Weekly Wrap Up
September 10, 2010
Are red light cameras racist? According to American Traffic Solutions, they are. ATS opposes a ballot initiative to add red light cameras in Baytown, Texas, saying it will encourage conservative voters to come out in larger numbers for the November election and weaken the power of minority voters. A hearing is currently scheduled on a motion to stop the election.
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley announced he will not be seeking re-election in February 2011. February’s election will be the first time in 64 years that an incumbent is not running for mayor in Chicago. One of the rules set by the Chicago Board of Elections for Mayoral candidates is that they must have lived in the city of Chicago for at least the last calendar year. Does this rule out Rahm Emanuel as a candidate? Read more about the rules to run for mayor here.
This report was recently released and may be interesting to anyone who wants to look at the “threat posed by money and special interest pressure on fair and impartial courts” (quote by William & Mary Chancellor Sandra Day O’Connor). The report looks at the past decade of judicial campaign spending and analyzes some the challenges and threats to our judicial system because of this funding.
The Georgia Supreme Court is looking at the constitutionality of the new voter identification law the Department of Justice approved two weeks ago. Georgia, along with Arizona, checks the citizenship of people who register to vote against Social Security and DMV records. Proponents claim that it blocks illegal immigrants from voting, while critics argue that it could hinder minorities who are legal citizens from voting. The Georgia Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday, September 7.
The Green Party in Arizona has filed suit against several state election officials, requesting that some of the nominees on their ballot be removed and to change an Arizona law that allows people to join a minor party’s ballot with only one write-in vote. They allege that these nominees were recruited by Republicans to siphon votes away from the Democrat Party. Steve May, on the Republican ballot, says that he recruited drifters and street performers in Tempe to run as Green Party candidates, but that they are part of a valid political movement.
Democrats in Vermont are facing a shortage of volunteers as they try to recount the results of the primary. A number of the over 600 volunteers who originally signed up backed out when they found out they needed to commit to a full day of counting.
We Didn’t Start the Fire: Texas Loses Thousands of Voting Machines in Inferno
September 8, 2010
Elections are a delicate and complex process. In the months leading up to Election Day, election officials must anticipate and prepare for hundreds of potential issues. But in Texas, an issue nobody could have foreseen has left the best laid plans of the Harris County Clerk’s Office in disarray.
Over 10,000 voting machines were destroyed in a sudden warehouse fire on August 27th, leaving the county without a single voting machine to use in the upcoming elections. Luckily, no one was injured, but with just two months to go before Election Day, the county is scrambling to find ways to salvage the situation. (more…)
Vote Early, Vote Often: The Pros and Cons of Maryland’s Early Voting Law
September 6, 2010
This week, Maryland began its first election with early voting. The recently passed early voting laws in Maryland allow for voters to cast ballots in-person up to ten days prior to the election (not counting Sunday.)
The technical distinction between absentee voting and early voting is that with early voting you are not required to have an excuse for not voting on Election Day. Also, early voting is typically performed using the same method as Election Day voting, rather than on an absentee-type paper ballot.
Early voting is an attempt to address significant problems facing elections today. Allowing voters to cast their ballot early alleviates traffic and lines at the polls. Also, allowing a greater time period to vote will almost certainly increase overall voter turnout simply because it may be more convenient. Texas has even allowed “curbside voting” during early voting, a process where, if you call in advance, you can get a poll worker to bring the ballot to your car as you arrive at the precinct (only for those who have difficulty walking or standing for extended periods, of course.) I, for one, support the use of Applebee’s Carside To Go technology on Election Day. (more…)
Tidewater Roots Poll Project
September 3, 2010
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Previous articles on Stateofelections.com have mentioned the “graying” of America’s poll workers. The average age of a poll worker is 72, and they obviously are not getting any younger. Even more depressingly, precincts across the nation are overworked and shorthanded. According to the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, poll worker error was responsible for over 1 million lost votes. That’s one million voters effectively disenfranchised because of our rapidly aging poll worker population. It is clear that America needs a new generation of voters to step up and take on this important civic responsibility.
To that end, the William & Mary Election Law Program is pleased to announce its latest initiative, the Tidewater Roots Poll Project. The goal of the Project is to recruit 240 college students from 6 schools across the Tidewater region: William & Mary, Hampton University, Regent University, Norfolk State University, Old Dominion University and Christopher Newport University. These students will be trained as election officials and introduced to experienced poll workers to spark an appreciation for the tradition of civic involvement of the region. The project will be documented in oral history videographies featuring the students and their interactions with experienced poll workers.
Ultimately, our mission is not just to get 240 college students to work this election day, but to inspire them to make a lifetime commitment to participatory democracy.
To learn more about the program, or if you are a student at one of those six schools who wants to get involved, visit the project’s website at Tidewaterroots.com.
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Congratulations to Former ELS President Jeff Palmore!
August 25, 2010
We’re getting ready for the upcoming year and preparing lots of original articles covering the moving pieces of election law in the states. However, big news just hit us and we wanted to share it with everyone.
Jeff Palmore (W&M Law ‘09), a former President of the law school’s Election Law Society, is now Deputy Counselor to Governor McDonnell. Read more on the link here: http://www.governor.virginia.gov/news/viewRelease.cfm?id=311. Congratulations, Jeff!
Redistricting Litigation: What Every Judge Should Know
July 23, 2010
The William and Mary Election Law Program and the National Center for State Courts, as part of their election law litigation educational series, have just posted three new videos discussing the finer points of redistricting litigation. If you are a judge, lawyer, or law student interested in election law, I strongly recommend you watch these videos.
The speakers in the videos are Jessica Amunson, J. Gerald Hebert, Trevor Potter, and John Hardin Young, who also spoke at the 2010 Election Law Symposium at William & Mary.
Weekly Wrap Up
June 6, 2010
– On June 8th, California voters will weigh in on two election reform measures, Propositions 14 and 15. Proposition 14 would create a single ballot for primary elections. The two candidates who received the most votes would face off in the general election, regardless of their party affiliation. Theoretically, this could result in a general election contest between two members of the same party. Prop 14 also allows candidates to choose to keep their party affiliation off the primary ballot.
Proposition 15, also known as the California Fair Elections Act, would repeal California’s ban on public funding for elections. Candidates for Secretary of State would be eligible to up to 1,000,000 dollars in public funding for primary elections, and 1,300,000 in public funding for the general election. Candidates who accepted the funds would be prohibited from raising or spending any money beyond what they receive from the public fund.
– On May 29th, Florida governor Charlie Crist signed a far-reaching elections bill. The bill will have a number of effects, including a requirement that any group engaging in political advertising disclose their source of funding. The bill will also make it easier for overseas and military voters to cast their ballots. Interestingly, HB 131 has been criticized by the ACLU for failing to provide adequate voting machines for disabled voters.
– The California State Senate has approved a bill to allow Election Day voter registration.
– In Ohio, a redistricting reform bill has stalled in the legislature.
Synergy and Citizens United
May 30, 2010
Before coming to law school, I worked as a fundraising and communications consultant for a number of House and Senate campaigns. Sometimes, being involved in one race would lend opportunities to help a client in another. For example, I would sometimes have clients in nearby districts who would do joint events, or who would each take a turn with a visiting speaker or leader during the same trip.
Most common, however, would be when one prominent figure (usually a sitting Congressman or popular party leader) would agree to write a fundraising email or letter for one client, and I would convince that figure to allow me to send a second letter on behalf of another client while we were at it. My clients were often unaware that I was performing this service, but it’s actually quite common: the world of DC fundraisers is surprisingly incestuous, with fundraisers each attending events hosted by their colleagues and regular donors. Think about it: if a campaign fundraising consultant doesn’t regularly attend events at the home of a prominent donor, what are the odds of developing a close relationship with that donor and getting her to host an event for your clients down the line? It’s also about networking: at some point, each of us found that we had to turn down a prospective client (for whatever reason–everything from ideological disagreement to prior commitments in the race), so we’d pass their information to a colleague and hope for reciprocity down the line. It’s just good business. (more…)
Weekly Wrap Up
May 20, 2010
Every week, State of Elections brings you the latest news in state election law.
– Soon, even a candidate’s tweets will be governed by a legion of rules and regulations. The Maryland Board of Elections is attempting to devise rules for the use of social media by candidates.
– The Tennessee Senate has passed a bill that would require potential voters to show proof of citizenship before registering. The state Attorney General believes that the law could potentially violate the federal Motor Voter Act.
– Congressman Michael Capuano has written an editorial for the Boston Herald about Citizens United and the proposed Shareholder Protection Act. For more about shareholder protection and Citizens United, see this post by William and Mary law professor William Van Alstyne.
– The recent British election and the swift transfer of power from Gordon Brown to David Cameron has some wondering how the U.S. could reduce the time between elections and inaugurations. See this article from Slate for a proposal for how such a reduction could be accomplished without a constitutional amendment.
– Pedro A. Cortés, Pennsylvania’s Secretary of the Commonwealth and the top election official in that state, has resigned. Cortés will be pursuing opportunities in the private sector, as vice president of a voting technology company.
Weekly Wrap Up
May 7, 2010
Every week, State of Elections brings you the latest news in state election law.
– Another week, another challenge to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Shelby County in Alabama is seeking an injunction against Attorney General Holder to prevent him from enforcing Section 5 of the VRA. Section 5 requires that certain states and municipalities “preclear” changes to their voting laws with the Attorney General. Last week, Merced County in California initiated a similar challenge to the Act.
– In Kansas, voters will decide whether to amend the state constitution to protect the voting rights of the mentally ill. Currently, the state constitution allows legislators to deny voting rights to the mentally ill, though the legislature has not attempted to pass any laws limiting those rights. This amendment would eliminate the possibility of such restrictions entirely. The proposed amendment will appear on the ballot next statewide election, on November 2nd.
– Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post has written this editorial linking Arizona’s “Clean Election” reforms with that state’s new controversial immigration law.
– In New York, Assemblyman Michael Gianaris has introduced a bill that would create a non-partisan redistricting commission in that state.