procedures vary across jurisdictions, the basic idea is that voters can rank their choice of candidate. If one candidate does not receive a majority of first-choice votes, the candidate with the lowest number of first-choice votes is eliminated, and the voters who ranked that candidate first have their votes allocated to the candidates they ranked second. The process repeats itself until one candidate has a majority.
The Future of Senate Bill 97 and its Consequences
January 19, 2022
By: Zachary Daniel
Shortly before former president Trump called for Texas Governor Greg Abbot to perform a “forensic audit” of the 2020 election in the state, the Texas legislature proposed Senate Bill 97 as a remedy for the concerns over the unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud. If passed, the audits authorized by the bill could easily be weaponized because the bill empowers partisan political actors and the secretary of state over the county electoral process, and simultaneously burdens the counties. The bill has raised concerns among election law activists in Texas, who argue it would have a harmful, long-term impact on the state’s election system.
In the months following the 2020 election, Republican coalitions in states across the country called for audits of election results in four swing states in the name of uncovering alleged voter fraud. In response, the Republican-dominated legislature of Arizona appointed a private firm to investigate the accusations. After months of uncertainty, as well as squandered time, effort, and money, the audit ended and the results were published, showing no indication of fraud. Unfortunately for the rest of the nation, the damage had been done.
Dying to Vote: Merrill v. People First of Alabama
December 22, 2021
By: Shelly Vallone
“[S]o many of my [ancestors] even died to vote. And while I don’t mind dying to vote, I think we’re past that – we’re past that time,” plaintiff Howard Porter, Jr. told the District Court when he and his co-plaintiffs, other at-risk Alabama voters and associated organizations, filed suit to compel state officials to make absentee and in-person voting more accessible in light of COVID-19. Mr. Porter suffers from asthma and Parkinson’s disease, placing him at higher risk of contracting COVID-19, especially in a public setting.
In Maine, Fight Over Foreign Financing Has Only Just Begun
December 17, 2021
By: Connor Skelly
A fight over an electrical transmission line in the Great North Woods has ignited a firestorm around the ability of foreign government owned corporations to spend money on electioneering in the state of Maine, with implications that could stretch all the way back to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.
LD 194 was passed by the Maine Legislature in the wake of Hydro-Quebec, a company that is solely owned by Quebec’s provincial government, spending $10 million dollars on campaigning against a referendum that would have halted the constructed of a 145-mile transmission line that would bring the company’s electricity into Maine. While entities owned by foreign governments are already prohibited by both federal and Maine law from contributing money to candidates, a loophole still exists that allows them to contribute money in Maine’s popular referendums. LD 194 was meant to close this loophole. The bill prohibited companies with 10% or more ownership by foreign governments from contributing money in any Maine election, including referendums.
Shifting Deadlines: How Changes in the Statutory Redistricting Deadlines Will Impact California’s Elections and Voters (Part 1 of 2)
December 13, 2021
By: Elizabeth Profaci
After California passed the Voters FIRST Act (“the Act”) in 2008, the California Citizens Redistricting Commission (“the Commission”) has drawn the state’s legislative and congressional districts. Among other provisions pertaining to the work of the Commission, the Act provides deadlines for the release of draft maps for public comment, approval, and certification the Commission must follow. The Act requires the Commission to release at least one set of draft maps by July 1 of the year following the census and the California Constitution requires that final maps must be approved and certified to the Secretary of State by August 15 of that same year.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused delays with the release of census data, which makes complying with these statutory and constitutional deadlines impossible. Recognizing this difficulty, the Legislature of the State of California filed an emergency petition requesting a writ of mandate to adjust the deadlines. In Legislature v. Padilla, the California Supreme Court granted the Legislature’s motion and adjusted the deadlines to require the Commission to release the first map drafts for public comment by November 1, 2021 and to approve and certify the final maps by December 15, 2021. Additionally, the court concluded that “relevant state deadlines should be shifted accordingly” in the event of “further federal delay.” In light of the court’s holding, the Legislature adopted SB 594 in September 2021, which would codify the holding in Padilla.
Louisiana Election Delays
December 10, 2021
By: Nicholas Brookings
When one thinks of changes to elections, the most common things that come to mind are voting by mail, changes to identification requirements and election locations, and so on. What one does not think about as often are changes to the actual day the election takes place, and yet that change, albeit temporary, has taken place in Louisiana for the 2021 election. This is due to Hurricane Ida, and the massive damage it caused. Indeed, the secretary of state, Kyle Ardoin, stated that 42% of Louisiana voters were impacted by the storm. Power is still out in some effected areas, and some voting locations are still damaged. As a result, the state decided to postpone the elections, moving everything back around a month, with the October 9th elections occurring on November 13th. The run-offs, which were scheduled for November 13th, are now to be held on December 11th. The governor did this through LA R.S. 18:401.1, the election emergency statute for Louisiana.