Colorado Recall Election Highlights Voter Suppression
October 25, 2013
Last month, two state senators lost their positions in hotly contested recall elections. As well as bringing further attention to the ongoing national gun debate, it these elections also highlighted claims of voter suppression. A major concern came from District Judge Robert McGahey’s ruling allowing two Colorado Libertarians on the recall ballot. The effect of this ruling in essence meant that Colorado voters could no longer use mail-ballots to a cast a vote in this election, despite the fact that the General Assembly passed House Bill 13-1303 in early August. (more…)
Panning for Gold: Is Colorado’s New Election Law All Grit?
October 23, 2013
by Forrest Reilly, Contributor
Coloradoans like voting. Colorado had the third highest voter turnout in the country during last year’s election, with seventy-one percent of its voting-eligible population casting ballots. Republicans and Democrats alike praised the smooth, efficient election process. Nonetheless, in the wake of the election the Colorado legislature passed a bill designed to further streamline and modernize Colorado’s elections. In broad strokes, the new law allows voters to register in person until election day, all ballots are delivered to voters through the mail, and voters who skip a general election will no longer face additional obstacles to voting – such voters were previously termed “Inactive Failed to Vote” (IFTV), but that designation is now defunct. IFTV voters in previous years had to specially request that they receive their mail ballot or they would not receive one; the courts effectively suspended this provision last year when a judge threw out the Colorado Secretary of State’s suit filed against Pueblo County Clerks to enjoin them from sending unsolicited ballots to IFTV voters. (more…)
California Court Grapples With Racially Polarized Election
October 21, 2013
by Nandor Kiss, Contributor
In the Northernmost part of Los Angeles County sits the Antelope Valley and the city of Palmdale, California. Incorporated in 1962, the city has had only one non-white member of its city council in the entirety of its history. This is despite the fact that the 2010 census reported the city’s demographic breakdown as 55% Latino, 15% African-American, and only 25% non-Hispanic white. (more…)
Paper Trail: South Carolina’s Problematic DRE Voting Machines
October 18, 2013
by Austin Graham, Contributor
Last November, Richland County residents seeking to participate in local elections encountered an unanticipated hindrance at polling stations: stagnant lines of voters unable to cast their ballots because of malfunctioning voting machines. The lines reportedly were so outrageous that some residents had to wait upwards of seven hours to vote. Many voters grew impatient and left polling stations without submitting a ballot. Moreover, the disarray was hardly confined to election day. In the week after polls closed, a court-ordered recount of the election results sparked a back-and-forth legal battle between Democrats and Republicans over whether a local or statewide election agency should be tasked with tallying the votes in the recount. The dispute was not settled until the South Carolina Supreme Court intervened, and nearly two weeks elapsed before the election results were finalized. (more…)
A Very Special Special Election: “Opposite-Day” in New Jersey?
October 16, 2013
by Beth, Contributor
On October 16, some five million New Jersey residents can head to the polls and cast their votes for the senator of their choice. And twenty days later, they can go to the polls again to vote for governor. The reason: New Jersey’s October 16 special election. (more…)
Summer Hiatus
July 1, 2013
The writers and editors of State of Elections are currently on our summer hiatus. We will return with new content soon.
News Brief: Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Ballot Box
June 27, 2013
Former Richmond City Council member Sa’ad El-Amin could be back in the voting booth for this year’s Governor’s race. The irony is that this could frustrate his own efforts to ensure automatic rights restoration for felons in Virginia.
Federal District Judge John A. Gibney Jr. ordered a stay in the case of El-Amin v. Commonwealth of Virginia, holding off on deciding whether the convicted felon would have his voting rights restored, because of Governor Bob McDonnell’s announcement that he intends to restore voting rights to all non-violent felons in the state. (Full Disclosure: Two William & Mary Law School students, Kate Ward and Elderidge Nichols, under the supervision of Professor Rebecca Green, filed an amicus curiae brief in El-Amin’s case.) (more…)
Supreme Court Strikes Down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act
June 25, 2013
The Court did not strike down Section 5 preclearence provisions, but as the New York Times explains, after today’s ruling, Section 5 is “without significance — unless Congress passes a new bill for determining which states would be covered.”
Supreme Court Strikes Down Arizona Proof-of-Citizenship Voting Requirement
June 17, 2013
The Court ruled 7-2 that Arizona’s law was preempted by the 1993 National Voter Registration Act.
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell Decides to Automatically Restore Voting Rights for Non-violent Felons
June 16, 2013
Washington Times calls it “an evolution of sorts on criminal justice policy” for the Republican Party. Previously, non-violent felons had to wait a minimum of two years and then petition for the restoration of their voting rights.