Election-Campaign Law
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Election law, campaign finance, voting rights, and politicians in trouble
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California: ACRU defending Edwards-backer in campaign-finance prosecution
Posted on November 19, 2009TPM Muckraker reports: A heavy-hitting group of conservative lawyers led by Ken Starr and Ed Meese is jumping to the defense of a Democratic trial lawyer and major John Edwards backer. ... To explain: The American Civil Rights Union --...
Alabama: Packard proposes amendments to election laws
Posted on November 15, 2009Ed Packard, supervisor of voter registration for the State of Alabama, suggests several amendments to the State's election laws regarding emergency balloting procedures, changed voter ID procedures for absentee voters, and confidentiality of voter information...
Alabama: Charges against Worley reinstated
Posted on November 14, 2009The Huntsville Times reports: A state appeals court Friday reinstated five felony charges against former Secretary of State Nancy Worley, who is accused of using her office to influence the votes of five employees in her office. Montgomery County Circuit...
19th Judicial Circuit: residency restrictions
Posted on November 10, 2009The Montgomery Advertiser reports: A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a law that imposes residency requirements on candidates running for circuit judge in the 19th Judicial Circuit could be headed to the Alabama Supreme Court. But first, Montgomery Circuit Court...
Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act signed
Posted on October 29, 2009President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 yesterday (28 October 2009). One part of the act is the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act, reproduced below. Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act...
Birmingham: How many mayors can Birmingham have in one year?
Posted on October 21, 2009WBHM reports: Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford's trial is underway. As Langford's fate hangs in the balance at the Tuscaloosa federal courthouse, many in Birmingham wonder what will happen to his job as mayor if he's convicted. WBHM's Bradley George takes...
Birmingham: John Rogers backs off
Posted on October 14, 2009The Birmingham News reports: State Rep. John Rogers backed away Tuesday from his allegations of voter fraud in last week's City Council runoff, saying he might have been confused about the number of disqualified ballots cast. The Oct. 6 runoff...
State Board of Education: losing candidate files final report 9 months late
Posted on October 13, 2009The Talladega Daily Home reports: [Sylacauga] City School Board member Skip Smithwick filed his final report on campaign contributions Oct. 6, after questions arose from a member of the state Board of Education. Smithwick, a member of the City Schools...
Birmingham: John Rogers threatens challenge to council runoff over provisional ballots
Posted on October 13, 2009The Birmingham News reports: Alabama State Rep. John Rogers said he will challenge last week's Birmingham City Council runoff elections. Rogers said he was told there were 1,400 provisional ballots cast in the runoff and only about 150 were counted.....
Alabama: candidate files suit over 14-month delay in runoff
Posted on October 10, 2009The Gadsden Times reports: Evan Smith, a candidate in Cedar Bluff?s District One run-off election, filed a lawsuit in Cherokee County Circuit Court late afternoon Friday asking the court to issue an order to require the Cedar Bluff mayor and...
"Reforming the Democratic Presidential Nomination"
Posted on October 10, 2009Tom Schaller writes on FiveThirtyEight.com: I attended a panel today at Brookings featuring Elaine Kamarck and her new book, Primary Politics. Kamarck is both expert on, and key figure in, the transformation of the Democratic presidential nomination process during the...
Marshall Turner: RIP
Posted on October 09, 2009Tim Storey writes at The Thicket: It is with deep sorrow that I report the passing of one of NCSL's great friends. Marshall Turner died yesterday in a Maryland hospital only a few short years after retiring from the U.S....
Alabama: S. Ala. candidate claims fraud in his primary loss
Posted on October 08, 2009The Mobile Press-Register reports: A candidate for the state House of Representatives who lost a primary election last month by margin of 80 percent to 20 percent has asked officials to investigate what he contends was a conspiracy to steal...
Alabama: Autauga Co. judge orders registration of rejected applicant
Posted on October 03, 2009The Prattville Progress reports: Autauga County Judge of Probate Al Booth granted this week a request for summary judgment from an 18-year-old woman whose voter registration application was denied in July, and ordered the county's board of registrars to immediately...
Germany's election results give an unproportional Bundestag
Posted on October 02, 2009Renard Sexton writes on Five Thirty Eight.com about the recent German election: In 2009, however, the clash between district-based seats and the overall popular vote (done by party list) resulted in a significant shift in the allocation of Bundestag seats...
Alabama: Pike County Commission contest overturns winner
Posted on October 02, 2009The Troy Messenger reports: After nearly a year in office, Pike County Commissioner Karen Berry has been ordered to vacate her seat. Berry was declared the winner of the District 6 spot in the November 2008 election, victorious by just...
Alabama: email on county server may have violated state law
Posted on September 30, 2009The Birmingham News reports: Jefferson County officials are asking that an e-mail from an employee running for a seat on the County Commission be investigated to see if state laws prohibiting the use of county property for political activity were...
Alabama: Calera will use limited voting; DOJ approves new election date
Posted on September 26, 2009The Birmingham News reports: Calera officials received permission Friday from the U.S. Department of Justice to proceed with Nov. 10 municipal elections. The decision came 13 months after city leaders learned that the Justice Department would not accept the voting...
Alabama: rare appeal from denial of voter registration
Posted on September 26, 2009The Prattville Progress reports: An 18-year-old local woman whose voter registration application was rejected by county registrars because she inadvertently listed her former address on the document, has appealed the decision to the Autauga County Judge of Probate...
Alabama: lawsuit over 2008 Cedar Bluff election
Posted on September 24, 2009The Gadsden Times reports: A new lawsuit relating to the 2008 Cedar Bluff municipal elections was filed Wednesday in the Circuit Court of Cherokee County. The suit, filed by Evan Smith, is a complaint for declaratory, injunctive and other relief...
Alabama: 2 plead guilty to absentee voter fraud
Posted on September 15, 2009The Tuscaloosa News reports: Valada Paige Banks on Monday became the second woman charged with felony voter fraud in Hale County to plead guilty to a misdemeanor. Banks, 46, received a 12-month suspended sentence after admitting to third-degree criminal possession...
Call for Papers: Voting 45 Years After the Voting Rights Act
Posted on September 10, 2009The Saint Louis University Public Law Review invites the submission of article abstracts relating to its Spring 2010 symposium theme: Voting 45 Years After the Voting Rights Act. The symposium, which will be held on Friday, March 26, 2010, will...
Alabama: Calera thinks it can hold an election
Posted on September 09, 2009The Birmingham News reports: The Calera City Council passed a resolution Tuesday night calling for a new municipal election on Nov. 10. The move is contingent on approval from U.S. Justice Department officials, who declared the results of the 2008...
Alabama: "Large chunks of Birmingham city council campaign cash untraceable"
Posted on September 06, 2009The Birmingham News reports: Large chunks of campaign cash contributed to Birmingham City Council candidates are untraceable because the contributing political action committees haven't filed either campaign disclosure forms or organizational papers, an apparent violation of Alabama's Fair Campaign Practices...
Alabama: book on "Bloody Lowndes"
Posted on September 06, 2009The Montgomery Advertiser reports: Much of what happened during the historic Selma-to-Montgomery march occurred along a 22-mile stretch of U.S. 80 in one of Alabama's most sparsely populated counties. Historians tend to focus instead on much larger Dallas and Montgomery...
Alabama: Cable company will broadcast candidate forums
Posted on September 03, 2009The Birmingham News reports: Bright House Cable Networks will broadcast a series of public forums featuring candidates in the Oct. 6 City Council runoff. The cable operator is responding to a call for fairness from several council challengers who say...
Alabama: Evergreen to appeal portion of election contest ruling
Posted on September 02, 2009The Mobile Press-Register reports: City attorney Terry Davis recommended the city appeal part of a judge's decision in the ongoing challenge of last October's mayoral vote, a move one councilman called "bull crap." Davis said an order issued a week...
Alabama: Winning candidate calls on AG to investigate loser
Posted on September 01, 2009The Dothan Eagle reports: Betty Peters believes that if you're going to get something done, you've got to take it to the top. The district 2 state school board member did just that last night, calling on Alabama Attorney General...
Alabama: Birmingham candidates think outside the box to get inside the tube
Posted on August 31, 2009The Birmingham News reports: With six weeks before the Birmingham City Council runoff, two of the four candidates seeking to unseat incumbents say televised council meetings are tantamount to free campaign advertising, giving their opponents an unfair advantage...
Barney Frank, "Bull Durham," and the First Amendment
Posted on August 30, 2009Jonathan Allen at CQ Politics ties together three of my favorites: Remember when Rep. Barney Frank asked a town hall meeting participant what planet she most frequented before telling her he felt like he was arguing with a dining room...
Alabama: elected, but not sworn in
Posted on August 29, 2009The Mobile Press-Register reports: Four days after a special judge ruled that Mayor Larry Fluker had lost his runoff last October, Fluker remained in office Friday conducting duties as usual, while the declared winner couldn't find a local judge to...
Alabama: Evergreen election contest over; Wolff defeats Fluker
Posted on August 26, 2009The Mobile Press-Register reports: A judge Monday overturned last year's Evergreen mayoral election results and declared challenger Pete Wolff III winner over incumbent Larry Fluker. "Mr. Wolff is the winner, and is mayor as we speak," said James Anderson, the...
RIP: Sen. Edward Kennedy; "the dream lives on"
Posted on August 26, 2009The New York Times reports: Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a son of one of the most storied families in American politics, a man who knew triumph and tragedy in near-equal measure and who will be remembered as one...
UK: will "American style" primaries catch on in Britain?
Posted on August 13, 2009The Herald reports: The prospect of the next Labour or Conservative leader being chosen by ordinary voters across the entire UK has been raised by a former government minister. Following the selection last week of the Tories' candidate for Totnes...
Campaigning while on active duty
Posted on July 30, 2009The Capitol Fax Blog reports the Rep. Mark Kirk has tweeted at least twice about his then-current active duty in the Navy at the National Military Command Center. Capitol Fax has updated the blog post to include the correct DOD...
How to hold an election if the county won't deliver the voting machines
Posted on July 28, 2009Jefferson County, Alabama, is in a financial crisis. Because a court has voided the county's occupational tax (a tax on wages), the county will not have the money to pay its workers on 21 August. But the City of Birmingham...
Alabama: state requirements for ballot access upheld
Posted on July 23, 2009Ballot Access News reports: On July 23, U.S. District Court Mark Fuller, a Bush, Jr., appointee, upheld the number of signatures required for an independent U.S. House candidate in Alabama. Shugart v Chapman, middle district, 2:08-cv-1016-MEF. Here is the 7-page...
On the House calendar today: the Absentee Ballot Track, Receive, and Confirm Act
Posted on July 21, 2009Absentee Ballot Track, Receive, and Confirm Act (Reported in House) HR 2510 RH Union Calendar No. 85 111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 2510 [Report No. 111-169] To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to reimburse States for...
Scotland: "Commons should adopt PR, say Scots voters"
Posted on July 20, 2009The Herald reports: Scots are the most satisfied about the way democracy works in the UK, a poll published today shows. Yet the snapshot of 2000 Britons, taken by YouGov for the Fabian Society earlier this month, also shows that...
Congratulations to Brenda Wright and Tova Wang
Posted on July 16, 2009From Demos: Demos is delighted to announce two significant staffing changes in its Democracy Program, which works to strengthen democracy in the United States by reducing barriers to voter participation and encouraging civic engagement. Effective June 1, Brenda Wright has...
"Future of the Voting Rights Act"
Posted on July 10, 2009The New American Foundation announces: On June 30th, over 100 people attended "The Future of the Voting Rights Act," a morning conference cosponsored by the New America Foundation and FairVote. The conference featured some of the nation's top voting rights...
Happy Birthday
Posted on July 04, 2009-- to the United States, only 233 years old. I was listening to the reading of the Declaration of Independence on NPR's Morning Edition yesterday, and these words struck me: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all...
Alabama: "Recusals delay ex-secretary of state's case"
Posted on June 26, 2009AP reports that the recusal of three members of (of five) on the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has delayed the appeal of the State in former Secretary of State Nancy Worley's criminal case. Read the full story --> Recusals...
Alabama: more inmates are registering to vote
Posted on June 25, 2009The Dothan Eagle reports: Some inmates in the city and county jails will have the chance to vote in upcoming municipal elections, thanks to the Rev. Kenneth Glasgow. Glasgow and The Ordinary People Society will be registering inmates in the...
Alabama: Birmingham gets preclearance for earlier election
Posted on June 22, 2009The Birmingham News reports that the City of Birmingham finally received preclearance for its earlier election date. For earlier stories on this, see here, here, and here....
Alabama: Birmingham's election date still up in the air
Posted on June 16, 2009The Birmingham News reports: Just a week remains before Birmingham city officials must either set early August city elections or revert to the original fall date. Candidates, city officials and city attorneys still don't know when the election will take...
Alabama: Poarch Creek Indians deny challenges to election results
Posted on June 15, 2009The Atmore Advance reports that the Election Board of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians has denied the election challenges brought by 4 candidates. Read the whole story --> The Atmore Advance > Breaking News...
Alabama: Challenge to results of Poarch Band of Creek Indians election
Posted on June 11, 2009The Atmore Advance reports on an election contest filed against the results of the special election held by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians' election for the offices of vice-chairman and two member-at-large positions. -- Read the whole article at...
Alabama: military-voting bill keeps Alabama at the back of the pack
Posted on May 31, 2009The Montgomery Advertiser reports: A bill that would have made voting easier for Alabama's military members died in the last days of the legislative session. Both houses passed a version of the bill that had little opposition this year and...
New Hampshire: DOJ drops Tobin case
Posted on May 27, 2009TPMmuckraker reports: Has the New Hampshire phone-jamming case finally come to a quiet end? Federal prosecutors have dropped their case against former regional NRSC official James Tobin in connection with a GOP plot to jam the phone lines of the...
Alabama: Birmingham's election date still undetermined
Posted on May 21, 2009The Birmingham News reports: Birmingham City Council members and candidates for city elections are incensed that there still is no definite date set for council and school board elections. The City Council three months ago voted to ask the Department...
New Jersey: "E-Voting Machines on Trial"
Posted on May 20, 2009Danielle Citron writes on Concurring Opinions: On Monday, a New Jersey Superior Court wrapped up a fifteen-week trial in Gusciora v. Corzine. There, plaintiffs challenged New Jersey's use of e-voting machines on the grounds that the machines cannot be trusted...
Alabama: election contest voided by state supreme court
Posted on May 16, 2009The Gadsden Times reports: In an opinion released Friday, all nine justices of the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokee County Circuit Court did not have jurisdiction to decide the election contest case that evolved from the Cedar Bluff...
Alabama: PAC-to-PAC transfer bill dies after effort to tack on anti-Artur Davis provision
Posted on May 16, 2009The Birmingham News reports: Legislation aimed at helping soldiers overseas vote electronically in elections died Friday after the Senate added an unrelated provision to prohibit a federal campaign from giving to a state race. Secretary of State Beth Chapman said...
Alabama: prosecutors did not charge Sen. McClain with misuse of campaign funds, but want to enhance his corruption sentence any way
Posted on May 15, 2009The Birmingham News reports: Federal prosecutors today will ask a judge to sentence former state Sen. E.B. McClain to 17½ years in prison. A lengthy prison sentence is warranted, prosecutors say, because McClain has a penchant for breaking the law...
Alabama: Birmingham's slow preclearance request for election-date change has potential candidates and council worried
Posted on May 11, 2009The Birmingham News reports: The city last week filed its formal request with federal officials to move up the City Council and school board elections - more than two months after the City Council voted for the change. ... However,...
Alabama: judicial candidates to face additional requirements
Posted on May 09, 2009The Montgomery Advertiser reports: The Alabama Legislature has passed a bill to set minimum experience requirements for judges. The House gave final approval Thursday to a bill that requires a state appeals court judge to have been a lawyer for...
Alabama: ethics charges against Hale County judge arising from election investigation
Posted on May 06, 2009The Tuscaloosa News reports: A Hale County circuit judge has been accused by the state's Judicial Inquiry Commission of ethical violations over how he handled a voter fraud investigation involving three of his relatives. The complaint handed down by the...
Over 33 Million Dollars Wasted in 100 counties in 2008 Due to Antiquated Voter Registration System
Posted on May 06, 2009Guest post by Lisa Gilbert, U.S.PIRG Democracy Advocate If only one lesson was well learned in the recent elections, it is that their success or failure is entirely dependent on the resources and skills of our local and state-level election...
Alabama: GOP block non-partisan election of judges in Marshall County
Posted on April 29, 2009Republicans block nonpartisan judicial elections - NewsFlash - al.com AP reports: "Republicans block nonpartisan judicial elections." In Alabama we have a strange creature called a "local constitutional amendment" by which the voters of one city or county can amend the...
Alabama: Sparks accuses Davis of violating state campaign law by using congressional fundraising for gubernatorial campaign
Posted on April 25, 2009The TimesDaily reports: Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks said Friday that U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, of Birmingham, broke campaign finance laws for using money from congressional fundraisers for his gubernatorial bid before June 1. June 1 is the first day candidates...
Washington State: Legislature passes National Popular Vote bill
Posted on April 16, 2009National Popular Vote.org reports: The Washington House of Representatives passed the National Popular Vote bill, thereby sending the bill to Governor Chris Gregoire. The Washington House is the 26th state legislative chamber in the country to pass the National Popular...
Florida: keep those lawyers away from the voters
Posted on April 16, 2009The New York Times reports: Republican lawmakers, who control both houses of the Legislature, have proposed sweeping changes to the state's election laws, including new procedures on registering voters, and requiring voters to use a provisional ballot if they move...
Texas: GOP governors differ on the NAMUDNO case
Posted on April 13, 2009AP reports: Republican governors offer differing views on major voting rights case at Supreme Court -- Differing views in GOP on voting rights case | TPM News Pages Note: Because the AP is threatening legal action against those who quote...
Scotland: SNP considering fundraising at funerals
Posted on April 12, 2009The Sunday Herald reports: THE SNP has been accused of "grave robbing" after the party put forward a "macabre" plan for fundraising at funerals. Nationalist bosses are asking grieving relatives if they can place envelopes on seats at memorial services...
Yglesias on STV replacing SMD
Posted on April 12, 2009Matt Yglesias writes on his eponymous blog: Ed Kilgore's interesting post on polarization in congress seems like a good opportunity to point out that there are some practical, structural steps we could take that would probably reduce polarization. One such...
"Visualizing Contributions to the 110th Congress"
Posted on April 11, 2009Usually, I quote a little portion of the article, but these are primarily visual, so I will just give you the links. Visualizing Contributions to the 110th Congress - The House Edition Visualizing Contributions to the 110th Congress-House Edition (Take...
Texas: Rep. Barton's campaign fund lost $703k in stock market
Posted on April 10, 2009CQ Politics reports: Texas Rep. Joe L. Barton 's campaign reported losing $703,500 in the financial markets last year. A large chunk of those stock market losses - $196,900 - were in shares of four companies that have a stake...
Free public access to OpenSecrets.org coming soon
Posted on April 09, 2009The Center for Responsive Politics announces: If you're a dataphile who hasn't been able to get enough of OpenSecrets.org, make sure your champagne glasses are full as you read on. For the first time in CRP's 26-year history as Washington's...
NY-20: Tedisco now challenging votes of 2nd-home owners
Posted on April 09, 2009Hudson writes on a Daily Kos diary: Here is the short version of the situation shaping up in Columbia, Murphy's strongest county in NY-20: Tedisco's legal team is moving to disenfranchise an entire class of voters. Specifically, virtually all ballots...
Alabama: Bob Riley gets the Streisand Effect
Posted on April 08, 2009The Birmingham News reports: Several television stations have stopped running ads from a pro-bingo group that attempt to link Gov. Bob Riley to Choctaw tribal casinos in Mississippi. Riley's deputy legal adviser sent the stations a letter threatening legal action...
Sen. Schumer urges DOJ suits against non-compliance with Motor Voter
Posted on April 08, 2009From a press release by Sen. Schumer: U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) urged Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday to sue states that fail to comply with a federal law requiring public assistance agencies that administer food stamps and unemployment...
Open Redistricting Project
Posted on April 06, 2009Travis Crum writes on Balkinization: The OpenRedistricting Project has two separate, but interdependent, components. The development of user-friendly, free redistricting software is a necessary step for bringing ordinary citizens into the process. Once that is completed, a social networking site...
New York-20: 25 votes apart with 6000 absentee ballots uncounted
Posted on April 02, 2009Michael Barone writes on USNews.com: What's going to happen when the absentee and military ballots are counted in the New York 20th district, where Democrat Scott Murphy currently has a lead of 25 votes out of 154,409 cast on election...
Vernon Burton on Lincoln this Saturday
Posted on April 01, 2009C-SPAN is airing my friend Vernon Burton's talk at the Woodrow Wilson Center with James McPherson's commentary this Saturday, April 4. It will air as part of C-SPAN's monthly Lincoln programming which begins at 8 p.m. ET/ 7 CT/ 5...
Minnesota: recount court will review 400 absentee ballots
Posted on April 01, 2009The New York Times reports: Al Franken, the comedian turned politician, won a potentially decisive court ruling on Tuesday in his bid to replace Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican trying to hold on to his Senate seat. A three-judge panel...
"High Court to Weigh Relevance Of Voting Law in Obama Era"
Posted on April 01, 2009The Washington Post reports: America's next great battle over civil rights could hardly have a less controversial flash point: the benign decision to move the neighborhood polling place from Jack Stueber's garage to the local elementary school. But because Stueber's...
Alabama: Evergreen election contest may affect all future city elections
Posted on March 27, 2009The Mobile Press- Register reports: The outcome of an election challenge in this city of some 3,630 people could change the way municipalities conduct elections in Alabama, a circuit judge said Thursday. In a hearing five months after a hotly...
Alabama: House committee defeats non-partisan election of judges
Posted on March 26, 2009The Montgomery Advertiser reports: A House committee voted Wednesday mostly along party lines to defeat two bills supporters said would take partisan politics out of Alabama's judicial elections, which have become among the nation's most costly. Republicans, who currently hold...
Alabama: DOJ objects again to Calera redistricting
Posted on March 25, 2009The Birmingham News reports: U.S. Department of Justice officials said Tuesday that they will not accept Calera's 2008 redistricting plan, which means the municipal elections were no good. ... "Having reviewed these materials, I remain unable to conclude that the...
Government lawyer claims right to censor political-campaign books paid with corporate funds
Posted on March 25, 2009The New York Times reports: A quirky case about a slashing documentary attacking Hillary Rodham Clinton would not seem to be the most obvious vehicle for a fundamental re-examination of the interplay between the First Amendment and campaign finance laws...
Texas: veteran VRA lawyers file amicus brief in NAMUDNO
Posted on March 25, 2009A group of veteran voting-rights attorneys lead by Julius Chambers, former director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, has filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in Northwest Austin Municipal Unitily District v. Holder. The attorneys argue: In comparison...
Vote to ask Pres. Obama, "Why Tuesday?"
Posted on March 24, 2009Jacob Soboroff, Executive Director, Why Tuesday? wrote me: Unbelievable! Because of you all, our question for President Obama about fixing America's broken voting system has shot onto the Ask The President front page in just half a day! We now...
Bill would require birth certificates from presidential candidates (bill linked)
Posted on March 14, 2009TPM DC reports: Rep. Bill Posey, a freshman Republican from Florida, is now putting forward a bill that should be good news for a particular demographic that cares a whole lot about their issue: Those folks out there who insist...
Alabama: committee approves proportional division of electoral vote
Posted on March 12, 2009The Birmingham News reports: Alabama, starting in 2012, would divide its nine electoral votes among presidential candidates based on the percentage of the popular vote they won in the general election, under a bill passed by a legislative panel Wednesday...
Pres. Obama supports continued Sec. 5 coverage
Posted on March 12, 2009The Birmingham News reports: The part of the 44-year-old Voting Rights Act that requires states such as Alabama to get federal permission before making election-related changes is still a necessary protection for minority voters, President Barack Obama said Wednesday...
North Carolina: Scotus decides Bartlett v. Strickland
Posted on March 09, 2009The Supreme Court has decided Bartlett v. Strickland, No. 07-689. The Justices divided 3-2-4. The Three (Kennedy, C.J. Roberts, and Alito) "concluded that §2 does not require state officials to draw election-district lines to allow a racial minority that would...
Alabama: Montgomery Co. election director pushes for more voters, turnout
Posted on March 08, 2009The Montgomery Advertiser reports: About 75 percent of Montgomery County's registered voters cast their ballots in the presidential election, but director of elections Trey Granger thinks there still is work to be done. He continues looking to make improvements that...
United Kingdom: 16-year olds will get the right to vote
Posted on March 08, 2009Scotland on Sunday reports: THE voting age could soon be reduced from 18 to 16, in a move which could see students sitting their Highers being able to vote in the next Holyrood elections. Energy minister Ed Miliband, who is...
Alabama: Birmingham moves date of city election to comply with HAVA
Posted on February 25, 2009The Birmingham News reports: In other business, the council in Tuesday's 7½-hour meeting unanimously approved moving the city and school elections to August. City attorney Lawrence Cooper said the city is violating federal voting rules because there were only three...
District of Columbia: bill to give a House seat to DC advances in Senate
Posted on February 25, 2009AP reports: The people of the District of Columbia were closer Tuesday to gaining the voting rights they were deprived of more than two centuries ago after the Senate agreed to take up a bill giving them a fully vested...
Vermont: DOJ drops UOCAVA suit after state files reports
Posted on February 25, 2009From a Justice Department press release: The Justice Department announced today the resolution of the lawsuit filed by the United States against the state of Vermont to enforce the reporting requirements of the Uniformed Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA)...
House to take up proposal for study of earmarks and contributions
Posted on February 25, 2009Peter Overby reports on Morning Edition: On Wednesday, the House is scheduled to take up a spending package that covers most of the government and is loaded with earmarks, special provisions targeting money for particular projects, places or companies in...
"How I teach cumulative voting"
Posted on February 25, 2009Kaimipono D. Wenger writes on Concurring Opinions blog: I use M&M's, of course. It wasn't always this way. I remember quite well the first couple of semesters that I taught Business Associations. My attempts to teach cumulative voting were --...
Illinois: could a quick election rid them of this troublesome senator
Posted on February 20, 2009Garrett Epps writes in Salon: The ambiguities of the United States Constitution, however, offer the Illinois state Legislature an opening to short-circuit this dreary ritual. The Legislature should call a special election in the next few weeks to fill Burris'...
Maine: federal judge dismisses latest charges against Tobin
Posted on February 19, 2009The Bangor Daily News reports: A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed the most recent charges against James Tobin, 48, of Bangor that alleged he lied to the FBI about his role in a phone jamming scheme on Election Day 2002...
Texas: 5th Circuit revives suit against Texas Democrats under Sec. 5
Posted on February 19, 2009The Fifth Circuit has partially reversed the dismissal of a Section 5 case about the allocation of delegates to the Texas Democratic Party convention. The opinion begins: Plaintiffs-Appellants LULAC of Texas, the Mexican American Bar Association of Houston, Texas, and...
Alabama: House again passes bill banning PAC-to-PAC transfers
Posted on February 13, 2009The Birmingham News reports: The Alabama House of Representatives, for the eighth consecutive year, approved legislation Thursday to ban political action committees from shuffling money to obscure the source of campaign contributions. The House voted 98-0 for the bill banning...
Alabama: group sues to declare state constitution invalid
Posted on February 13, 2009The Birmingham News reports: A group of Alabama voters who say the state's constitution was never legally ratified by the people are asking for a new vote on it or on a new constitution. The voters this month sued several...
Alabama: stricter voter I.D. bill delayed in committee ... till the 'Second Coming'
Posted on February 12, 2009The Birmingham News reports: A legislative panel voted along party lines Wednesday to delay a proposed law that would require people to show government-issued photo identification to vote at the polls. People unable to show a photo ID could vote...
Alabama: bill would list disfranchising crimes of "moral turpitude"
Posted on February 12, 2009The Birmingham News reports: State law finally would have a definitive list of 70 felonies that disqualify from voting people convicted of the crimes, if a bill cleared by a legislative panel Wednesday becomes law. Alabama's constitution disqualifies from voting...
Kentucky: Senate committee approves campaign finance bill
Posted on February 11, 2009The Fort Mills Times reports: A Kentucky Senate panel has approved a plan that would require candidates for statewide office to report campaign contributions more frequently around an election. The proposal by Republican State Sen. Damon Thayer of Georgetown would...
Maryland: Steele defends payment to dissolved company
Posted on February 10, 2009The Washington Post reports: Michael S. Steele, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, said yesterday that there was nothing improper in a payment of more than $37,000 to his sister's company for work on his 2006 Senate campaign...
Senate nears passage of electronic filing of campaign reports
Posted on February 10, 2009The Hill reports: After years of delay, the Senate moved closer to considering a measure that would require senators to file their campaign finance reports electronically, an action transparency advocates hail as bringing the upper chamber into the 21st century...
Alabama: no-reason absentee voting approved by committee
Posted on February 06, 2009The Birmingham News reports: The House Constitution and Elections Committee approved a bill Thursday that would authorize early voting in Alabama by allowing anyone to cast an absentee ballot. "It will give us an opportunity to vote 40 days out,"...
Alabama: Candiate without enough petition signatures now sues for $20 million
Posted on February 04, 2009The Montgomery Advertiser reports: A former mayoral candidate says he isn't filing a lawsuit to be allowed back into the campaign. The 29-year-old says he wants the money instead. Willie D. Knight, who is asking for $20 million in damages,...
Scotland: register of voters lost after by-election
Posted on February 03, 2009The Herald reports: THE official register of all those who voted in the crucial Glenrothes by-election in November was lost within days of being handed over by the returning officer to the sheriff clerk in Kirkcaldy, it has been revealed....
Alabama: most expensive judicial race in the country
Posted on January 31, 2009The Birmingham News reports: A spending surge the week before the Nov. 4 election helped paste a $5.3 million final price tag on the Alabama Supreme Court race, making it the nation's most expensive in 2008, according to new campaign...
Illinois: can Blago use campaign bucks for legal defense?
Posted on January 30, 2009The National Law Journal reports: Federal criminal corruption charges lodged against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich have highlighted a gray area in the state's laws: whether the state's top executive can use campaign contributions for his legal defense fees...
Population shifts will add congressional seats to red states
Posted on January 28, 2009The Hill reports: As Republicans brace for a 2010 election cycle that begins their long road back to the majority, they do have one major weapon in their arsenal — redistricting. ... The 2010 census could add multiple House seats...
FEC lists Palin as "candidate for president 2012" -- but not so fast
Posted on January 28, 2009McClatchy Newspapers reports: Ever since Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin opened up a political action committee yesterday, there's been a lot of speculation about why her name suddenly is popping up in the Federal Election Commission database as a candidate for...
Minnesota: problems with Coleman's witnesses
Posted on January 27, 2009TPM-DC reports on the Coleman-Franken contest: This afternoon the Coleman team was bringing in rejected absentee voters to show that their ballots were improperly tossed. So far the court has heard from six people, most of of whom said they...
District of Columbia: voting rights bill to be reintroduced
Posted on January 27, 2009The Washington Times reports: Supporters of the long effort to secure D.C. voting rights will return with renewed optimism Tuesday to Capitol Hill, where new legislation faces its first vote. With a Democrat as president and more Democrats in Congress,...
Alabama: voter I.D. bill might have hard time in the legislature
Posted on January 26, 2009AP reports: A bill pushed by Attorney General Troy King to require Alabama voters to show photo identification at the polls has modest support but enough foes to make it difficult to pass, according to an Associated Press survey of...
"This land is your land"
Posted on January 18, 2009Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen sing "This land is your land" with all the verses (today at the Lincoln Memorial): The words are here if you want to sing along....
"When inspiration calls, ...
Posted on January 17, 2009... you don't send it to voicemail." will.i.am, on NPR's Morning Edition, 17 Jan. 2009....
Alabama: 2 teachers claim NEA forced them to contribute to Obama
Posted on January 15, 2009The Mobile Press-Register reports: Two Daphne Middle School educators allege in a complaint filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission that their teachers union illegally funneled funds to a political action committee, and ultimately forced them to contribute to President-elect...
Texas: Supreme Court agrees to hear challenge to Section 5 of VRA
Posted on January 10, 2009The New York Times reports: The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it would decide whether Congress overstepped its constitutional authority in 2006 by extending a central provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The plaintiff in the case,...
R.I.P.: Charles Morgan Jr.
Posted on January 09, 2009The Washington Post reports: Charles "Chuck" Morgan Jr., 78, a civil rights lawyer who challenged the racist society of his native South and won numerous landmark cases for equal rights before the U.S. Supreme Court, died Jan. 8 at his...
New York: 3 charged with conspiracy to interfere with voting rights
Posted on January 08, 2009AP reports: Three Staten Island men, riled by Barack Obama's victory, spent election night hunting down black people to beat up and yelled insults about the president-elect, federal prosecutors said yesterday. The men beat a Liberian immigrant teenager, pushed a...
Alabama: suit attacks residency requirement for one circuit court
Posted on January 08, 2009The Montgomery Advertiser reports: An Elmore County man is suing the state's top election official over a law that imposes residency requirements on candidates running for circuit judge in the 19th Judicial Circuit. Attorney Jerry M. Blevins filed a lawsuit...
Minnesota: what should be said in a notice of contest?
Posted on January 07, 2009Eric Black at MinnPost.com criticizes the Coleman Notice of Contest: The petition has an almost generic quality. Think of every imaginable way that a vote for Coleman that should have been counted was rejected, add every way that a ballot...
Minnesota: Coleman's lawsuit
Posted on January 07, 2009TPM Election Central reports: I've been reading through the lawsuit that Norm Coleman has filed against the result of the Minnesota Senate race, and it's a marvelous thing. The complaint ignores the existence of counter-evidence, employs one maneuver when it...
Florida: suit against DNC's primary schedule set for argument on Thursday
Posted on January 05, 2009The Fulton County Daily Report reports: While the nation prepares to inaugurate a new president this month, at the federal appeals court in Atlanta a few Democrats are still arguing about the presidential primary process. On Thursday the 11th U.S....
Gambling machines more regulated than voting machines
Posted on December 27, 2008News From Underground compares Slot machines vs. e-voting machines UPDATE: a reader informs me: The images posted by MCM on News From Underground is generalized and only partially accurate. More importantly, it's lifted directly from a 2006 Washington Post story...
Maryland: states claims $8.5 million from voting machine company
Posted on December 25, 2008The Washington Post reports: Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler filed a claim against Premier Election Solutions to recover $8.5 million spent by the state to fix problems with the company's touch-screen voting machines. The claim against Texas-based Premier, formerly...
Its back: Bush v. Gore being cited and applied
Posted on December 23, 2008The Supreme Court’s decision in Bush v. Gore, issued eight years ago this month, was widely understood to work like that tape recorder in “Mission: Impossible.” It was meant to produce a president and then self-destruct. ... But now, as...
Alabama: proposed Mobile redistricting messing up one candidates plans
Posted on December 22, 2008The Mobile Press-Register reports: A proposed redistricting plan for the Mobile City Council would knock at least one potential contender out of next years election before it even begins. The would-be candidate said he believes dirty politics are at play,...
Alabama: SOS Chapman wants to copy Florida model of overseas Internet voting
Posted on December 16, 2008The Montgomery Advertiser reports: Military members and residents overseas need a better way to cast their ballots, the state's top elections official said. ... On Monday, Chapman and members of her task force on military and overseas voting heard a....
New York: judge-elect accused of false campaign-finance reporting (court doc linked)
Posted on December 11, 2008New York Law Journal reports: Nora S. Anderson, 56, who is scheduled to become Manhattan surrogate on Jan. 1, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that she falsely reported $250,000 pumped into her campaign as her own money when in...
Illinois: bill for special Senate election to be introduced
Posted on December 09, 2008The Hill reports: The Illinois state House is set to reconvene Monday to consider a bill that would fill President-elect Obama’s old Senate seat by special election, according to a spokesman for Illinois state House Speaker Michael Madigan (D). ......
Scotus rejects appeal on Obama's "natural-born"-ness
Posted on December 09, 2008The NY Times reports: Without comment, the Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up an appeal by a New Jersey man who questioned President-elect Barack Obama’s eligibility for the presidency, based on his birth to a father from Kenya...
What I've been doing lately
Posted on November 30, 2008Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons....
Alabama: US sues Sec/State for failing to file absentee-vote reports
Posted on November 20, 2008AP reports: The Justice Department has sued Alabama officials for allegedly violating a law that protects absentee voters overseas, including those serving in the military. The lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Montgomery is against the state of...
FEC fines Sharpton presidential campaign $497k
Posted on November 17, 2008Ben Smith writes on Politico: The wheels of the FEC can grind slow, but they just made their way to Al Sharpton's 2004 presidential campaign, and to fining him $497,000 for illegal contributions, according to MoneyLine. The Rev.'s spokeswoman, Rachel...
California: Alan Keyes files suit contesting Obama's "natural born" status (court doc linked)
Posted on November 16, 2008BaileyWo writes on the Open Salon blog: Alan Keyes, 2008 American Independent Party candidate, filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court Friday challenging Barack Obama's right to serve under the Constitution that specifies that candidates for the presidency must be...
Minnesota: Franken sues for information on rejected absentee ballots
Posted on November 13, 2008AP reports: Democrat Al Franken, locked in a tight Senate race headed to a statewide recount, sued Thursday for access to data on voters who had their absentee ballots rejected. Franken's lawsuit was filed in Ramsey County District Court, but...
Georgia: people liked early voting, so the GOP wants to shorten the time
Posted on November 12, 2008AP reports: Republican lawmakers are considering proposals for next year's legislative session that would shorten Georgia's early voting season and make it more difficult for close elections to reach a runoff. ... "Most people think it was stretched out too...
FEC will audit McCain, but likely to bypass Obama
Posted on November 11, 2008Politico reports: The Federal Election Commission is unlikely to conduct a potentially embarrassing audit of how Barack Obama raised and spent his presidential campaign’s record-shattering windfall, despite allegations of questionable donations and accounting that had the McCain campaign crying foul...
Alabama: Provisional ballots might make the difference in Supreme Court race
Posted on November 11, 2008The Mobile Press-Register reports: The multimillion-dollar Alabama Supreme Court race may turn on thousands of outstanding ballots. Trailing Republican Greg Shaw by a margin of 13,207 votes — out of more than 2 million cast — Democrat Deborah Bell Paseur's...
Minnesota: recount procedures
Posted on November 09, 2008The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports: State law triggers an automatic recount in races decided by one-half of a percentage point or less. Starting Nov. 19, after unofficial results are certified, election auditors in nearly 100 county and city election offices will...
Alabama: suit filed over illegal 1998 investigation of absentee voters (court doc attached)
Posted on November 05, 2008The Birmingham News reports: Some black Bessemer residents who voted by absentee ballot in the contentious 1998 Jefferson County sheriff's race filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday, claiming former Sheriff Jim Woodward and others illegally investigated them in his bid to...
Evidence? We don't need no stinkin' evidence
Posted on November 02, 2008Politico reports: For weeks, Republican leaders have warned that widely reported problems with fake voter registrations could result in a flood of phony votes in pivotal states. But Ronald Michaelson, a veteran election administrator and member of the McCain-Palin Honest...
"How to protect your vote and spot dirty tricks"
Posted on November 02, 2008The Obama-Biden campaign has produced videos for Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, and Virginia. The state videos at short and mention the polling hours and some forms of acceptable ID. There is also a national video entitled...
A collection of voting problems
Posted on November 01, 2008ProPublica's VoteWatch culls breaking news on voting issues from around the web, focusing in particular on key swing states where problems (ranging from voter registration to machine malfunction to alleged fraud or suppression) are anticipated. -- ProPublica VoteWatch - ProPublica...
Alabama: AG seizes Evergreen voting records
Posted on November 01, 2008The Mobile Press-Register reports: Officers with Alabama Attorney General Troy King's office have seized all city and county records pertaining to the Oct. 7 municipal runoff in Evergreen, officials said Friday. Joy Patterson, a spokeswoman for King's office, said investigators...
Election-day observers from DOJ
Posted on November 01, 2008The Washington Post's Trail blog reports: The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice will send 800 federal observers and justice department staff to 59 jurisdictions in 23 states on Election Day to monitor polling places and elections...
Twitter Vote Report
Posted on November 01, 2008NPR announces: If you have any voting problems, NPR wants to hear about them. As part of Twitter Vote Report – a project born out of a collaboration of volunteer software developers, bloggers and the NPR social media desk –...
New Demos reports
Posted on October 30, 2008Expanding Voter Registration for Low-Income Virginians: The Impact of the National Voter Registration Act Report: http://www.demos.org/pub1604.cfm Press release: http://www.demos.org/page669.cfm Provisional Ballots: Where to Watch in 2008 Report: http://www...
"Republican Voter Suppression: A Guide"
Posted on October 29, 2008TPM Muckraker reports: There are so many Republican gambits designed to make voting more difficult -- specifically for Democrats, of course -- that it can be hard to keep track of them all. So here's a handy -- and by...
California: initiative would shift to redistricting commission
Posted on October 28, 2008The New York Times reports: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has spent more than $2 million from his campaign coffers to support a ballot proposition that could profoundly alter the composition, and perhaps the governing style, of the California Legislature...
Alabama: DOJ sues (and settles with) City of Calera for violation of VRA (court docs attached)
Posted on October 28, 2008The Birmingham News reports: The federal government filed a lawsuit against the city of Calera in U.S. District Court, alleging the city's new voting boundaries violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965. ... The lawsuit says Calera's new voting districts,...
"Voting 2.0"
Posted on October 28, 2008Danielle Citron writes on Concurring Opinions: A cherished right in the United States is to vote in secrecy. But what if we don't want to exercise that right in secret? What if in this age of insecure and inaccurate e-voting...
Popular monitoring of popular elections
Posted on October 28, 2008Heather Gerken writes on Balkinization: A few months ago, I blogged about a new strategy for "popular monitoring of popular elections" – Harvard professor Archon Fung's proposal for harnessing the power of the wiki to monitor election problems by creating...
Our Vote
Posted on October 28, 2008Election Protection's Our Vote site is up and running already. You can find it here. Election Protection has added a new wrinkle -- Our Vote Live -- "the official site documenting the groundbreaking voter assistance work of the Election Protection...
Good new: plenty of work for lawyers; bad news: it's unpaid
Posted on October 28, 2008The New York Times reports: With heavy voter turnout expected on Election Day, both parties are amassing thousands and thousands of lawyers to keep an eye on the polls. Senator Barack Obama’s campaign is expected to send at least 5,000...
Alabama: should state reinstitute early voting?
Posted on October 27, 2008The Huntsville Times reports: Alabama could have been among the 31 states allowing early voting in the Nov. 4 general election had it not repealed a state law in 2001. Alabama experimented in 1998 and 2000 with what it called...
Georgia: Challenged ballots to be cast by questioned-citizenship voters
Posted on October 27, 2008The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: The state of Georgia must allow persons whose citizenship has been questioned in a new voter verification system the opportunity to cast a ballot in the Nov. 4 elections, a three-judge court ruled Monday. The court...
Alaska: state law may allow Palin book but not TV show while still in office
Posted on October 26, 2008Politico reports: If Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin does not become vice president on Nov. 4, she can look forward to a sweet payday for a memoir about her unlikely VP run should she choose to write one. But she might...
Since it is illegal for the campaign to pay for Palin's clothes, the RNC did
Posted on October 26, 2008Newsweek reports: The disclosure that the Republican National Committee spent more than $150,000 on clothing and accessories for vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family set off recriminations among GOP officials—and, more important, party donors...
Virginia: Fairfax email system crashes, stopping military-ballot distribution
Posted on October 25, 2008The Washington Post reports: Efforts by elections officials in Fairfax County and several Virginia jurisdictions to distribute absentee ballots to military members and others living overseas ground to a halt Tuesday after a group concerned about the state's voting system...
Virginia: GOP says Kaine has "assembled a felonious coalition"
Posted on October 25, 2008The Washington Post reports: Virginia Republicans opened up two fronts in the increasingly testy battle over the voting process Thursday by accusing Gov. Timothy M. Kaine of stacking the registration rolls with felons and raising concerns that county registrars were...
Ohio: White House urges DOJ to investigate new voters in Ohio
Posted on October 25, 2008The Washington Post reports: The White House has asked the Department of Justice to look into whether 200,000 new Ohio voters must reconfirm their registration information before Nov. 4, taking up an issue that Republicans and Democrats in the battleground...
Alabama: political parties are lawyered up
Posted on October 25, 2008The Birmingham News reports: The polls aren't open yet, but Alabama Democrats and Republicans are preparing their legal teams to deal with any problems that might crop up on Election Day. Voter registration surged past 2.9 million as election officials...
Florida: long lines in early voting bode ill for Election Day
Posted on October 24, 2008The Washington Post reports: After standing for more than an hour outside his polling place earlier this week, Dick Rosenow finally gave up when it started raining. He returned the next day, but again the line snaked around the branch...
Pennsylvania: suit filed over back-up paper ballots
Posted on October 24, 2008The New York Times reports: Concerned that voting machine breakdowns could cause long lines on Election Day, particularly in minority neighborhoods, several groups filed a lawsuit on Thursday to force Pennsylvania election officials to provide paper ballots when half the...
"The Republican Disconnect"
Posted on October 24, 2008Democracy Corps reports: With the country poised for its second wave election, Republican supporters are on a different page and disconnected from the rest of the country. That helps explain John McCain’s implausible close to the campaign and perhaps foretells...
Lawyer 2 Lawyer interviews Brenda Wright and Ed Still
Posted on October 24, 2008Description: Voter fraud, faulty equipment, voter purges, 3rd party registration problems-These are just some of the issues plaguing elections past and present. Law.com blogger and host, J. Craig Williams welcome experts, Attorney Brenda Wright, Legal Director of Demos, and Attorney...
Ohio: hackers hit Sec/State's web site
Posted on October 23, 2008Computerworld reports: The Web site of Ohio's secretary of state was shut down after it was hacked Monday, according to the site and local media reports. The site was later restored, but with only limited functionality. Tuesday morning, the site...
"More Democrats Casting Early Ballots, Data Show"
Posted on October 23, 2008The New York Times reports: With as many as one-third of voters expected to cast their ballots before Election Day, preliminary data from several key battleground states show more Democrats than Republicans have voted early. While the information should hardly...
Q&A: Heather Gerken on Election Law
Posted on October 23, 2008With less than two weeks to Election Day and record early voting expected, The Takeaway is talking with Yale Law School professor Heather Gerken about election law and voting rights. Professor Gerken is taking your questions about your voting problems,...
Alabama: Glasgow settles suit with Dept of Corrections on voter registration in prison
Posted on October 21, 2008The NAACP Legal Defense Fund announces: Today, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) settled the lawsuit it filed against the Alabama Department of Corrections in federal court earlier this month on behalf of Reverend Kenneth Glasgow. Immediately after the lawsuit...
Mark Crispin Miller talks about problems voters may face at the polls
Posted on October 21, 2008The Bill Moyers Journal on PBS reported: As election day approaches and both Democracts and Republicans warn that the other side may be planning to tamper with the results, voters may be wondering if their vote will be counted properly....
Large donors have been giving to joint-fundraising committees
Posted on October 21, 2008The New York Times reports: Much of the attention on the record amounts of money coursing through the presidential race this year, including in Senator Barack Obama’s announcement on Sunday of his $150 million fund-raising haul in September, has focused...
Alabama: registration nears 3 million voters
Posted on October 20, 2008The Birmingham News reports: Alabama election officials are bracing for an Election Day rush as voter registration levels hit a record of nearly 3 million people. The deadline to register to vote is Friday. Election officials across the state have...
RFK Jr: GOP "fixed" the 2004 election
Posted on October 20, 2008Robert F. Kennedy Jr. writes in Rolling Stone: But despite the media blackout, indications continued to emerge that something deeply troubling had taken place in 2004. Nearly half of the 6 million American voters living abroad3 never received their ballots...
Hebert connects the dots on Mukasey's actions and non-actions on protecting voters
Posted on October 20, 2008Gerry Hebert, Executive Director of the Campaign Legal Center, says, "Silence about protecting the right to vote is simply not acceptable." The fact that Mukasey has not said anything about the leaked reports that the FBI is investigating ACORN says....
Michigan: GOP admits scheme to use mortgage foreclosure lists in voter challenges
Posted on October 20, 2008Emptywheel reports at Firedoglake.com: Democrats and Republicans have settled the suit seeking to prevent Michigan Republicans from using foreclosure lists to challenge voters. The MDP statement on the settlement says: An agreement announced today by Obama for America, the Republican...
Alabama: Loser in Monroeville complains of poll worker reading ballots
Posted on October 17, 2008The Monroe Journal reports: Jack Botta has filed an official protest against poll worker Deloise Dailey in last Tuesday’s Runoff Election in Frisco City. “The difference in the vote totals was so great that this may not have been a...
Colorado: early voting forces campaigns into a marathon of GOTV
Posted on October 17, 2008The New York Times reports: The presidential debate had barely ended Wednesday night when Kristin Marshall had her ballot on her lap, pen in hand, ready to vote. Three friends, all supporters of Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, had...
FBI investigates the ACORN voter registration drives
Posted on October 17, 2008AP reports: The FBI is investigating whether the community activist group ACORN helped foster voter registration fraud around the nation before the presidential election. A senior law enforcement official confirmed the investigation to The Associated Press on Thursday...
Alabama: "Feds threaten to sue state for unreported military voting stats"
Posted on October 17, 2008The Birmingham News reports: The U.S. Department of Justice is threatening to sue the state of Alabama for not reporting military voting statistics in 2004 and 2006. In an Oct. 6 letter to Secretary of State Beth Chapman, the Justice...
Alabama: more voters than adults in six counties
Posted on October 17, 2008The Birmingham News: Six Alabama counties have more people on their voting rolls than they do people of voting age, according to voter registration numbers and U.S. Census Bureau estimates. The curious statistic could be the result of a surge...
"Voter fraud" allegations are not just for Halloween, but have a sinister purpose
Posted on October 16, 2008Salon.com reports: Warnings about voter fraud prior to a U.S. presidential election are nothing new. But to listen to conservative Republicans lately, you might expect Nov. 4 to bring a voting catastrophe of epic proportions. Writing in the New York....
House Oversight Committee says Bush White House used government resources to aid election of allies
Posted on October 15, 2008The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform states in a newly issued report: This report examines the operations of the White House Office of Political Affairs during the Bush Administration. It finds that the White House used the political...
Alabama: Sec/State says there is no misuse of SSNs
Posted on October 15, 2008A Montgomery Advertiser blog post reports: Secretary of State Beth Chapman says Alabamians are not being removed or hindered from voting because of any problems with their Social Security Numbers. The Social Security Administration sent out a press release claiming...
North Carolina: SCOTUS hears arguments in Bartlett v. Strickland
Posted on October 15, 2008The New York Times reports: The Supreme Court returned Tuesday to the question of how to take account of race in drawing election districts, hearing arguments in a case that is likely to resolve a question the court has left...
New Hampshire: Tobin indicted for lying to FBI
Posted on October 14, 2008TPM Muckraker reports: Former Republican operative James Tobin has been indicted for making false statements to the FBI in connection with the bureau's investigation of a phone-jamming scheme in New Hampshire in 2002, according to court filings examined by TPMmuckraker...
John Lewis speaks truth to power
Posted on October 11, 2008John Lewis writes on Politico: As one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign. What I am seeing reminds...
Alabama: suit over 'moral turpitude' dismissed
Posted on October 11, 2008AP reports: A Montgomery judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union to clarify which ex-felons in Alabama can register to vote, in a decision that means the issue won’t be resolved before the Nov. 4...
"Fictitious Donors Found in Obama Finance Records"
Posted on October 10, 2008The New York Times reports: Last December, someone using the name “Test Person,” from “Some Place, UT,” made a series of contributions, the largest being $764, to Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign totaling $2,410.07. Someone identifying himself as “Jockim Alberton,”...
Colorado: Governor calls out Sec/State for mistake about voter registration forms
Posted on October 10, 2008The Aspen Times reports: Arguing that recent voter registration missteps have threatened to disenfranchise many Colorado voters, Gov. Bill Ritter on Thursday called on Secretary of State Mike Coffman to correct errors and mend Colorado voter confidence...
North Carolina: State will stop using SSN to verify voters
Posted on October 10, 2008The News & Observer reports: After this election, North Carolina will stop using Social Security numbers to verify the identities of many new voters after questions arose this week about the legality of its registration practices. On Thursday, The New...
Alabama: State Bar denounces push poll in Supreme Court race
Posted on October 10, 2008The Huntsville Times reports: The Alabama State Bar on Thursday condemned "swift boat" tactics that are being used against the Democratic nominee for the state Supreme Court. The state bar said a telephone "push poll" is being used to "spread...
Ohio: Sec/State Bruner must verifiy new resgistrations
Posted on October 10, 2008AP reports: A federal judge on Thursday ordered Ohio's top elections official to verify the identity of newly registered voters by matching them with other government documents. U.S. District Judge George C. Smith in Columbus ruled that Ohio Secretary of...
"States’ Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal"
Posted on October 09, 2008The New York Times reports: Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a...
Alabama: another judge, another year, and another way to dodge having to decide what a "crime involving moral turpitude" is
Posted on October 09, 2008AP reports: Voter registrars could have to wait awhile longer to learn which felons can vote — and just what constitutes "moral turpitude" — because a judge said Wednesday she may dismiss a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties...
Ohio: more voting machine problems
Posted on October 09, 2008Computerworld reports: Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner will be under the national spotlight next month, overseeing what's expected to be the state's largest-ever turnout for a presidential election. It will also be her first as the state's chief election...
Virginia: student registration roadblocks
Posted on October 09, 2008The New Republic reports: For the first time since 1964, Democrats actually have a chance of winning Virginia's 13 electoral votes. Barack Obama is up 4.8% according to the Real Clear Politics average, and according to Nate Silver, Virginia could...
Money makes the world go around -- or at least national politics
Posted on October 09, 2008Ellen Miller writes on the Sunlight Foundation blog: Wonder just how Wall Street has become so influential on Capitol Hill that it can command the attention of the federal government from the President on down? The answer isn’t only in...
Alabama: Supreme Court dismiss Riley's appeal
Posted on October 08, 2008The Birmingham News reports: The picture of who will represent District 1 on the Jefferson County Commission became crystal clear for the first time in a year following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week in the last lawsuit over...
Social Security questions "extraordinary" SSN checks by states
Posted on October 08, 2008AP reports: Federal officials have asked election officials in six states to investigate whether social security number checks are being improperly run on people registering to vote. Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue sent a letter Friday to the secretaries of...
Undecided voters breaking towards Obama
Posted on October 08, 2008Democracy Corps reports: Barack Obama once again won tonight’s debate, and undecided voters are prepared to move toward his candidacy, according to Democracy Corps research conducted around tonight’s second presidential debate. Unlike the first debate, when Democracy Corps research showed...
What to wear to the polling place is not just a sartorial question
Posted on October 07, 2008NPR's Morning Edition has this story: Millions of newly registered voters are expected to turn out for next month's presidential election. Supporters of Barack Obama have been e-mailing and text-messaging them about what not to wear. Depending on what state...
Ticket-scalping for a political event is even more illegal
Posted on October 07, 2008The Caucus blog of the New York Times reports: Looking for spare tickets to that joint concert on Oct. 16 by Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel for Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign? Beware. ... So is it legal to resell...
FEC asks McCain campaign about excess contributions
Posted on October 06, 2008The Trail blog of the Washington Post reports: The FEC sent a letter to Sen. John McCain's campaign treasurer Sept. 30 demanding the candidate turn over more information about "contributions that appear to exceed the limits." The letter is accompanied...
"Registration Gains Favor Democrats"
Posted on October 06, 2008A Washington Post report begins: As the deadline for voter registration arrives today in many states, Sen. Barack Obama's campaign is poised to benefit from a wave of newcomers to the rolls in key states in numbers that far outweigh...
Nebraska: one electoral vote means some attention
Posted on October 06, 2008The Washington Post reports: With a month to go before Election Day, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, touched down here Sunday for an unexpected rally in a state that President Bush won by 22 percentage points...
GOP to file FEC complaint over donations
Posted on October 06, 2008The New York Times reports: The Republican National Committee plans to file a complaint on Monday against Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign raising questions about the legitimacy of its small contributions and donations from overseas. Republican officials are demanding the...
Tennessee: felons seeking registration
Posted on October 06, 2008The Jackson Sun reports: An easier process and some say Barack Obama's historic nomination as the Democratic Party's candidate for president have led a larger number of felons in Tennessee to seek restoration of their voting rights this year. As...
Alabama: "Confusion reigns in Alabama over ex-felons' ability to vote"
Posted on October 06, 2008A Birmingham News report begins: When James Solomon went to register to vote earlier this year, he said he was told he couldn't vote because of a past conviction for cocaine possession. That was in direct contrast to advice given...
Alabama: Sec of State trying to undo the Governor's overinclusive disqualification list
Posted on October 04, 2008AP reports: A list of crimes compiled by the governor's office and used to disqualify Alabama voters includes hundreds of felonies -- such as animal cruelty and shoplifting -- not previously considered serious enough to cost convicted criminals their voting...
Pentagon running GOTV ads
Posted on October 03, 2008The Caucus blog of the New York Times reports: If voters in swing states think they are inundated with campaign ads, they are unlikely to find refuge in the military. The Pentagon has a spirited “Get Out the Vote” campaign...
Alabama: Neighbor-to-Neighbor Canvassing Tool
Posted on October 03, 2008The Alabama Democratic Party announces: This year we have an unprecedented opportunity to elect Democrats from the top of the ticket to the bottom. The political winds are at our backs and we can change America for the better, but...
Florida: email rumors about voting
Posted on October 03, 2008The Miami Herald reports: You can't wear a campaign T-shirt when you go vote. Your driver's license must exactly match your voter registration card. New voters who run afoul of Florida's new ''no-match'' law can't vote at all. None of...
Montana: University students protest GOP vote suppression
Posted on October 03, 2008The Missoulian reports: About 18 people, most of them University of Montana students, rallied outside the Republican Party’s Missoula office Thursday, accusing the GOP of trying to suppress their votes. The protest, organized by Forward Montana, a nonprofit that encourages...
Alabama: Secretary of State will provide copy of voter list to political parties
Posted on October 03, 2008The Huntsville Times reports: Secretary of State Beth Chapman agreed Thursday to give the Alabama Democratic and Republican parties updated voter lists as part of a settlement reached in Montgomery County Circuit Court. ... The Democratic Party sued Chapman after...
Alabama: Rev. Glasgow sues over ban on in-prison voter registration (court docs attached)
Posted on October 02, 2008The Dothan Eagle reports: The NAACP Legal Defense Fund expects a federal court to overturn Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Richard Allen’s recent decision to prevent the Rev. Kenneth Glasgow’s drive to register eligible prisoners to vote...
"Voting goes to court"
Posted on October 02, 2008The Chicago Tribune reports: In a furious, multistate campaign raging far from television cameras and cable TV chatter, scores of lawyers are arguing over the voting rights of perhaps millions of Americans who plan to cast ballots in the presidential...
Alabama: Governor disfranchising thousands (document attached)
Posted on October 02, 2008The Birmingham News reports: Eligible Alabama voters are being wrongly denied the right to cast a ballot in the coming election because of the way Gov. Bob Riley's administration defines a crime of moral turpitude, state court administrators said Wednesday...
Alabama: Rev. Kenneth Glasgow sues to get in-jail voter registration
Posted on October 01, 2008The NAACP Legal Defense announces: The NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) filed a lawsuit today in federal court on behalf of Reverend Kenneth Glasgow to allow him to resume registering eligible voters currently incarcerated in Alabama's correctional facilities...
Alabama: state representative asks prison chief to allow registration
Posted on September 30, 2008The Huntsville Times: A legislator on Monday asked Alabama prison Commissioner Richard Allen to reconsider his decision that banned a minister from registering inmates to vote. Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, said no court orders or laws prohibit the registration of...
Alabama: GOP candidate seeks pledges to contribute, before state law allows fundraising
Posted on September 30, 2008The Mobile Press-Register reports: Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim James has mailed out a letter encouraging "pledges" of financial support to his campaign, eight months before state law says fundraising can begin. In a letter dated Aug. 20, the campaign says...
Minnesota: networks sue over exit-polling restriction
Posted on September 30, 2008The Star-Tribune reports: The nation's major television news networks and the Associated Press filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Minnesota on Monday, arguing that a new law that keeps exit pollsters at least 100 feet away from voting...
Ohio: early voting overlaps with registration period
Posted on September 30, 2008The Port Clinton News Herald reports: Early voting for the 2008 November election gets under way today in Ohio and runs through Monday. The ballot casting comes on the heels of state and federal courts clearing the way for a...
Arizona: scan and email ballots allowed today
Posted on September 30, 2008AP reports: Starting Thursday, voters who are registered in Arizona but live overseas will be able to vote online through a unique Web-based system. The Secretary of State's Military and Overseas Voting system will allow registered voters to apply for...
Report on removal of US Attorneys
Posted on September 29, 2008The Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General has released the report on the firing of the U.S. Attorneys. Of interest to election lawyers will be the following: Page 176 (all page references are to the PDF pagination) begins a...
Debate One: Democracy Corps reports on a small focus group
Posted on September 27, 2008Democracy Corps reports on reaction to last night's debate: With Barack Obama gaining momentum, John McCain needed to change the dynamic in the race during tonight’s debate and to shift the focus of the campaign onto friendlier terrain. Instead, Democracy...
Pulpit Freedom Sunday
Posted on September 26, 2008The New York Times reports: Defying a federal tax law they consider unjust, 33 ministers across the country will take to their pulpits this Sunday and publicly endorse a candidate for president. They plan to then send copies of their...
"Know Your Rights as a Voter"
Posted on September 25, 2008The Campaign Legal Center has compiled a primer on the rights of voters which is being circulated nationwide by various grassroots organizations and has been provided to congressional offices and party committees. -- The Campaign Legal Center: Know Your Rights...
Alabama: voter registrars falling behind
Posted on September 25, 2008The Birmingham News reports: State Democratic Party leaders charged Wednesday that thousands of would-be voters are having a hard time registering to vote and may find themselves unable to cast ballots Nov. 4. Joe Turnham, chairman of the Alabama Democratic...
Scenarios for a 269-269 tie
Posted on September 23, 2008The Washington Times has an article beginning: President Obama, with Vice President Palin? President Biden? President Pelosi? Call them the "Doomsday" scenarios -- On Nov. 5, the presidential election winds up in a electoral-college tie, 269-269, the Democrat-controlled House picks...
It's the biology, stupid
Posted on September 19, 2008Nell Greenfieldboyce reports on NPR: John Hibbing, a researcher at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has been studying whether people's political beliefs might be linked to biological traits such as their startle reflex. He says traditionally, political scientists have assumed that...
"Independent Political Groups Return With 527 Ads"
Posted on September 19, 2008Peter Overby reports on NPR: As the Nov. presidential election draws nearer, ad by independent political groups are already on the air. John McCain and Barack Obama have said that these groups should stay out of the election process. But...
Alabama: prison commissioner bows to the will of the GOP and stops voter-registration drives
Posted on September 19, 2008AP reports: Alabama's prisons commissioner has stopped a drive to register inmates to vote so they can cast absentee ballots from inside state prisons. Richard Allen's decision to halt the program Thursday afternoon came after opposition from the Alabama Republican...
Predictions of "an election day mess"
Posted on September 18, 2008A Washington Post story begins: Faced with a surge in voter registrations leading up to Nov. 4, election officials across the country are bracing for long lines, equipment failures and confusion over polling procedures that could cost thousands the chance...
Mississippi: Governor to move Senate race to top of ballot
Posted on September 18, 2008AP reports: Republican Gov. Haley Barbour agreed Thursday to move a special election for Trent Lott's old Senate seat to near the top of the November ballot, ending a dispute that had threatened to delay the start of absentee voting....
United Kingdom: great idea, except it's illegal
Posted on September 17, 2008The Liberal Democrats came up with this great idea. Here's the way the Press Association described it: Voters will be bombarded with a quarter of a million automated telephone calls featuring a recording of Nick Clegg as part of a...
Alabama: voter-registration drive in jails
Posted on September 17, 2008A Montgomery Advertiser story begins: Alabama inmates are registering to vote from prison in a precedent-setting effort organized by activist groups with the blessing of state corrections officials. Nearly 80 prisoners had filled out registration forms during drives at two...
Easy voter registration and information
Posted on September 10, 2008Vote for Change has a quick and easy-to-use web site that allows you to fill out a voter registration form, request an absentee ballot, find your polling location, and get polling-day information (hours of voting, etc.)....
Virginia: McCain will campaign at Fairfax school, in violation of school policy
Posted on September 09, 2008A Washington Post report begins: Sen. John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, are holding a campaign rally at Fairfax High School tomorrow morning in violation of a school system policy, prompting some teachers and community leaders...
Veterans Affairs will allow voter registration drives
Posted on September 09, 2008A New York Times report begins: The Department of Veterans Affairs said Monday that it would no longer ban voter registration drives among veterans living at federally run nursing homes, shelters for the homeless and rehabilitation centers across the country...
Texas: the NAMUDNO challenge to the Voting Rights Act docketed in Supreme Court
Posted on September 08, 2008SCOTUSblog reports: Urging the Supreme Court to curb Congress’ powers to enforce the voting rights declared by the Constitution’s Fifteenth Amendment, a public utility district in Texas on Monday filed a sweeping challenge to the constitutionality of the extension of...
Virginia: registrar attempts to discourage student voter registrations
Posted on September 08, 2008A New York Times report begins: The widespread practice of students’ registering to vote at their college address has set off a fracas in Virginia, a battleground state in the presidential election. Late last month, as a voter-registration drive by...
Group of pastors will defy ban on endorsement-sermons
Posted on September 08, 2008A Washington Post report begins: Declaring that clergy have a constitutional right to endorse political candidates from their pulpits, the socially conservative Alliance Defense Fund is recruiting several dozen pastors to do just that on Sept. 28, in defiance of...
New York: " A family man for family court"
Posted on September 05, 2008Proving once again that election lawyers need to know many different areas of law, David Giacalone at the f/k/a blog reports: Lawyer Kurt Mausert wants to be Family Court judge in Saratoga County, New York. Since his website went up...
Alabama: a few problems in municipal elections
Posted on September 04, 2008A post on Doc's Political Parlor begins: Most of the municipal elections Alabama this year have gone smoothly however, some still remain in doubt In Hodges, one vote seperates the two candidates and a petition for a recount has been...
House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Voting Sction next week
Posted on September 02, 2008The Legislative Calendar of the House Judiciary Committee lists a hearing on "Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice Preparation for the 2008 Election." It is set for 9:30, Tuesday, 9 September. You may...
Louisiana: Gustav delays primary
Posted on September 01, 2008The Hill reports: Hurricane Gustav is disrupting the GOP convention and a hotly contested Republican primary in Louisiana. GOP candidates hoping to succeed retiring Rep. Jim McCrery (R) have suspended their campaigns, and their primary, set for Sept. 6, may...
Sarah Palin and Grover Cleveland
Posted on August 30, 2008Oh, the gnashing of teeth among various pundits about Palin's inexperience (see DailyKos for a small roundup of newspaper editorials). And attacks from David Frum and Ramesh Ponnuru on National Review's website. Compare her background to that of ia, the...
Alaska: who will be the governor?
Posted on August 30, 2008An Alaska story not about Ted Stevens from the Anchorage News: Who will be Alaska's governor if Sarah Palin becomes vice president? ... First, Palin has not resigned as governor and doesn't have to before the Nov. 4 election. She...
Campaign ads tailored to your browsing history
Posted on August 30, 2008A Washington Post report begins: Any two people interested in whether Amanda Beard is dating fellow Olympian Michael Phelps, and who clicked on the Boston Herald tidbit that raced around the Web last week, got the same piece of gossip....
Alaska: "Senate might have final say if Stevens convicted"
Posted on August 29, 2008An AP report begins: U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens' political fate could be up to his colleagues if a jury decides the Senate's longest-serving Republican has violated the law. Stevens is to go on trial after being accused of failing to...
Alabama: GOP claims not filing to run is just a "technicality"
Posted on August 28, 2008A Birmingham News report begins: The Jefferson County Republican Party asked a judge Wednesday to include Andrew Smith's name on the November ballot for the unexpired assistant tax assessor's term in Bessemer although Smith didn't qualify for the spot...
Alabama: an example of holding an election without preclearance
Posted on August 28, 2008A Birmingham News report begins: Winners in Tuesday's municipal election in Calera may not be able to take office if the U.S. Justice Department doesn't approve a 2008 redistricting plan before November. In addition, runoffs between mayoral candidates Bobby Joe...
Alaska: timing is everything in the trial and possible replacement of Ted Stevens
Posted on August 26, 2008The Washington Post reports: Alaska's Republican voters go to the polls Tuesday to decide whether a pair of GOP incumbents with a combined 75 years in Congress should continue to be the dominant figures in state politics as they battle...
Maine: Justice Souter refuses to place independent candidate on ballot
Posted on August 20, 2008SCOTUSblog reports: Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, in a brief order Wednesday afternoon, turned down a request that would have given an independent candidate in Maine for the U.S. Senate a place on the Nov. 4 ballot for that...
Louisiana: FEC says Vitter can't use campaign funds for paying legal fees
Posted on August 20, 2008The Hill reports: Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) will not be able to use campaign funds to pay for more than $160,000 in legal fees incurred because of his involvement in the D.C. Madam scandal, according to a draft opinion released...
Democrats to look at role of superdelegates and caucuses
Posted on August 20, 2008An AP report begins: Democratic Party leaders want to regain control of the primary calendar and reduce the number of superdelegates through a new commission announced Wednesday. They also want to review the caucus system, which presumed nominee Barack Obama...
Michigan: court may rule today on "Reform Michigan Government Now" initiative
Posted on August 20, 2008A Detroit News report begins: A three-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals could decide as early as today whether a far-reaching constitutional amendment that impacts all three branches of government should be allowed to appear on the November...
Hawai'i: voters must pick party on primary ballots
Posted on August 20, 2008An AP report begins: Hawaii voters for the first time must pick a political party when voting in this year's primary election, a requirement that election officials hope will result in fewer ballots being thrown out. But members of both...
Alabama: Jefferson Co. probate judge asks for AG opinion on holding sewer referendum
Posted on August 19, 2008A Birmingham News report begins: A Jefferson County probate court judge on Monday asked Attorney General Troy King whether the county can hold a nonbinding advisory election to consider solutions to the sewer debt crisis. The Office of the Attorney...
Maine: independent candidate asks Justice Souter for a chance to get on the ballot
Posted on August 18, 2008A ScotusBlog post begins: Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter has asked the state of Maine and the state Democratic Party chairman to supply their views on the right of an independent candidate for U.S. Senate to have his nominating...
Alabama: drive to register the homeless
Posted on August 18, 2008A Montgomery Advertiser report begins: John Cook Thomas would like to cast his vote in the November election for Barack Obama. ... Despite living in the Salvation Army's homeless shelter, Thomas pays attention to politics and he plans to register...
Alabama: county commissioner cleared of Hatch Act problems
Posted on August 17, 2008A Troy Messenger report begins: After months of investigation for an alleged federal election law violation, District 3 Pike County Commissioner Jimmy Barron has been cleared to run for reelection. "We conclude that you were not covered by the Hatch....
The case for reform of the caucuses
Posted on August 16, 2008TalkLeft publishes a paper on the need for Democratic caucus reform. It concludes: It's time for the Democratic Party to demand reforms in the caucus process -- ie, more inclusion, fixing the security breaches in the internal proceedings and producing...
Forecast for November: flawed machines will probably count your votes
Posted on August 16, 2008A New York Times report begins: Flaws in voting machines used by millions of people will not be fixed in time for the presidential election because of a government backlog in testing the machines’ hardware and software, officials say. The...
Texas: Justice Hecht defends against campaign-finance charge
Posted on August 15, 2008AP reports: Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht, appearing before the Texas Ethics Commission, defended himself Thursday against allegations he broke campaign finance laws by accepting discounted legal fees to fight an abuse of office complaint. ... Hecht was sanctioned in...
AFL-CIO files FEC complaint against Wal-Mart
Posted on August 15, 2008A New York Times report begins: The A.F.L.-C.I.O and three other pro-labor groups will urge the Federal Election Commission on Thursday to rule that Wal-Mart acted illegally by warning many store managers and department heads that a Democratic victory in...
"Obama's Felon Disenfranchisement Challenge"
Posted on August 15, 2008Dan Filler comments on Faculty Lounge about this Washington Post story: The reality is that Obama, like all Democrats, is likely to benefit when convicted offenders are allowed to vote. At the same time, one thing Obama cannot afford is...
Alabama: sleeping on a cot seems to be "residency"
Posted on August 14, 2008A Daily Mountain Eagle report begins: The Aug. 26 municipal elections in Carbon Hill took more confusing turns Wednesday as one candidate got back in the race, another was disqualified and the mayor said he had called a meeting of...
Alabama: Secretary of State takes action to get more former felons registrered
Posted on August 14, 2008The NAACP Legal Defense Fund recently did a survey of voter registrars in Alabama and found that few of them knew the correct rules as to the registration of voters who had been convicted of felonies. In response, the Secretary...
CLC to prepare generic legal docs for election-protection groups
Posted on August 13, 2008From the Campaign Legal Center: The Campaign Legal Center today launched the Voters’ Rights Protection Project, to provide generic drafts of potential court filings to individuals, organizations, and political parties who must resort to the courts to protect the fundamental...
Alabama: Mobile probate judge asks for ruling on late filing of ethics-disclosure forms
Posted on August 13, 2008The Mobile Press Register reports: Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis on Tuesday said he has filed a complaint asking Circuit Court judges to decide whether three local candidates should be taken off the ballot for violating the state's ethics...
GOP training lawyers to "voter fraud"
Posted on August 12, 2008The Wall Street Journal report begins: As Barack Obama tries to draw hundreds of thousands of new voters to the polls, Republicans are beginning to scrutinize registrants' eligibility as both sides draw a major battle line over voting rights. Republicans...
"For Those Once Behind Bars, A Nudge to the Voting Booth"
Posted on August 11, 2008The Washington Post reports: Mitchell is a leader of a disparate group of grass-roots Democrats and civil rights activists who are trying to register tens of thousands of newly eligible felons. They have taken up the cause on their own,...
You need a break from politics
Posted on August 11, 2008Watch the Leningrad Cowboys and the Red Army Choir singing "Sweet Home Alabama." Hat-tip to Left in Alabama for the link. (But I found a better version from the same folks.)...
Obama will text you --yes, you -- his VP choice
Posted on August 11, 2008The Trail reports: Last night, in a cell phone text message that was quickly followed by an e-mail linking back to a new page on his Web site -- my.barackobama.com/vp -- aides to Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) campaign wrote: "Barack...
"The right to vote"
Posted on August 09, 2008A New York Times editorial begins: Much about the presidential election is up in the air, but one thing is certain: voters will have trouble casting ballots on Election Day. In a perfect world, states and localities would handle voting...
Connecticut: VA and state Secretary of State reach agreement on voter registration (policy attached)
Posted on August 09, 2008A New Haven Register report begins: A compromise between the state and the U.S. Veterans Affairs medical center Thursday ended the threat of a lawsuit over blocked efforts to register veterans to vote, but there are still limits on who...
California: 9th Circuit upholds VA's ban on voter registration drives (opinion linked)
Posted on August 09, 2008A Palo Alto Daily News report begins: A federal appeals court has upheld a Veterans Administration policy barring voter registration drives inside its hospitals, concluding the rule does not violate the First Amendment. In a unanimous three-judge decision Friday, the...
California: "Group seeks tighter ballot security in San Diego"
Posted on August 09, 2008An AP report begins: A voting-rights group has asked a judge to order tougher enforcement of anti-fraud measures in San Diego County for November's presidential elections, saying officials failed to investigate lapses in ballot security during February's primary...
South Carolina: Green Party sues state for blocking its candidate
Posted on August 09, 2008An AP report begins: The American Civil Liberties Union sued the South Carolina Election Commission on Thursday, charging the state has kept the Green Party from putting its candidate on November's ballot. The ACLU said it filed the lawsuit in...
Washington DC: National Park Service issues new rules on inaugural demonstrations
Posted on August 09, 2008A Washington Post report begins: The National Park Service yesterday proposed rules that would expand the space for the public and protesters along Pennsylvania Avenue during inaugurations. The proposals followed a March federal court ruling that the park service had...
Two groups to call for probe of Hess Oil-related donations
Posted on August 08, 2008TPM Election Central reports: This is interesting: A good government group is set to ask the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into the two big McCain stories of recent days -- the bundled contributions from Hess executives, and...
McCain returning contributions from bundler
Posted on August 08, 2008The Washington Post reports: Sen. John McCain's campaign is returning about $50,000 raised by a Florida oil executive because some of the funds were collected by a foreign national and came from donors who may not support the candidate, aides...
Ohio: Secretary of State sues voting machine company
Posted on August 08, 2008The Washington Post reports: The voting-machine wars in Ohio continue. Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is assuring voters in the battleground state that November's tally will be accurate even as she asserts -- in court filings yesterday -- that there...
"Accountable America" sends warning letter to GOP donors (letter attached)
Posted on August 08, 2008Nearly 10,000 of the biggest donors to Republican candidates and causes across the country will probably receive a foreboding “warning” letter in the mail next week. The letter is an opening shot across the bow from an unusual new outside...
Florida: supporters of planning initiative sue to get on ballot
Posted on August 07, 2008A News4Jax report begins: Supporters of a proposed Florida consitutional amendment requiring voters to approve changes in local growth management plans told a federal judge Wednesday that a host of discrepancies and problems improperly blocked the measure from the November...
Massachusetts: Libertarians file suit when state won't allow tag-team petitions
Posted on August 07, 2008A Politicker MA report begins: The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has filed a lawsuit against the Massachusetts Elections Division seeking to ensure the Libertarian presidential nominee appears on the November ballot in Massachusetts...
Florida: a bundle(r) of questionable donations
Posted on August 07, 2008A New York Times article begins: The Jordanian business partner of a prominent Florida businessman, who has raised more than $500,000 for Senator John McCain, appears to be at the center of a cluster of questionable donations to his presidential...
Alabama: would-be congressional candidate sues over petition-signature requirement (court doc attached)
Posted on August 07, 2008The Birmingham News reports: A retired Gardendale contractor who wants to run as an independent candidate in the 6th Congressional District has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the law he said requires him to get 6,155 signatures of qualified voters...
Alabama: 3-judge panel requested in Section 5 suit
Posted on August 07, 2008The Birmingham News reports: A panel of three federal judges will decide a lawsuit to block the election to fill the District 1 Jefferson County Commission seat. In a hearing Wednesday at the Hugo Black Federal Courthouse, Judge L. Scott...
Alabama: independent prez candidates collecting signatures
Posted on August 06, 2008The Montgomery Advertiser reports: Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain likely won't be the only presidential candidates listed on Alabama's Nov. 4 ballot. The campaigns of Ralph Nader, Bob Barr, Chuck Baldwin and Cynthia McKinney hope to have their...
New York: Dem candidate accused of voter-petition fraud
Posted on August 06, 2008Brownsox writes on Daily Kos: It's been an eventful few months for the Jack Davis campaign. First, they succeeded in getting the "millionaires' amendment" struck down. Then came allegations of bribery against the Davis campaign. In the meantime, Davis flooded...
Grand jury subpoenas Schlozman and von Spakovsky
Posted on August 06, 2008Huffington Post reports: A federal grand jury has subpoenaed several former senior Justice Department attorneys for an investigation into the politicization of the Department's own Civil Rights Division, according to sources close to the investigation...
NAACP Legal Defense Fund unveils "Prepared to Vote" site
Posted on August 06, 2008From a press release: Today the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) unveiled its new comprehensive non-partisan voter awareness program "Prepared to Vote." "Prepared to Vote is a program designed to raise every voter s awareness of the many...
Florida: court keeps voucher amendments on the Nov. ballot
Posted on August 05, 2008The Florida Times-Union reports: Two proposed state constitutional amendments that could expand school vouchers will stay on the Nov. 4 ballot, a judge ruled Monday. The statewide teachers union and other organizations that challenged the proposals said they would appeal...
Montana: 9th Circuit argument on whether church must report under campaign finance law
Posted on August 05, 2008Religion Clause reports: The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday heard oral arguments in Canyon Ferry Road Baptist Church v. Unsworth, a challenge to Montana's election campaign reporting laws. The Montana Commissioner of Political Practices had ruled that the...
California: AG says Prop 8 will not void current same-sex marriages
Posted on August 05, 2008The San Francisco Chronicle reports: If voters approve a November ballot measure banning same-sex marriages in California, thousands of gay and lesbian weddings conducted since the state Supreme Court legalized the unions on May 15 will probably remain valid, Attorney...
A new prediction site
Posted on August 05, 2008The Sam Wang writes on the Princeon Election Consortium: For those of you who followed my analysis in 2004, welcome back. Just as I did then, I’ll be providing meta-analysis of polling in the 2008 Presidential race. My central goal...
"Should People's Political Donations Be Public?"
Posted on August 04, 2008Dan Solove writes on Concurring Opinions: Pursuant to the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), people's campaign contributions must be accessible to the public. I've long found this to be problematic when applied to the campaign contributions of individuals...
West Virginia: Reform Institute files amicus brief on campaign contributions received by state-court justice from major campaign contributor
Posted on August 04, 2008From a press release of the Reform Institute: The skyrocketing sums being injected into elections for judgeships are undermining the judiciary. This disturbing trend is exemplified by the case of Caperton et al v. Massey Energy, which the U.S. Supreme...
Michigan, Florida: Obama asks for full convention votes
Posted on August 04, 2008The New York Times reports: Senator Barack Obama has asked the credentials committee of the Democratic Party to give full voting rights to delegates from Florida and Michigan at the national convention in Denver. ... After Florida and Michigan held...
California: suit asks that parts of ballot statement be removed on anti-abortion initiative
Posted on August 03, 2008The Los Angeles Times reports: Backers of a ballot measure that would require parents to be notified before an abortion is performed on a minor acknowledged Friday that the 15-year-old on which "Sarah s Law" is based had a child...
Alabama: Cheney's receipts and expenses for the campaign trip to Birmingham
Posted on August 03, 2008Left in Alabama asks about the reported take from VP Cheney's campaign trip to Birmingham: Does that math work for you? 100 guests times $500 each equals $50,000. They only say that "several" paid $2000 per couple for the photo...
"Overseas money flowing to presidential candidates"
Posted on August 01, 2008The Hill reports: Record amounts of overseas money are flowing into the presidential campaigns, and finance experts say there is no sure way to rule out that foreigners are making illegal donations. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who spoke to an...
Alabama: judge asked to expedite new Jefferson County suit (court doc attached)
Posted on August 01, 2008The Birmingham News reports: A lawyer asked a federal judge on Thursday to fast track a lawsuit contending the Nov. 4 election for a Jefferson County Commission seat is illegal without prior federal approval. U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler...
Cherokee Nation: appeals court allows Freedmen's suit to continue, but only against officials
Posted on August 01, 2008The National Law Journal reports: The descendants of "Freedmen," former African slaves owned by the Cherokee Nation, may go forward with a lawsuit against the tribe's officers in which they claim they were barred from voting in two tribal elections...
Illinois: independent candidate sues to get on congressional ballot
Posted on August 01, 2008The Lake-Forester reports: Allen Stevo is suing the State Board of Elections to try and regain a spot on the November ballot for his independent candidacy in the 10th Congressional District. The action came July 28, the same day the...
At Wal-Mart, Halloween comes early -- the bad, scary Democrats
Posted on August 01, 2008The Wall Street Journal reports: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is mobilizing its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they'll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to...
Dem Convention: judge hears arguments on free speech vs. security
Posted on August 01, 2008The New York Times reports: A federal trial in a lawsuit seeking to ease strict security provisions at the Democratic National Convention ended Thursday with repeated questions from the judge about how the rules impinge on free speech, as the...
"Stealing America"
Posted on August 01, 2008Andrew O'Hehir writes on his Beyond the Multiplex blog: I don't mind that Dorothy Fadiman's film "Stealing America: Vote by Vote" raises once again the massively vexed question of whether the 2004 presidential election was fixed. That spectral possibility lingers...
Alaska: federal court orders state to provide ballots in Yup'ik (with court doc)
Posted on July 31, 2008The federal court in Alaska has entered an order requiring the State of Alaska to -- 1. Provide mandatory poll worker training. 2. Hire a language assistance coordinator fluent in Yup’ik. 3. Recruit bilingual poll workers or translators. 4. Provide...
Arizona: GOP accuses Dem candidate of reporting contributions too early
Posted on July 30, 2008The Arizona Republic reports: The Arizona Republican Party has accused Democrat Bob Lord of violating fundraising laws in a complaint to the Federal Election Commission. The complaint was filed last week and became public earlier this week. Lord, an attorney,...
New group formed -- Americans for Redistricting Reform
Posted on July 30, 2008From a press release: Today, Americans for Redistricting Reform (ARR), a national nonpartisan umbrella organization committed to raising public awareness of redistricting abuses and promoting solutions that benefit voters and strengthen our democracy, announced its formation and launched a new...
Alabama: new suit over Jefferson County commission vacancy (court doc attached)
Posted on July 30, 2008The Birmingham News reports: A voter in Jefferson County Commission District 1 filed a federal suit Tuesday asking judges to block the court-ordered Nov. 4 vote for the commission seat unless the election is cleared by the U.S. Justice Department....
California: AG Brown and ballot-initiative sponsors fight over name
Posted on July 30, 2008The San Francisco Chronicle reports: Attorney General Jerry Brown is trying to stack the deck against a November ballot measure barring same-sex marriage by declaring in his formal ballot description that it "eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry,"...
"Emergency Voting Changes"
Posted on July 29, 2008John Tanner (of the Justice Department) has an article in the latest Alabama Lawyer on Emergency Voting Changes. By the way, the picture at the bottom of page 295 is not John Tanner....
Obama's strategy to increase the black vote
Posted on July 28, 2008The Washington Post reports: At the heart of the Obama campaign's strategy is a national effort to increase registration and turnout among the millions of Democratic-inclined Americans who have not been voting, particularly younger people and African Americans...
Nevada: term limits valid, court holds; 21 find their campaigns are over
Posted on July 27, 2008The Reno Gazette-Journal reports: One day before Nevada's early voting was set to begin, the state Supreme Court confirmed Friday that an amendment to the state Constitution barring public officials from serving more than 12 years is valid -- effectively...
"Black Radio on Obama Is Left’s Answer to Limbaugh "
Posted on July 27, 2008The New York Times reports: Warren Ballentine, one of black talk radio’s new stars, was on a tear against Senator John McCain as he broadcast from the Greenbriar Mall here last week, blithely dismissing Mr. McCain’s kind words about Senator...
Alabama: parties and candidates have deadline for county commission election
Posted on July 26, 2008The Birmingham News reports: Jefferson County's Democrat and Republican parties will pick candidates by Aug. 6 in the court-ordered election for the County Commission's District 1 seat, a Circuit Court judge ruled Friday. Independents can qualify to run if they...
New Mexico: Brennan Center sues over voter registration restrictions
Posted on July 24, 2008The Brennan Center announces: Today the Brennan Center for Justice, along with pro bono law firms Davis Polk & Wardwell and Freedman Boyd Hollander Goldberg & Ives, filed a lawsuit in state court in Albuquerque challenging a New Mexico law...
House Judiciary Committee hearing on "lessons learned from the 2004 presidential election"
Posted on July 24, 2008The House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing today on Hearing on Lessons Learned from the 2004 Presidential Election. J. Gerald Hebert will be testifying. I have an advance copy of his testimony here....
Alabama: Section 5 case, motion to dismiss or affirm filed in US Supreme Court
Posted on July 23, 2008This morning, my co-counsel and I filed the Motion to Dismiss or Affirm the appeal of Gov. Riley in Riley v. Plump, No. 07-1460, U.S. Supreme Court. The questions presented are: 1. Whether this Court lacks jurisdiction over the present...
DSCC runs ads in a "gray area"
Posted on July 22, 2008The Hill reports: National Democrats are trying their luck with a series of candidate ads that inhabit a gray area of the law, and observers say the approach could be a game-changer in the continuing battle over campaign finance reform....
Leadership PACs use most money for non-campaign activities
Posted on July 22, 2008Marketplace, the public radio program, is running a series this week on leadership PACs: Companies and unions have used political action committees to raise money for congressional candidates for years. Thirty years ago a couple of congressmen copied the idea...
Alabama: new suit on felon voting filed (with court docs attached)
Posted on July 22, 2008The Birmingham News reports: A lawsuit claims the state of Alabama is violating the constitutional rights of thousands of convicted felons by denying them the right to vote. The suit, filed Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union and the...
How to exceed the limit on campaign contributions
Posted on July 21, 2008Nate writes at FiveThirtyEight.com: The latest FEC filings reveal that Hillary Clinton's campaign owed more than $25 million in debt as of June 30. The problem is not quite as bad as that initial price tag would suggest, as about...
Are election officials ready for this fall?
Posted on July 21, 2008The New York Times reports: With millions of new voters heading to the polls this November and many states introducing new voting technologies, election officials and voting monitors say they fear the combination is likely to create long lines, stressed-out...
Pennsylvania: email will be part of the proof in 'bonusgate' prosecution
Posted on July 20, 2008The Morning Call reports: The year 2004 was a busy one for state lawmakers: a budget showdown, of course. But also passage of a law allowing slots casinos. And a short but intense fall session capping the two-year legislative cycle....
Ohio: judge orders state to put Libertarian Party on ballot
Posted on July 19, 2008The New York Times reports: Ohio must include the Libertarian Party’s nominees on its ballot in November, a court has ruled, complicating Senator John McCain’s effort to win conservative votes in a hotly contested state rich in electoral votes. The...
Oklahoma: Libertarians sue for ballot access
Posted on July 19, 2008The Oklahoman reports: A third-party presidential candidate has filed a federal lawsuit to try and force his way on to Oklahoma's ballot in November. Bob Barr, a former Republican congressman selected as Libertarian presidential candidate, contends state election laws are...
Georgia: cyber-security expert says Diebold patch may have swung 2002 Senate and Governor election
Posted on July 19, 2008Raw Story reports: A leading cyber-security expert and former adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says he has fresh evidence regarding election fraud on Diebold electronic voting machines during the 2002 Georgia gubernatorial and senatorial elections. Stephen Spoonamore is the...
Scotland: educational charity became involved in politics, report says
Posted on July 18, 2008The Herald reports: The think tank set up in memory of the late Labour leader John Smith broke the laws governing charities by getting involved in party politics, the Charity Commission has ruled. The commission, which completed a 17-month investigation...
Google launces political-speech search gadget
Posted on July 17, 2008The Official Google Blog reports: In this U.S. election year, what information could be more important than the candidates own words to describe their views, actions and platforms? Our teams have been working to develop tools to make it easier...
GOP claims trademark infringement
Posted on July 17, 2008Politico reports: Don’t mess with their elephant. Or at least, don’t infringe on what the Republican National Committee refers to as the Official Elephant Logo (Federal Trademark Registration 1908397). The phrase appears in a letter demanding that a Web-based t-shirt...
Missouri: court orders social services department to follow NVRA
Posted on July 17, 2008AP reports: The Missouri Department of Social Services has been violating a federal law that requires it to help its clients register to vote, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday, ordering...
Massachusetts: same-day registration bill before Senate today
Posted on July 17, 2008The Eagle-Tribune reports: Lawrence Mayor Michael Sullivan blasted a Beacon Hill plan to allow same-day voter registration saying it would open the "floodgates" to fraud. The Senate is expected to vote on the proposal today. Beginning in November it would...
Alaska: Yup'ik ballots not requied, court rules
Posted on July 17, 2008The Bristol Bay Times reports: The state of Alaska cannot legally be required to provide written voting materials in Yup’ik. The ruling, made Tuesday, July 8, by U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess, was handed down just before a three-judge panel...
Alabama: Foley will not allow annexed residents to vote in city council election
Posted on July 17, 2008The Mobile Press-Register reports: This south Baldwin city will advance to the Aug. 26 municipal election using districts drawn in 2004, according to a vote by elected leaders this week. That means more than 1,000 residents who live within 74...
California: Supreme Court leaves "Marriage Protection Act" on fall ballot
Posted on July 17, 2008The Los Angeles Times reports: A voter initiative to reinstate a ban on same-sex marriage will remain on the November ballot, the California Supreme Court decided unanimously Wednesday. The court issued a brief order rejecting arguments that the initiative, Proposition...
Obama has your number -- and apparently lots more
Posted on July 16, 2008Salon reports: About every week or so, you get an e-mail from Barack Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, or top deputy Steve Hildebrand, or maybe Obama himself. They re breezy and informal, addressing you by first NAME at the outset...
Alabama: "Where's my $500?"
Posted on July 16, 2008The Birmingham News reports: "Where is my $500?" asked Larry Banks Jr., striding up to a big blue tent outside the Ragland Municipal Complex. The tent shaded lemonade, crackers and raffle tickets - just some of the incentives laid out...
UK: government proposes to elect all members of House of Lords
Posted on July 15, 2008The Scotsman reports: Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, yesterday outlined proposals to make the Lords fully or mainly elected, although he admitted this would not happen until after the next general election, due by June 2010. He wants the number...
Florida: LWV's lawsuit may not effect on this year's registration drives
Posted on July 13, 2008The Times-Union reports: Confusion over how citizens can register to vote is threatening to muddle upcoming elections in Florida. Voter registration drives statewide are under fire from a new state law that establishes stiff fees for groups who undertake them...
FedEx will ship overseas ballots at steep discount
Posted on July 13, 2008The Hill reports: Seeking to alleviate a top concern for overseas absentee voters, FedEx will team up with a voter participation group and ship ballots for free or at heavy discounts this fall, the company announced this week. ... FedEx...
Arizona: supporters sue over initiative's description on ballot
Posted on July 13, 2008Capitol Media Services reports: Backers of a plan to hike state sales taxes for the next 30 years filed suit Friday because they don t like the description to be given to voters about the ballot measure at least in...
Pennsylvania: 12 pols and staffers charged in "Bonusgate" arrests, some for work on anti-Nader case
Posted on July 13, 2008The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports: Grand jurors here [Harrisburg] and in Pittsburgh cataloged what they described as a culture of corruption that allowed former state Rep. Michael Veon, current Rep. Sean Ramaley and 10 current and former Democratic staffers to divert...
Alabama: Many candidates violate Ethics Commission reporting requirement
Posted on July 13, 2008The Mobile Press-Register reports: About a quarter of the candidates who appeared on Mobile and Baldwin county primary election ballots in June broke rules on disclosing their financial interests, according to information from the Alabama Ethics Commission and party officials...
"Campaigns to Disclose More on Bundlers"
Posted on July 12, 2008The New York Times reports: The presidential campaigns of Senators Barack Obama and John McCain moved Friday to disclose more information to the public about their top fund-raisers, after it was disclosed that they had been lax in identifying many...
Slow disclosure of bundlers
Posted on July 11, 2008The New York Times reports: Senators Barack Obama and John McCain have long been among the most outspoken critics of the influence of money in politics. Yet records show that in their presidential campaigns, neither has lived up to his...
Arizona: Nader wins 2004 suit over petition restrictions
Posted on July 11, 2008Capitol Media Services reports: Arizona's early June deadline for independent presidential candidates to get on the general election ballot is illegal, a federal appellate court ruled Wednesday. In a unanimous decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals accepted the...
"Popular monitoring of popular elections"
Posted on July 07, 2008Heather Gerken writes on Balkinization: Archon Fung, one of the most interesting thinkers at Harvard's Kennedy School, has just come up with an intriguing idea for monitoring elections: a teched-up, wiki-based system for reporting problems on election day...
Lack of Millionaire's amendment leaves some candidates scrambling for more donors
Posted on July 06, 2008The Washington Post reports: In summer 2003, an Illinois state senator used a new law to collect campaign contributions six times the normal limit for his insurgent U.S. Senate race against a multimillionaire securities trader. But last week the Supreme...
Republicans as agents of change
Posted on July 06, 2008Doonesbury@Slate - Daily Dose explains that Republicans are agents of change -- "Changing the rules, changing the subject."...
Louisana: Vitter wants to use campaign funds to pay legal bills related to hookers
Posted on July 05, 2008The Times-Picayune reports on why being pol is such a great gig -- if you get into trouble, other people pay your legal bills: Sen. David Vitter, R-La., is asking the Federal Election Commission whether he can use campaign money...
Alaska: Rep. Young spending big bucks on lawyers
Posted on July 04, 2008AP reports: With an election-year corruption investigation looming, Rep. Don Young has tapped his campaign war chest to pay not only his own million-dollar legal tab but also to hire lawyers for his campaign manager, who is also under FBI...
6th Anniversary
Posted on July 04, 2008Six years ago, Votelaw was launched on Blogger. Lots has changed since then. I hardly knew who Barack Obama was. My parents and my ex-wife were still alive. I was living in the Washington, DC, area (I am now in...
DOJ to go after 527s
Posted on July 02, 2008The Swamp reports: In a letter to a campaign finance watchdog group, the Justice Department says it plans to make cracking down on so-called 527 groups a priority this election cycle. The department was responding to an inquiry from Democracy...
"Election Day"
Posted on July 01, 2008The PBS documentary Election Day will air tonight on many PBS stations. Look for the P.O.V. series or check the local listings here....
Arizona: signatures challenged for use of P.O. box addresses
Posted on July 01, 2008The Gallup Independent reports: Native American tribal, community and state leaders gathered on the lawn of Arizona’s Capitol June 25 to protest that their petition to vote rights were being assaulted. The petition signatures of some Native American voters was...
Florida: suit filed against write-in candidate "loophole"
Posted on July 01, 2008The Tampa Tribune reports: Two registered voters have filed a lawsuit in Pasco County challenging the write-in candidate "loophole" in state election law. They say the provision unfairly closed the Aug. 26 primary election in a county commission race, effectively...
UK: proposal to strip Scottish MPs of vote on English bills
Posted on July 01, 2008The Scotsman reports: THE Conservatives' long-awaited response to the discrepancy between English and Scottish MPs' voting rights will be laid bare today, when Kenneth Clarke, the former chancellor, launches his Democracy Taskforce report. Mr Clarke is to propose stripping Scots...
Alabama: city elections just got more expensive
Posted on July 01, 2008The Birmingham News reports: With qualifying beginning today for municipal elections, cities are finding out they have an unexpected expense - at least $50 a day for city clerks to handle absentee ballots. In 2006, the Alabama Legislature passed a...
Alabama: state supreme courts backs gubernatorial appointment -- at least till November
Posted on June 30, 2008The Alabama Supreme Court decided today that it was completely legal for Gov. Riley to make an appointment to fill a vacancy on the Jefferson County Commission. Thus, Commissioner George Bowman will serve until his successor is elected in November....
Alabama: State AG on Fox News about voter fraud investigations
Posted on June 30, 2008News Hound reports and has a video: FOX News, right on schedule, has started the reports of voter fraud by the Democratic Party. Eric Shawn interviewed the Alabama Attorney General, Troy King, who claimed people have been selling their votes....
Massachusetts: Attention, shoppers -- voting in Aisle One
Posted on June 30, 2008The Worcester Telegram reports: After last year’s elections, the Election Commission developed criteria to evaluate the city’s polling locations, and based on those evaluations, it found that a number of sites had problems or deficiencies that need to be addressed...
Alabama: "History is a gift from man who lived it"
Posted on June 30, 2008The Montgomery Advertiser reports: It isn't often that young people have an opportunity to learn history from someone who actually lived it. That's what Montgomery youngsters got Friday afternoon at the Lowndes County Interpretive Center where civil rights lessons are...
Alabama: judicial candidates sues after disqualification
Posted on June 30, 2008The local NPR station reports that Ray Bryan has sued the Republican Party to keep the Party from decertifying his primary win. The latest story in the Anniston Star is behind a subscription firewall, but the Star reported a week...
Alabama: GOP sues to get its candidate on the Jefferson County ballot
Posted on June 29, 2008Alabama Politics in Doc's Political Parlor reports: There is a confusing story in Jefferson County that is turning into a pitched battle between county Democrats and Republicans. Seems that about 18 months ago, Republican Andy Smith was appointed by Gov...
Millionaire's Amendment struck down
Posted on June 29, 2008The New York Times reported on Thursday (note to self: don't take a vacation during the last week of the Supreme Court Term): The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a law meant to level the financial playing field when...
Forget 527's, use cheap viral advertising via YouTube
Posted on June 29, 2008The New York Times reports: The video blasted across the Internet, drawing political blood from Senator John McCain within a matter of days. Produced here in a cluttered former motel behind the Sony Pictures lot, it juxtaposed harsh statements about....
Democratic National Committee sues FEC over McCain's withdrawal from public financing
Posted on June 24, 2008From a DNC press release: The Democratic National Committee today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in D.C. to compel the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to investigate John McCain's decision to unilaterally withdraw from the FEC's matching funds program...
Florida: Internet evangelist will sue IRS over political/religious speech
Posted on June 24, 2008The Caucus blog of the NY Times reports: Bill Keller, an evangelist based in Florida, runs “Liveprayer.com,” an Internet call-in program. Because he receives a government tax exemption, he is prohibited by law from endorsing or opposing candidates for public...
Florida: AG criticizes redistricting initiative
Posted on June 24, 2008Legal Newsline reports: Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum has voiced concern over a proposed constitutional amendment that would change how lawmakers draw legislative boundaries. In a letter to the state Supreme Court, the Republican attorney general said Friday that a...
Alabama: State AG blames DOJ over Perry election investigation
Posted on June 24, 2008The Birmingham News reports: Alabama Attorney General Troy King said Monday that U.S. Justice Department officials have refused to help his office investigate possible election violations in Perry County. King said federal officials, despite requests, have not sent his office...
Pennsylvania: redistricting reform on the slow track
Posted on June 23, 2008PolitickerPA.com reports: One reliable source in the state house has confirmed any redistricting reform is unlikely to happen this year, and if it were to happen at all, next year would be the most likely scenario. The problem is, any...
Outer space: absentee ballots via NASA
Posted on June 23, 2008NPR's Morning Edition reports: For astronauts from Houston, who are unable to vote by absentee ballot, NASA has made it possible to cast their votes from a space shuttle or the International Space Station. NASA created special software that allows...
Alabama: too many absentee ballots?
Posted on June 23, 2008The Birmingham News reports: Disproportionate numbers of absentee ballots in some counties have caught the attention of state elections and law enforcement officials, and the attorney general's office has seized voting records in Perry, Lowndes and Bullock counties...
California: groups challenge anti-same-sex marriage initiative
Posted on June 21, 2008AP reports: Gay rights advocates asked California s highest court Friday to keep off the November ballot a citizens initiative that would again ban same-sex marriage. Lawyers for Equality California filed a petition arguing that the proposed amendment to the...
Alabama: DOJ asks for more information on redistricting, city ponders how to hold elections without preclearance
Posted on June 21, 2008Baldwin County Now.com reports: A letter from the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division concerning Foley’s recently submitted redistricting plan has raised questions for now about the upcoming municipal election slated for Aug. 26. Indeed, who would run the...
Alaska: native groups sue for Yup'ik-language voting materials
Posted on June 20, 2008Indian Country Today reports: Plenty of attention has been paid to the importance of the Native vote this election season, but less scrutiny has focused on whether American Indians - especially those who are largely proficient in their tribal languages...
Indiana: LWV challenges voter I.D. under state constitution
Posted on June 20, 2008The Indiana Lawyer Daily reports: The League of Women Voters of Indiana filed a lawsuit today in Marion County challenging the state s three-year-old voter identification statute recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. At 2 p.m. today, the organization...
Obama's rejection of public funds threatens system
Posted on June 20, 2008The New York Times reports: From the moment that the public financing system was created in the wake of the Watergate crisis, it was viewed as an imperfect way to rid politics of the excesses of special-interest money. But now,...
Alabama: SOS wants online voting for military by 2010
Posted on June 20, 2008The Montgomery Advertiser reports: Online voting is inevitable, Alabama s Secretary of State Beth Chapman says. ... On Thursday, Chapman hosted the third meeting of the recently created task force on military and overseas voting. Chapman chairs the group founded...
Obama will run without public funding
Posted on June 19, 2008strong>The Washington Post reports: Sen. Barack Obama has switched course on general-election funding, announcing this morning that he would reject public financing and raise every dime for the fall campaign on his own. The announcement was widely expected...
Alabama makes the "Dirty Dozen" for gerrymandering
Posted on June 19, 2008George Skelton writes in the Los Angeles Times: Here's an indication of how rotten Democratic-led gerrymandering is in California: A national Democratic organization is branding us one of a "Dirty Dozen" states that has rigged elections and significantly suppressed voter...
Naturalization agency rejecting many on "dubious grounds"
Posted on June 18, 2008The New York Sun reports: As the federal citizenship agency and the FBI say they are picking up the pace to eliminate a backlog of citizenship applications, immigrants anticipating decisions on petitions they filed months, and in many cases years,...
Environmental group "goofed" and violated electioneering rules
Posted on June 18, 2008The New York Sun reports: An environmental group has filed federal disclosure reports on almost $710,000 worth of advertisements lobbying lawmakers in advance of a key vote on climate change legislation. However, the Environmental Defense Action Fund is not disclosing...
DNC will file FEC complaint against McCain, again
Posted on June 17, 2008CNNPolitics.com reports: The Democratic National Committee said Tuesday it plans to file a lawsuit next week to try to force a federal investigation over whether John McCain’s withdrawal from the public financing system violated the law – the latest move...
McCain-affiliated Reform Institute may have broken tax laws
Posted on June 17, 2008The Chicago Tribune reports: Allies of Sen. John McCain opened a Washington think tank in 2001 to promote transparency and accountability in government, a signature issue for the Arizona Republican after his presidential primary loss to George W. Bush...
California: images of gay weddings will affect voters in fall referendum
Posted on June 17, 2008The Los Angeles Times reports: Images from gay weddings, said Lorri L. Jean, chief executive of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, could be used by opponents in a campaign designed to persuade California voters that gays and lesbians...
Virginia: Governor and civil rights groups pushing felons' voting restoration
Posted on June 17, 2008The Washington Post reports: Civic and social organizations are teaming with Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to try to add thousands of nonviolent offenders to the voting rolls in time for the November election, a move that has angered Republicans...
Alabama: absentee records seized in Lowndes County
Posted on June 17, 2008WSFA 12 News reports: Attorney General Troy King today announced that agents from his office have served subpoenas upon Lowndes County election officials and have taken custody of records relating to the June 3 primary election. -- WSFA 12 News...
Slate reports on Spot Runner --
Posted on June 17, 2008Slate reports on Spot Runner -- a low-cost generic advertising service for small businesses and now ... political candidates....
Scotland:
Posted on June 14, 2008The Sunday Herald reports: LABOUR LEADER Wendy Alexander faces a Holyrood ban after a parliamentary sleaze watchdog found her guilty of breaking the rules on MSPs' conduct by not declaring donations to her leadership campaign. The Sunday Herald understands Holyrood's...
FEC's rules struck down again
Posted on June 14, 2008Court Deems Campaign Finance Rules Too Weak - Washingtonpost.com The Washington Post reports: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled yesterday that the Federal Election Commission has failed to adequately enforce key aspects of the...
Alabama: another county with an absentee ballot investigation
Posted on June 13, 2008The Daily Sentinel reports: Jackson has been added to the list of counties with reports of voter fraud allegations. According to a press release from the Alabama Secretary of State s office, more than one week after the primary election,...
More bad news for the NRCC on the money front
Posted on June 13, 2008DailyKos quotes a report from Roll Call: The [National Republican Congressional] committee will need to hire an outside firm to conduct a standard audit of its books for 2007, and until that audit is complete, the NRCC will not be...
Report on the argument in Preminger v. V.A.
Posted on June 13, 2008AlterNet reports: An attorney for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which runs hospitals and homeless shelters for veterans, told a federal appeals court Thursday that the VA could not conceive of any circumstance where voter registration drives could occur at...
Criticism for V.A.'s ban on voter registration
Posted on June 13, 2008The New York Times reports: Voting rights groups are criticizing the Department of Veterans Affairs for its decision to ban registration drives among the veterans living at federally run nursing homes, shelters for the homeless and rehabilitation centers across the...
NRCC lost $725k to treasurer's fruad
Posted on June 12, 2008The NY Times Caucus blog reports: A scheme by a former treasurer resulted in a loss of about $725,000 to the House Republicans’ campaign arm, according to an audit released today. Christopher J. Ward, long a trusted financial figure in...
Scotland: government wants to lower voting age to 16, but UK government blocks it
Posted on June 12, 2008The Herald reports: The SNP government is determined to give 16-year-olds the vote and is demanding that Westminster hand over the power to allow this, it was claimed yesterday. The minister for parliamentary business told an electoral reform conference yesterday...
Minnesota pastor wants to throw the Good Book at the IRS
Posted on June 12, 2008The Religion Clause blog reports: In Warroad, Minnesota, pastor Gus Booth, a delegate to the Republican National Convention, is openly challenging IRS restrictions on church involvement in political campaigns. In May, Booth delivered a sermon telling his congregation not to...
"The Ptifalls of Voter Identification Laws in a Post-Crawford World"
Posted on June 12, 2008ACSblog reports: Today, ACS released an issue brief by Carrie Apfel of Jenner & Block entitled “The Pitfalls of Voter Identification Laws in a Post-Crawford World.” She writes that even in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s upholding of Indiana’s...
Alabama: another investigation into high absentee voting
Posted on June 11, 2008The Randolph Leader reports: Fifth Judicial District Attorney E. Paul Jones has confirmed he has requested an investigation of absentee ballots in last Tuesday's primary but said his letter has been mailed so recently the attorney general's office may not...
Tennessee:
Posted on June 11, 2008The Memphis Commercial Appeal reports: A watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and a Germantown constituent have filed a formal complaint against U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn's campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission...
Alabama: complaints about absentee voting in Bullock County
Posted on June 10, 2008The Montgomery Advertiser reports: Two unsuccessful candidates for seats on the Bullock County Commission claim widespread absentee vote irregularities in the June 3 election and want a state investigation. Clarence "Bubba" Blue and Terry Jackson said Monday that hundreds of...
Campaign Money Watch files FEC complaint about McCain campaign
Posted on June 09, 2008AP reports: A group that supports public financing of campaigns filed a federal complaint against John McCain s presidential campaign Monday, calling for an investigation into two financial transactions involving two top McCain aides. The Federal Election Commission complaint by...
Why campaigns need lawyers who know about more than chad and petitions
Posted on June 09, 2008CBN News reports: The Brody File first reported that the Obama campaign will be launching The Joshua Generation Project aimed at young Evangelicals and faith voters. Well, it turns out there may be a legal issue with the NAME. Read...
California: Dems support, GOP opposes teen voting bill
Posted on June 09, 2008The Sacramento Bee reports: Voting is as American as mom and apple pie – the more votes cast, the better for democracy, right? Not necessarily. Efforts to gradually increase California's pool of voters by targeting young teenagers are splitting the...
Alabama: high turnout in one county brings criminal investigation
Posted on June 09, 2008AP reports: The district attorney for Perry County says he will ask the Justice Department and the FBI to investigate an unusually high turnout and potential absentee ballot problems during the June 3 primary elections. It’s the latest in a...
"National Bonus" in the Electoral College
Posted on June 08, 2008David Barron writes in the Convictions blog on Slate: Obviously, one solution for the future is to scrap the electoral college altogether, something Senator Nelson of Florida proposed today. But as it happens, I came across this news while reading...
McCain may soon get an FEC to vote to give him public funds
Posted on June 08, 2008The Washington Independent reports: Throughout this presidential primary season, the Federal Election Commission, which polices spending on campaigns for Congress and the presidency, has been dormant. This has created a dilemma for Sen. John McCain R-Ariz...
Alabama: provisional ballots will decide race for county school superintendent
Posted on June 08, 2008The Prattville Progress reports: While more than one-fourth of Autauga County's eligible voters went to the polls on Tuesday, the race to determine the Republican candidate for county school superintendent could be decided by just over one-tenth of a percent...
Projecting a presidential winner
Posted on June 08, 2008I was reading an article in the Kansas City Star, Mapping a long road to the White House, and noticed a reference to FiveThirtyEight.com: Electoral Projections Done Right. I suggest you take a look at it. I have not fully...
Black Caucus receives "offensive" T-shirt about Obama
Posted on June 07, 2008The Washington Post's Sleuth blog reports: The president of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation is disturbed by an offensive t-shirt the group received in the mail Wednesday, the day after Barack Obama claimed his party s presidential nomination...
Lobbyist money welcomed at party conventions
Posted on June 07, 2008The New York Times reports: One of Senator Barack Obama’s first acts after claiming the Democratic nomination was declaring he would not take special-interest money for his presidential bid, even going so far as to bar lobbyists from donating to...
Alabama: human error mars election in 2 counties
Posted on June 06, 2008The Mobile Press-Register reports on election-day problems: Mobile County election officials said they would in the future put extra emphasis on giving voters the correct ballots after a problem at a voting precinct Tuesday. At the First Independent Methodist Church...
Alabama: AG seizes voting records in Perry Co.
Posted on June 06, 2008The Birmingham News reports: The Alabama attorney general s office has seized Perry County voting records related to Tuesday s election. Attorney General Troy King said in a press release that the action was taken because of allegations of improprieties...
Michigan: Fieger was acquitted, but now faces the FEC
Posted on June 05, 2008The Detroit News reports: Though acquitted of criminal campaign finance charges, Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger still faces possible civil prosecution by the Federal Elections Commission for reimbursing employees and others for donations to the 2004 presidential campaign of Democrat John...
Alabama: details of voting irregulatires in Perry County
Posted on June 05, 2008WSFA-TV reports: Concern is building over what may have happened at some polls in Perry county during Tuesday s primary vote. As we reported, a federal observer notified the state that a candidate allegedly violated state law by helping people...
Alabama: Supreme Court hears arguments in Jefferson County election case
Posted on June 05, 2008The Birmingham News reports: A decision on the dispute over a vacancy on the Jefferson County Commission may hinge on whether a special election to fill it was legal or if a group of residents had the right to sue...
40 years ago ... Bobby Kennedy
Posted on June 05, 2008Forty years ago today, I woke up in a hotel room in Montreal where I had gone to visit the leftovers of the prior year's World's Fair. I turned on the TV. It took a few moments for me to...
Alabama: candidate reported as loitering at polls in Perry County
Posted on June 03, 2008The Birmingham News reports: A federal observer from the U.S. Department of Justice reported potential violations of election law in Perry County to the Alabama secretary of state Tuesday afternoon. The observer reported that one candidate was loitering in the...
Alabama: R.I.P. Tim Baer
Posted on June 03, 2008The Birmingham News reports: Former Alabama Republican Party Executive Director Tim Baer, a plainspoken political operative who helped the GOP take over the state s appellate courts, died over the weekend. Mr. Baer, who was born near Buffalo, N.Y., and...
South Carolina: GOP candidate sues Democratic Party for defamation
Posted on June 03, 2008MyrlteBeachOnline.com reports: Bill McKown, a Republican candidate for the state Senate in District 28, sued the S.C. Democratic Party Monday for conspiracy and defamation about a month after the party filed a lawsuit alleging he did not live in District...
Alabama: my personal experience with voter I.D.
Posted on June 03, 2008When I went to vote this morning in Alabama's primary, the poll workers looked as lonely as Maytag repairmen. To liven things up a bit, when asked for identification, I pulled out my Alabama Gas Company bill. I pointed out...
Vet.Admin. refuses to register voters
Posted on June 03, 2008The St. Petersburg Times reports: The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs last month said it would refuse to abide by a 14-year-old presidential directive requiring it to help register veterans to vote. It says doing so would detract from providing...
R.I.P. -- Jordan Wright
Posted on June 02, 2008The New York Times reports: Jordan M. Wright, who at 10 was thrilled to learn that politicians hand out self-promotional baubles, then collected more than a million bumper stickers and other campaign artifacts — from the time of George Washington...
Switzerland: referendum rejects change in citizenship process
Posted on June 02, 2008The New York Times reports: Swiss voters on Sunday defeated a measure that would have legitimized the practice of allowing secret votes by townspeople on granting citizenship to foreigners in their communities. The vote was a blow to the powerful...
Michigan: Feiger acquitted on campaign-contribution charges
Posted on June 02, 2008The Detroit Free Press reports: Southfield lawyer Geoffrey Fieger and his law partspener Vernon (Ven) Johnson were acquitted by a federal jury in Detroit today of illegally contributing more than $100,000 to John Edwards’ 2004 presidential campaign. The defendants smiled...
Tax-exempt group close to McCain just happens to run ads supporting his position
Posted on June 02, 2008The Washington Post reports: For weeks, Republican presidential candidate John McCain had been hammered for supporting the Air Force's February decision to award a $40 billion contract for refueling tankers to Northrop Grumman and its European partner...
Oklahoma: legislature bans lobbyist contributions during legislative session
Posted on June 02, 2008AP reports: The Oklahoma Legislature gave final approval on May 22 to a bill banning political contributions from lobbyists to legislators during and immediately after legislative sessions. The prohibition would apply to legislative incumbents and challengers alike...
Iowa: election-day registration now available
Posted on June 02, 2008The Times-Republican reports: While the time to pre-register to vote has passed, those wishing to participate in Tuesday’s primaries have an option that was not available in previous years – registering on election day. This is the first statewide primary...
Texas: suit filed against at-large voting in Irving school district
Posted on June 02, 2008The Dallas Morning News reports: An unsuccessful school board candidate filed a federal lawsuit today alleging that the Irving school district’s system of at-large elections for trustees violates the law by denying representation to the school district’s Hispanic citizens...
Civil Rights Commission to review DOJ plans for 2008 presidential election
Posted on June 02, 2008From a press release of the Commission: The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will be holding a briefing to review Department of Justice plans to monitor voting rights enforcement for the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. Among the topics expected to...
DC: a lobbying push for DC voting rights
Posted on June 02, 2008The Hill reports: A renewed campaign to give the representative from Washington, D.C. the right to vote in Congress is gaining ground with lobbyists for civil rights groups, ethics watchdogs and unions gearing up for a new push next year....
Alabama: DOJ observers in Perry County for primary
Posted on June 02, 2008AP reports: The Justice Department is sending federal observers to Perry County in west Alabama to monitor the primary election Tuesday. The Justice Department announced Monday that its observers will ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and...
Florida, Michigan: 1/2 vote to each delegate
Posted on June 01, 2008The New York Times reports: To jeers and boos that showcased deep party divisions, Democratic Party officials agreed Saturday to seat delegates from the disputed Florida and Michigan primaries at the party’s convention in August but give them only half...
Florida: archives still has most 2000 ballots (and chad)
Posted on June 01, 2008The Miami Herald reports: In the final seconds of the new HBO movie Recount, a box labeled Palm Beach County ballots is shown sitting inside a gigantic warehouse. As the camera pulls slowly back, it reveals row after row of...
Alabama: roundup of blog commentary on Riley v. Kennedy
Posted on May 31, 2008Janai Nelson, "Chipping Away at the VRA One Court Decision at a Time," Talking Justice Anita S. Krishnakumar, "The 'Mischief Rule' Rule and the VRA in Riley v. Kennedy," Concurring Opinions Lee P, " U.S. Supreme Court vindicates Riley, King,"...
Florida, Michigan: if you think your vote won't count, you are less likely to vote
Posted on May 31, 2008TPM Election Central reports: As the DNC prepares to decide the fates of the Florida and Michigan delegations tomorrow, a key question has to be asked: Did those rogue primaries truly reflect the will of their states Democratic voters? The...
Texas: NAMUDNO loses on challenge to Sec. 5 of Voting Rights Act
Posted on May 31, 2008The New York Times reports: A special three-judge court ruled Friday that Congress acted constitutionally when it extended the law requiring sections of the country with a history of racial discrimination to get federal approval for any changes in voting...
Alabama: summary of Riley v. Kennedy opinion
Posted on May 30, 2008Thomas Haymore writes on SCOTUSblog: With a “preclearance” mechanism requiring Justice Department approval before a state may “enact or seek to administer” any changes in “any voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure with respect to...
Georgia: Dems sue over voter I.D. law
Posted on May 30, 2008The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: Despite a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of requiring voters to produce state-issued picture IDs at the polls, the Democratic Party of Georgia has filed a new lawsuit challenging the constitutionality...
Alabama: Supreme Court reversal may net Chastang back pay
Posted on May 29, 2008The Mobile Press-Register reports: If Juan Chastang gets his Mobile County Commission seat back, it will almost certainly be a temp job but it also could net him tens of thousands of dollars in back pay, a commission attorney said....
Lieberman and Graham leave board of anti-Obama group
Posted on May 29, 2008The New York Times reports: Senators Joseph I. Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, prominent surrogates for Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign, stepped down Wednesday from their positions with an independent group that released a pair of Internet advertisements attacking Senator Barack...
Texas: AG and Dems settle suit over voter-fraud charges
Posted on May 29, 2008The Dallas Morning News reports: The Texas Democratic Party has settled a federal lawsuit against the state, with Attorney General Greg Abbott agreeing not to target people who collect legitimate mail-in ballots as part of his voter-fraud campaign. Both sides...
Michigan, Florida: DNC lawyers recommend 50% penalty for each state
Posted on May 28, 2008The Boston Globe reports: Democratic Party lawyers told a committee looking at the fate of disputed delegates from Florida and Michigan that at most they can restore only half of their 368 total delegates. IN A MEmo sent late Tuesday...
Mississippi: 5th Circuit vacates party registration and voter I.D. case
Posted on May 28, 2008AP reports: The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a ruling that would have forced Mississippians to register by political party and to show photo identification at the polls to be able to vote. The Mississippi Democratic Party...
Massachusetts: GOP candidate may be excluded from US Senate ballot
Posted on May 28, 2008The Boston Globe reports: When the deadline for certification passed yesterday, Jim Ogonowski, the Republican leadership's choice to challenge US Senator John F. Kerry, was 82 signatures short of qualifying for the GOP primary ballot, according to the state's central...
Mississippi: "It's almost like I was exiled from the country"
Posted on May 28, 2008The Daily Journal reports: When asked about his favorite candidate in this year s presidential race, 31-year-old Steven Hubbard didn t hesitate to say, "Obama's my man." But that's where his political voice ends. Hubbard, a convicted felon from Tupelo,...
Texas: 2 voting rights cases stir the state
Posted on May 28, 2008The Gadsden Times reports: “Vote or Die,” exhorts the faded slogan on a roadway at Prairie View A&M University, where black students once marched for the right to vote here in the town where they attend school, on a former...
Alabama: Governor crows over small "victory" in Supreme Court
Posted on May 28, 2008The Birmingham News reports: The ability of Alabama s governor to fill a vacancy on the Mobile County Commission was strengthened by the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, but the decision will not stop a similar legal battle over a seat...
Florida: Okaloosa County to allow Internet voting by military overseas
Posted on May 27, 2008The Miami Herald reports: A small Panhandle county that is home to one of the world s largest air bases is embarking on a sweeping experiment in Internet voting that could transform elections in the 21st century. But the push...
Arizona: state asks for dismissal of voter I.D. challenge
Posted on May 27, 2008AP reports: State officials say a challenge to Arizona requirements for voter identification and proof of citizenship should be thrown out in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding Indiana s voter ID law. The ruling on Indiana...
Arizona: Democrats appeal redistricting decision
Posted on May 27, 2008AP reports: Democrats challenging Arizona s legislative districts are appealing a court ruling that leaves the map in place and sets a high legal bar for challengers to clear. Lawyers for the challengers are asking the Arizona Supreme Court to...
Bloggers complain about lack of diversity in blogger corps selected for Demo Convention
Posted on May 27, 2008The Washington Post reports: With the Democratic National Convention less than three months away, and with Web pundits playing an even bigger role during the four-day event, a whole other drama is chewing up the blogosphere -- and the often...
Embezzlement a problem for campaign committees
Posted on May 27, 2008The New York Times reports: In Republican circles, Christopher J. Ward was the go-to guy for politicians who needed help managing their campaign finances. As a staff member at the National Republican Congressional Committee and its treasurer since 2003, Mr...
Libertarians pick Bob Barr as Presidential candidate
Posted on May 26, 2008As Rob Richie has pointed out, the Libertarians used a live-action version of instant runoff voting choose their presidential and VP candidates. To review the voting, go to the Official Website of the Libertarian National Committee. The lowest polling candidate...
"Military Chief Warns Troops About Politics"
Posted on May 26, 2008The New York Times reports: The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has written an unusual open letter to all those in uniform, warning them to stay out of politics as the nation approaches a presidential election in which...
Florida: new suit against DNC over seating delegates
Posted on May 26, 2008The Miami Herald reports: Florida s history of discrimination against African Americans should force the national Democratic Party to count all of the state s delegates at its national convention, a federal lawsuit filed Thursday claims. The suit, filed by...
Obama has too many contributors for old computer programs to handle
Posted on May 26, 2008Politico reports: The record-shattering fundraising by Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has reshaped the financing of presidential elections and generated breathless coverage and analysis of the otherwise arcane area of campaign finance...
UK: Electoral Commission member calls for election-law overhaul
Posted on May 26, 2008The Herald reports: Electoral law needs a major overhaul, clearer accountability to voters, with more flexible investigation powers and penalties to take on illegal fundraising, according to Scotland s chief elections adviser. John McCormick, the member of the Electoral Commission...
Scotland: campaign finance rules will vary depending on who calls referendum on independence from UK
Posted on May 26, 2008The Herald reports: A referendum on independence could lead to unfair and unbalanced campaigning by political parties if it were called by Holyrood, it has emerged. John McCormick, the Electoral Commission s Scottish member, said yesterday that the current election...
Texas: LULAC suit against Texas Democratic Party dismissed (updated with court docs attached)
Posted on May 23, 2008The Houston Chronicle reports: A federal judge sided with the Texas Democratic Party on Thursday in a lawsuit filed by Latino voter advocates who said the party's method for apportioning presidential delegates is discriminatory. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery in...
Alabama: Governor files Jurisdictional Statement in another Section 5 case
Posted on May 22, 2008Gov. Riley has filed his Jurisdictional Statement in Riley v. Plump. His questions presented are: 1. Whether the decisions of a covered jurisdiction's highest court concerning the validity of a precleared state law, or, in the alternative, an appointment made...
Information needed from my readers on Voter I.D.
Posted on May 22, 2008If you have access to one of the following, please leave a comment telling me whether the document has (1) the name and address of the holder, (2) a photo, and (3) a date showing its period of validity. Alabama-specific...
Michigan: Feiger's "I researched it" defense
Posted on May 22, 2008Crain's Detroit Business reports: High-profile lawyer Geoffrey Fieger described Wednesday how he spent part of a weekend in his firm s library doing research that convinced him that reimbursing employees and others for political donations was legal. But Fieger, who...
NRCC spends money to find embezzled money
Posted on May 22, 2008The Washington Post reports: As if the spring hasn t been tough enough on House Republicans, there is also the issue of bills piling up from the investigations into the alleged embezzlement scheme at the National Republican Congressional Committee. New...
Massachusetts: replacing Kennedy
Posted on May 22, 2008AP reports: People in Massachusetts suddenly are thinking the unthinkable: Who possibly could succeed Sen. Edward Kennedy, patriarch of the famed political family that has dominated the state for more than four decades? ... Unlike most states, Kennedy's successor would...
Alabama: state supreme court to hear arguments on Jefferson County commission vacancy
Posted on May 21, 2008The Birmingham News reports: The dispute over who should be the District 1 representative on the Jefferson County Commission will be argued before the Alabama Supreme Court on June 4. The court set oral arguments in the appeal of Circuit...
IRS clears Southern Baptist minister's endorsement of Huckabee
Posted on May 21, 2008The Associated Baptist Press reports: Southern Baptist pastor-personality Wiley Drake did not violate tax law by using his church’s letterhead or his radio show to endorse Mike Huckabee, he announced May 18. Drake, pastor of the 75-member First Southern Baptist...
IRS finally clears UCC for Obama speech
Posted on May 21, 2008The On Faith blog of the Washington Post reports: Today the United Church of Christ, the national church to which presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama belongs, announced that the Internal Revenue Service has found “that the activity about which we...
Puerto Rico has more delegates than Alabama??
Posted on May 21, 2008Mooncat writes on Left in Alabama: Puerto Rico gets 63 delegates to the Democratic Convention and Alabama only gets 60! What is up with that? We're a state, we're bigger, we have better football teams and they still get three...
Southern regional meeting of superdelegates
Posted on May 21, 2008I just received an email announcing a "DNC Southern Caucus" meeting on June 19-21 in Mobile, Alabama. One hundred three superdelegates and "regional elected officials" from 13 Southern States will be meeting. Are similar regional meetings being held in other...
Michigan: prosecution rests in Fieger trial
Posted on May 20, 2008The Detroit News reports: The government on Monday closed its criminal case against high-profile Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger and his law partner Ven Johnson. The United States rest, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lynn Helland said after defense lawyers finished cross examining...
Alabama: PAC-to-PAC transfers bill killed
Posted on May 20, 2008The Birmingham News reports: A proposed ban on the shuffling of money between political action committees died on the final night of the legislative session. The campaign finance reform measure died in conference committee despite having been the first bill...
Alabama: incumbent forgets to qualify for short term
Posted on May 20, 2008The Birmingham News reports: "Election law is really quirky," said Sid Browning, Jefferson County supervisor of elections. "This is a prime example. It's really confusing." ... Even if incumbent Bessemer Division Tax Assessor Andy Smith wins the November general election,...
McCain depending on GOP and Bush fundraising; Obama will bypass public financing
Posted on May 19, 2008The New York Times reports: Pivoting toward the general election, Senator Barack Obama is turning again to his history-making fund-raising machine, which helped to anoint him as a contender against Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and then became a potent weapon...
Missouri: voter I.D. proposal dies at end of session
Posted on May 17, 2008The New York Times reports: Missouri lawmakers ended their legislative session on Friday without completing action on a proposed constitutional amendment that would have enabled election officials to require proof of citizenship from people registering to vote...
McCain issues conflict-of-interest rules for his staff
Posted on May 17, 2008The New York Times reports: After expelling four advisers in the last week over concerns about their outside entanglements, Senator John McCain said Friday that his presidential campaign was beginning a new “vetting process” intended to end the embarrassments over...
Von Spakovsky withdraws, Reid claims victory
Posted on May 17, 2008The Washington Post reports: A controversial Bush administration nominee to the Federal Election Commission withdrew from consideration yesterday, providing a likely breakthrough to an impasse that has sidelined the political watchdog agency at the height of the primary season...
Scotland: expert casts doubt on 2007 election results
Posted on May 17, 2008Scotland on Sunday reports: THE expert appointed to investigate last year s Scottish Parliament election fiasco has said some MSPs may have no right to sit at Holyrood. Elections watchdog Ron Gould revealed he is not comfortable with the view...
Von Spakovsky witndraws from FEC nomination
Posted on May 16, 2008TPM Muckraker reports: After a five-month standoff, Hans von Spakovsky has withdrawn his NAME as a nominee to the FEC. The move likely clears the way for the deadlock over the FEC to be resolved. You can read his resignation...
A profile of Joaquin Avila
Posted on May 16, 2008The Seattle University Magazine has this profile: Joaquin Avila is a highly lauded legal scholar, a distinguished assistant professor at Seattle University School of Law and a leading expert on minority voting rights. His many accomplishments—degrees from Yale and Harvard,...
Arizona: citizenship process operating too slowly to allow voting this fall
Posted on May 16, 2008AP reports: Although immigration officials in Phoenix are churning out record numbers of new U.S. citizens, critics say federal officials aren t working fast enough so many immigrants won t become citizens in time to vote in November. The Phoenix...
New Hampshire: phone jamming case gets a going-over by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee
Posted on May 16, 2008New Hampshire Public Radio reports: The phone jamming scandal from New Hampshire s 2002 election is now a contentious issue on Capitol Hill. Democrats are investigating what they say was White House involvement in the incident while Republicans say Democrats...
Ohio: Kerry really won, says researcher
Posted on May 15, 2008John Q. Jacobs writes: The 2004 Ohio Presidential voting results do not accurately reflect voter intentions. In Cuyahoga County, the election was flawed and the design appears to have been manipulated. At locations with several ballot orders in use, many...
Presidential campaigns seek to restrict money to 527's
Posted on May 14, 2008The Washington Post reports: Sen. Barack Obama's top fundraisers have asked his campaign donors to refrain from contributing to liberal independent political organizations in hopes of controlling the tone and message of the general-election campaign. At a meeting in Indianapolis...
"How Will Clinton Resolve Campaign Debt?"
Posted on May 14, 2008Peter Overby on NPR reports on ways to pay the debt: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was some $10 million in debt at the end of March. Then she loaned her campaign $11 million. The campaign won't say what her...
Michigan: Feiger paralegal says FBI bullied her
Posted on May 13, 2008The Detroit Free Press reports: A paralegal testified today that the FBI agent in charge of the criminal probe against Southfield lawyer Geoffrey Fieger tried to bully her when he questioned her about contributions she made at Fieger’s behest to...
Companies beginning to disclose lobbying expenses
Posted on May 13, 2008The Washington Post reports: Ever wonder how much companies really spend to influence government through trade associations? Well, a few corporations are coming clean, or at least cleaner. The Center for Political Accountability, a nonpartisan group that promotes corporate political...
"Street money"
Posted on May 13, 2008The New York Times reports: In the threadbare border towns of South Texas, one of the country’s poorest regions, enterprising locals like Candelaria Espinoza have long been paid to round up votes for candidates on Election Day. There is even...
It's homogenization, not gerrymandering
Posted on May 12, 2008The New York Times reports: The buzz these days is that American politics may be entering a “postpartisan” era, as a new generation finds the old ideological quarrels among baby boomers to be increasingly irrelevant. In reality, matters are not...
Missouri: new voter I.D. proposal will require proof of citizenship
Posted on May 12, 2008The New York Times reports: The battle over voting rights will expand this week as lawmakers in Missouri are expected to support a proposed constitutional amendment to enable election officials to require proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote...
A quick in-and-out as GOP convention chief
Posted on May 11, 2008The New York Times reports: The public relations executive whom Senator John McCain’s campaign had chosen to run the Republican National Convention this summer resigned his post on Saturday after a magazine reported that his firm had lobbied for the....
Debt Relief for Hillary
Posted on May 10, 2008The Trailhead blog at Slate.com reports: Ever since the Clinton campaign went on life support earlier this week, there’s been speculation that Barack Obama could persuade Hillary to drop out by promising to pay off her campaign debt. The Huffington...
Alabama: PAC-to-PAC tramsfer bill is in conference committee
Posted on May 09, 2008The Birmingham News reports: An effort to ban shuffling money between political action committees is coming down to the final day of the legislative session. A conference committee on Thursday debated a watered-down version of the ban originally proposed by...
Preaching Truth (or some version of it) to Power (aka the IRS)
Posted on May 09, 2008The Wall Street Journal reports: A conservative legal-advocacy group is enlisting ministers to use their pulpits to preach about election candidates this September, defying a tax law that bars churches from engaging in politics. Alliance Defense Fund, a Scottsdale, Ariz...
Texas: LULAC sues Texas Democratic Party over lack of Sec. 5 preclarance for "Texas two-step"
Posted on May 09, 2008AP reports: The Texas Democratic Party was sued Friday by Latino advocacy groups that contend the complicated primary and caucus system used in the March 4 presidential primary unfairly diluted Latino votes. The League of United Latin American Citizens of...
Bush aids McCain by nominating new commissioners to FEC
Posted on May 09, 2008The New York Times reports: For months, the White House and Senate Republicans have been content to let a political impasse over vacancies at the Federal Election Commission persist, sidelining the regulatory agency in the throes of a heated presidential...
The problem with "Hillary Clinton for the Supreme Court?"
Posted on May 09, 2008Carlton Larson, writing on Prawfsblawg, suggests "Suppose Obama announced that he would name Hillary Clinton to the first Supreme Court vacancy of his term." -- PrawfsBlawg: Hillary Clinton for the Supreme Court? There is a small problem with that idea...
DNC analysis shows turnout in Dem primaries up and above GOP's
Posted on May 08, 2008The DNC released a memo this afternoon showing From 2004 to 2008, for all states for which comparable data was available, Democratic turnout increased by significant margins—no state saw a decrease for Democrats and many states saw turnout increasing by...
Michigan: Feiger firm lawyer admits reimbursement of contributors at another firm
Posted on May 08, 2008The Detroit Free Press reports: An attorney from Geoffrey Fieger’s law office, called as a prosecution witness to testify in the high profile lawyer’s federal trial for alleged illegal political fund-raising, told jurors today that he’d followed the same practices...
Kansas: legislature passes voter I.D. bill
Posted on May 08, 2008The Kansas City Star reports: Lawmakers have passed a bill requiring Kansans to provide photo identification when they vote — starting in 2010 — but some Democrats expect a veto from Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. The governor’s office was noncommittal about...
Missouri: House approves constitutional amendment for voter I.D.
Posted on May 08, 2008The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports: Voters could decide whether to enact a photo ID requirement for voting under a proposed constitutional amendment given first-round approval Wednesday by the Missouri House. Legislators approved a photo ID law in 2006, but it...
Indiana: first time voter prevented from voting in Dem primary
Posted on May 08, 2008The Star Press reports: A first-time voter said he was not permitted to vote in Tuesday s Democratic Primary because a poll inspector believed he was a Republican. The reason the poll inspector believed Ball State University student Kyle Ellis,...
Office of Special Counsel was investigating the voter registration fraud case
Posted on May 08, 2008The Project On Government Oversight POGO Blog: Internal Draft Document Reveals Bloch-Headedness The Project on Government Oversight Blog reports: POGO has gained access to an extraordinary internal DOCUMENT from the Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency charged with...
How Hillarry can turn her carriage into a pumpkin
Posted on May 08, 2008Why Clinton Stands to Lose Millions - US News and World Report US News and World Report reports: Experts disagree on whether or not Clinton will actually stick in the fight until the Democratic National Convention in August. But the...
The "Nuclear Option" at the Democratic Convention
Posted on May 04, 2008Tom Edsall writes on the Huffington Post: Hillary Clinton s campaign has a secret weapon to build its delegate count, but her top strategists say privately that any attempt to deploy it would require a sharp and by no means...
North Carolina: "Women's Voices, Women Vote" in hot water over robo-calls
Posted on May 04, 2008The Washington Post reports: Women's Voices, Women Vote is one of those little advocacy organizations with a lot of big names attached: Former White House chief of staff John Podesta is a board member, Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign manager Maggie...
Colorado: slow preparations for convention security prompts suit by ACLU
Posted on May 03, 2008The New York Times reports: Groups planning parades or protests at the Democratic National Convention filed a lawsuit here on Friday charging that the Secret Service and the City of Denver are threatening free speech — not because of tight...
"Republicans Crossing Over to Vote in Democratic Contests"
Posted on May 03, 2008The New York Times reports: Even some states without open primaries seem to have experienced crossover voting. In the Pennsylvania vote on April 22, voter surveys indicated that about 5 percent of those voting in the Democratic primary were Republicans...
London: Boris Johnson wins mayoral race on "instant runoff"
Posted on May 03, 2008BBC reports: Boris Johnson has won the race to become the next mayor of London - ending Ken Livingstone s eight-year reign at City Hall. The Conservative candidate won with 1,168,738 first and second preference votes, compared with Mr Livingstone...
Guam: Obama wins by 7 votes, recount "imminent"
Posted on May 03, 2008Pacific News Center reports: The Democrat Party Nominating Committee said officials will look over the large amount of spoiled ballots in the coming days. At issue is the small margin of victory of Senator Barack Obama. He beat his rival,...
Senate says McCain is "natural-born citizen"
Posted on May 01, 2008The New York Times reports: The Senate on Wednesday delivered its judgment on a constitutional question involving one of its own and formally declared that Senator John McCain is eligible to be president — at least from a citizenship perspective....
Alabama: GOP sees green light to pass tough voter I.D. law
Posted on April 30, 2008AP reports: Republicans in Alabama say they will push for a stronger law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polling place during next year’s regular session or possibly during a special session later this year. The renewed push...
Florida: agreement allows voter registration organizations to keep registering til July
Posted on April 30, 2008From a press release via email: Today, the parties to LWV v. Browning, a lawsuit challenging Florida’s onerous restrictions on third-party voter registration, entered into a binding agreement filed in federal court. The agreement comes the day after plaintiffs sought...
Tennessee: woman arrested for voting-while-felon
Posted on April 29, 2008The Leaf Chronicle reports: A Clarksville woman has been arrested on three counts of illegal voting. Carla Thomas Smith, 36, who gave a 718-1/2 Central Ave. address, was booked Friday into the Montgomery County Jail and has since been released...
New Jersey: independent reivew of e-voting machines approved
Posted on April 29, 2008Ars Techinca reports: In a decision issued last week, superior court judge Linda R. Feinberg ruled that a technical review of voting machines used in New Jersey may proceed despite the objections of the manufacturer, Sequoia Voting Systems. Serious problems...
Michigan: lawyer testifies he was reimbursed by Fieger firm, but was not pressured
Posted on April 29, 2008The Detroit News reports: A lawyer who works for indicted Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger testified Monday that Fieger s law firm reimbursed him for $8,000 in political donations he made on behalf of himself, his wife, and his two college-age...
Florida: LWV sues over restrictions on voter-registration groups
Posted on April 29, 2008The New York Times reports: The League of Women Voters of Florida sued state election officials on Monday to challenge a law that fines voter registration groups for losing registration forms or returning them late. The lawsuit, filed in Federal...
Indiana: Supreme Court OKs voter I.D. law
Posted on April 29, 2008The New York Times reports: The Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s voter identification law on Monday, concluding in a splintered decision that the challengers failed to prove that the law’s photo ID requirement placed an unconstitutional burden on the right to...
Alabama: Homewood mayor apologizes for cut rate to McCain
Posted on April 29, 2008The Birmingham News reports: Homewood Mayor Barry McCulley apologized Monday for granting the McCain presidential campaign a reduced rental rate at Rosewood Hall for an April 21 fundraiser. The campaign was charged $250 to rent two rooms, which have a...
United Kingdom: report calls for photo I.D. and safeguards on postal voting
Posted on April 28, 2008The Guardian reports: UK elections fall short of international standards and are vulnerable to fraud, a report published today claims. Measures introduced to improve choice for voters, such as postal and electronic voting, increase the risk of fraud, according to...
Military forces and electronic voting
Posted on April 28, 2008AP reports: U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan can speak to their families by Web camera and fight insurgents using sophisticated electronic warfare. Yet when it comes to voting, most troops are stuck in the past. Communities in 13 states...
It's so nice to have a jet in the family
Posted on April 27, 2008The New York Times reports: Given Senator John McCain’s signature stance on campaign finance reform, it was not surprising that he backed legislation last year requiring presidential candidates to pay the actual cost of flying on corporate jets. The law,...
Michigan: Feiger criminal trial opens
Posted on April 26, 2008TalkLeft reports: Flamboyant attorney and legal analyst Geoff Fieger, perhaps best known for his defense of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, is on trial in federal court in Detroit. He and his law partner, Van Johnson, are charged with having employees at...
Virginia: VA GOP files FEC complaint against Dems' anti-McCain ad
Posted on April 26, 2008AP reports: Virginia Republican Party chairman John Hager filed a complaint Friday over a Democratic National Committee ad attacking John McCain. Hager alleged in an affidavit to the Federal Election Commission that the DNC coordinated the ad with the campaigns...
Alabama: who has the authority to set the rate for the McCain fundraiser?
Posted on April 26, 2008The Birmingham News reports: A brewing dispute over a $250 rental rate charged to Republican presidential candidate John McCain has pitted Homewood s mayor and the City Council on opposing sides. Mayor Barry McCulley authorized renting two rooms in Homewood...
Michigan: Clinton supporter files challenge to exclusion of delegates
Posted on April 26, 2008Political Diary - WSJ.com The Wall Street Journal 's Political Diary reports: Yesterday, a key supporter of Hillary Clinton's filed a challenge demanding that the Democratic National Committee seat all of Michigan's pledged delegates – 55% of whom backed Mrs...
Michigan and Florida: DNC Rules Committee to meet on 31 May
Posted on April 26, 2008AP reports: A plan to award half-delegates for the disputed Michigan and Florida Democratic presidential primaries will get a hearing before party leaders. The co-chairs of the Democratic National Committee s Rules and Bylaws committee sent members a memo Friday...
Judicial Watch files FEC complaint against McCain
Posted on April 24, 2008From a press release: Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it filed a formal complaint, dated April 22, 2008, with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) related to a fundraising luncheon held...
Alabama: Homewood mayor gives McCain 80% discount on city meeting space
Posted on April 24, 2008The Birmingham News reports: Republican presidential candidate John McCain got a deal when his campaign rented gathering space from the city of Homewood for a private fundraiser earlier this week. His campaign was given a discount of about 80 percent...
Missouri: civil rights groups sue state officials over Motor Voter non-compliance
Posted on April 24, 2008The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports: Voting-rights activists filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against Missouri public aid officials and election authorities in St. Louis and Kansas City, saying that agencies have failed to help poor people stay active on the voter...
Pennsylvania: polls will close on time, judge rules
Posted on April 22, 2008Philly.com reports: Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Ramy Djerassi has rejected a request to extend Philadelphia poll hours to 10 p.m., and to distribute emergency paper ballots to all precincts where there have been reports of broken voting machines...
Alabama: $40,000 for "exclusive" donor events
Posted on April 22, 2008The Mobile Press-Register reports: At least 86 individuals will enjoy access to Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, thanks to their pledges of $40,000 each to a Republican fundraising committee designed to gain control of the Legislature. The state GOP says it...
Davis' challenge to "Millionaire's Amendment"
Posted on April 21, 2008The Washington Post reports: Wealthy, self-financed congressional candidate Jack Davis says the McCain-Feingold Act s Millionaire s Amendment, which raises the contribution limits for opponents of wealthy, self-financed candidates, is not only unfair but also unconstitutional, and his lawyers will...
Alabama: Joe Mallisham, RIP
Posted on April 20, 2008The Tuscaloosa News reports: Joe Mallisham, a pioneering civil rights leader and former Tuscaloosa County commissioner, died Tuesday. He was 79. Raised by his father, the Rev. L.S. Mallisham, on the Bible, Shakespeare and history books, and as a member...
McCain using "hybrid legal structure" to raise more money
Posted on April 20, 2008The WSJ's Washington Wire blog reports: To help ease their fund-raising woes, John McCain’s campaign has devised a new system to increase the maximum amount an individual can donate to the unofficial Republican nominee’s election efforts. Campaign manager Rick Davis...
Alabama: federal court grants 1 more month of a free pass on VRA violation (court docs attached)
Posted on April 17, 2008The Birmingham News reports: A panel of three federal judges granted Gov. Bob Riley s request Wednesday to extend George Bowman s tenure as a Jefferson County commissioner, but not for as long as the governor wanted. Riley now has...
New Jersey: Andrews sues for proper ballot position
Posted on April 17, 2008Politiker NJ reports: Rob Andrews wants to render Frank Lautenberg’s county line advantage obsolete. Andrews announced today that he’s filing suit against 13 mostly northern county clerks to seek a “fair and open Democratic primary” that requires county clerks give...
Maryland: legislation moves special for 4th CD
Posted on April 17, 2008CQ Politics reports: A special election to fill a pending vacancy in Maryland’s 4th Congressional District will be held June 17 under legislation, signed Thursday afternoon by Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley, that allows a speedier schedule than usually allowed under...
Pennsylvania: Provisional ballots
Posted on April 16, 2008NPR's Morning Edition reports: With lots of new voters showing up at the polls for this year s primaries, election officials are also seeing many problems. Some people are going to the wrong polling sites; others can t find their...
FEC nominee Lenhard withdraws
Posted on April 15, 2008The Washington Post reports: A Democratic nominee to the Federal Election Commission yesterday withdrew his name for consideration, choosing private-sector work rather than waiting out a confirmation impasse between Senate Democrats and President Bush that has hobbled the agency...
Judicial Watch files FEC complaint against Clinton over Elton John concert
Posted on April 15, 2008Judicial Watch has requested that the FEC investigate the Elton John concert-fundraiser for the Clinton Campaign. The problem is that Elton John is not an American citizen. -- Judicial Watch complaint...
DNC will sue FEC today over McCain
Posted on April 14, 2008Update: The suit has been filed and the complaint is available here. UPI reports: The Democratic National Committee wants to get its dispute with John McCain s campaign on public financing into the U.S. courts, party officials said. The committee...
Dept of Expected Results: Why primaries are good for demoncracy
Posted on April 14, 2008The Washington Post reports: If this were Britain, Russia or India, Rudy Giuliani '08 caps would not be on the clearance racks. In those countries, where bigwigs and insiders get to nominate party leaders, the former Republican front-runner and establishment...
Idaho: GOP files suit against open primary system
Posted on April 14, 2008Free Citizen blog reports: In an open primary, a party's primary ballot is available to any voter who wants it. There are two types of open primaries: Mississippi is one of the 13 states with "open primary, public record," meaning...
Conservative 527 group fails to live up to its expectations
Posted on April 12, 2008The New York Times reports: The conservative group Freedom’s Watch, headlined by two former senior White House officials, had been expected to be a deep-pocketed juggernaut in this year’s presidential election, heralded by supporters on the right as an aggressive...
Is Catalist an end-run around campaign finance laws?
Posted on April 12, 2008The New York Times reports: [Harold Ickes] is president of Catalist, a for-profit databank that has sold its voter files to the Obama and the Clinton presidential campaigns for their get-out-the-vote efforts. With his equity stake in the firm, Mr....
"Scotland on Sunday": "Carter and Gore to end Clinton bid"
Posted on April 12, 2008Scotland on Sunday reports: DEMOCRAT grandees Jimmy Carter and Al Gore are being lined-up to deliver the coup de grâce to Hillary Clinton and end her campaign to become president. Falling poll numbers and a string of high-profile blunders have...
West Virginia: arguments in case strict disclosure requirements for political ads
Posted on April 11, 2008The Charleston Gazette reports: Anonymous advertising in West Virginia political campaigns would open the door for a repeat of the 2004 Supreme Court race, where voters did not learn until later who was spending millions of dollars on behalf of...
Arizona: appeals court upholds legislative districting plan
Posted on April 11, 2008The Arizona Republic reports: The boundaries of the state s legislative districts for this fall s elections will remain the same as they have been for the past three years. That s the immediate impact of a state Court of...
Mississippi: blacks' suit wants students excluded from Hattiesburg district numbers
Posted on April 10, 2008The Hattiesburg American reports: A decision on whether Hattiesburg s City Council wards should be redrawn now rests with U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett. The trial of a 2006 lawsuit against the city ended Wednesday with the city s attorneys...
Alabama: Governor asks for stay pending appeal in Jefferson County case (court documents attached)
Posted on April 10, 2008The Birmingham News reports: Gov. Bob Riley asked a panel of federal judges Tuesday to grant Jefferson County Commissioner George Bowman more time in office while other courts decide legal disputes over who fills county commission vacancies. Cases are pending...
Public financing -- Obama maybe no, McCain maybe yes
Posted on April 10, 2008The New York Times reports: Senators Barack Obama and John McCain are beginning to lay the groundwork for divergent ways of financing fall campaigns for the presidency. Mr. Obama, who has shattered fund-raising records for candidates of either party, is...
Iowa: charge that Fallon's business is financing his campaign
Posted on April 10, 2008The Courier reports: A state senator has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, arguing congressional candidate Ed Fallon is using his for-profit business to assist his bid for office. State Sen. Dick Dearden, the Des Moines Democrat who...
Colorado: CREW files complaint against U.S. Term Limits for pro-Schaffer ad
Posted on April 09, 2008The Rocky Mountain News reports: A Washington, D.C.-based group has filed an elections complaint over an ad where school children repeatedly thank U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer for his commitment to charter schools. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington...
Ohio: Elections commission fines PAC $5.2 million for illegal transfer
Posted on April 08, 2008AP reports: The Ohio Elections Commission has levied a record $5.2 million fine against a political action committee headed by former Michigan Republican Chairwoman Betsy DeVos that supports candidates who favor school choice. All Children Matter s political action committee...
Overseas voting: new website aims to make it easier
Posted on April 07, 2008Stars and Stripes reports: A new Web site unveiled last week will give overseas military voters a one-stop site for voter registration, ballot requests and other election-related needs. Organizers with the Overseas Vote Foundation, a nonpartisan voter advocacy group, unveiled...
Alabama: John Tanner working in Alabama now
Posted on April 07, 2008AP reports: The former chief of the Justice Department's Voting Rights Section, who stepped aside in December after apologizing for remarks about minority voters, is now working on election-related issues for the Alabama Law Institute. John Tanner, who is being...
Florida: "Without Walls" church staffers may have been directed to contribute to Crist's 2006 campaign
Posted on April 07, 2008The St. Petersburg Times reports: Staff members of Tampa Bay s largest church were directed two years ago to make $500 contributions to the campaign of Gov. Charlie Crist, a television network has charged. The church denies the allegation. MSNBC,...
"The Irony of Judicial Elections"
Posted on April 04, 2008Introduction to The Irony of Judicial Elections by David E. Pozen in Columbia Law Review: Judicial elections in the United States have undergone a dramatic transformation. For more than a century, these state and local elections were relatively dignified, low-key...
Maine: Senate passes National Popular Vote bill
Posted on April 04, 2008PolitickerME.com reports: The state Senate passed a bill Wednesday allowing Maine to participate in the National Popular Vote interstate compact. The bill will next go before the House for consideration. The Senate was deadlocked over the bill, voting 17 to...
Maryland: Governor asks Legislature to skip primaries for Wynn vacancy
Posted on April 04, 2008PolitickerMD reports: Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Mechanicsville) both expressed support today for Gov. Martin O’Malley’s proposal to bypass a special primary election and hold a special general election in Maryland’s 4th Congressional...
Kansas: Voter I.D. bill in conference committee
Posted on April 04, 2008Harris News Service reports: Democratic and Republican negotiators clashed Wednesday over how strict to make legislation requiring most voters under age 65 to show photo identification to cast a ballot. A conference committee of six lawmakers, three from each the...
Iowa: judge enjoins Sec of State over English-only law
Posted on April 04, 2008The Des Moines Register reports: A Polk County District Court judge has ordered Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro to stop using languages other than English in the state’s official voter registration forms. Judge Douglas Staskal ruled in favor of...
Florida: 11th Circuit reverses injunction on new registration law
Posted on April 04, 2008In Florida State Conference of the NAACP v. Browning, the 11th Circuit has reversed the injunction against Florida's voter registration law. Here is the opening paragraph of the decision: This is an appeal of a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of...
Indiana: Terre Haute mayoral election approved even though winning candidate was violating Hatch Act
Posted on April 04, 2008The Tribune Star reports: The battle for Terre Haute City Hall continues with the latest shots coming from Mayor Duke Bennett’s legal team. Lawyers for Bennett filed a new appeal with the Indiana Court of Appeals this week asking the...
Cherokee Nation: CBC threatens housing funding over exclusion of Freedmen
Posted on April 04, 2008The Hill reports: Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have promised Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid D-Nev. that they will try to block a Native American housing assistance bill if the measure does not include language that prevents the Cherokee...
What we lost 40 years ago
Posted on April 04, 2008Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1964, (Picture credit: Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons)...
Alabama: Siegelman released pending appeal
Posted on March 27, 2008The Birmingham News reports: A federal appellate court today ordered former Gov. Don Siegelman released from prison while he appeals his 2006 conviction, but denied co-defendant Richard Scrushy s request to be released. Siegelman attorney Vince Kilborn said Siegelman would...
Puerto Rico: Governor indicted for campaign-finance violations
Posted on March 27, 2008AP reports: Puerto Rico Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila indignantly denied wrongdoing Thursday and gave no sign he would abandon his re-election effort after being charged with campaign finance violations that carry a penalty of 20 years in prison. Acevedo, a...
Scotland: Salmond proposes preferential-voting referendum on independence, more powers, or status quo
Posted on March 26, 2008The Scotsman reports: SCOTLAND could become independent with less than 50 per cent of people backing that as their first choice for the country, under plans unveiled by Alex Salmond yesterday. The First Minister delivered a bombshell announcement that the...
Alabama: Supreme Court hears arguments in Riley v. Kennedy
Posted on March 25, 2008AP reports: Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism Monday about the federal government s authority to block the governor of Alabama s appointment of a fellow Republican to a vacant county commission seat representing a mostly black and heavily Democratic district...
Alabama: Supreme Court argument transcript in Riley v. Kennedy
Posted on March 25, 2008Here is the transcript of Monday's argument in 07-77.pdf , Riley v. Kennedy....
"Follow the Money"
Posted on March 23, 2008Left In Alabama reports: Now it's easier to keep your elected representatives honest -- or at least keep an eye on them. Follow the Money has a nifty new tool that lets you look at contributions to entire legislative committees....
California: man arrested for voter registration fraud
Posted on March 22, 2008CBS 13 in Sacramento reports: A man suspected of state voter registration fraud was arrested on Sac State's campus. Accused of signing up fake people to vote! Why would there be a manhunt by the election fraud unit of the...
Alabama: voters who object to voting appeal to get quick overturn approving the vote
Posted on March 22, 2008The Birmingham News reports: Three Jefferson County residents asked the Alabama Supreme Court Thursday to quickly overturn a Circuit Court judge's ruling that William Bell is entitled to be the District 1 county commissioner. Lawyers for Patricia Working, Rick Erdemir...
Alabama: Jefferson County special election upheld, judge rules
Posted on March 22, 2008The Birmingham News reports: William Bell is entitled to be the District 1 representative on the Jefferson County Commission, Circuit Court Judge Scott Vowell ruled Tuesday. The case will next go to the Alabama Supreme Court. The state's high court...
Alabama: Gov. Riley appeals Jefferson County case to U.S. Supreme Court
Posted on March 22, 2008Governor Riley has filed a long-winded notice of appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court from the Judgment in Plump v. Riley....
Colorado: paper-ballots plan abandoned
Posted on March 21, 2008The New York Times reports: A plan to use only paper ballots in Colorado in this November’s election, which was announced with bipartisan hoopla in January to replace the state’s troubled electronic voting machine system, died quietly in a state...
Alabama: preview of Riley v. Kennedy argument
Posted on March 20, 2008Thomas Haymore, one the Stanford Law School students who did such great work on our brief, has written this summary of the case for ScotusWiki....
Alabama: Hale County ex-clerk indicted in absentee vote fraud
Posted on March 19, 2008The Birmingham News reports: Former Hale County Circuit Court Clerk Gay Nell Tinker has been indicted on multiple vote fraud-related charges. A Hale County grand jury issued a 13-count indictment against Tinker after receiving evidence from the Attorney General s...
Dept. of Veterans Affairs still blocking voter registration
Posted on March 18, 2008Steven Rosenfeld writes on AlterNet: For at least four years, since the 2004 presidential election, when a veteran, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was the Democratic Party nominee, the Department of Veterans Affairs has blocked efforts to help U.S. soldiers register...
North Carolina: Supreme Court will decide on influence districts
Posted on March 18, 2008AP reports: The U.S. Supreme Court said yesterday that it will consider whether legislative and congressional districts designed to help minority candidates win office must do so by containing a majority of minority voters. The case could decide the fate...
Michigan: do-over bill pending in legislature
Posted on March 18, 2008AP reports: Legislative leaders reviewed a measure Monday that would set up a do-over June 3 Democratic presidential primary in Michigan. The draft legislation included language that would set up a public fund to collect private donations for the election,...
Florida: Democratic Party decides against re-vote
Posted on March 18, 2008AP reports: Facing strong opposition, Florida Democrats on Monday abandoned plans to hold a do-over presidential primary with a mail-in vote and threw the delegate dispute into the lap of the national party. ... Members of Florida's congressional delegation had...
New Hampshire: Tobin acquitted of phone-jamming; US appeals
Posted on March 18, 2008The Union Leader reports: The U.S. Department of Justice is appealing the acquittal last month of former national Republican Party official James Tobin on telephone harassment charges stemming from the illegal GOP phone-jamming operation of Election Day, 2002...
Citizenship agency promises to process dozens, maybe even thousands, in time for voter registration
Posted on March 15, 2008The New York Times reports: Immigration officials said on Friday that they expected to complete about 930,000 citizenship applications in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, reducing a huge backlog in a time frame that would allow many new citizens...
Alabama: congressional candidate spent state campaign funds on federal election
Posted on March 14, 2008AP reports: Alabama state Sen. Harri Anne Smith spent nearly $20,000 from her state campaign account last year on polling and political consulting in her bid for federal office to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Terry Everett, a violation of federal...
9th Circuit: vote-swapping is legal
Posted on March 14, 2008The National Law Journal reports: Third-party candidates take note for the upcoming presidential election: The First Amendment protects vote-swapping arrangements. The short-circuited campaign in 2000 to arrange vote trading between supporters of presidential candidates Al Gore and Ralph Nader died...
NRCC treasurer may have faked the books to steal
Posted on March 14, 2008The New York Times reports: The former treasurer of a Republican Congressional fund-raising committee may have stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars by submitting elaborately forged audit reports for five years using the letterhead of a legitimate auditing firm, a...
EAC's Inspector General clears commission of "politics" on the Voter I.D. study
Posted on March 12, 2008The Election Assistance Commission's Inspector General has issued his report on the allegations of improper handling of the report on voter fraud. The PDF of the document is locked so that I cannot easily copy the synopsis. So, here is...
Florida: deal or no deal on a mail-in primary do-over?
Posted on March 12, 2008The New York Times reports: Democratic Party officials here are close to completing a draft plan for a new mail-in primary that would take place by early June, a proposal that seeks to give Florida delegates a role in the...
Alabama: Gov. Riley files reply brief in Riley v. Kennedy
Posted on March 11, 2008Gov. Riley has filed his reply brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Riley v. Kennedy. This is the Section 5 case that will be argued on 24 March. Disclosure: I am one of the attorneys for Dr. Kennedy...
Michigan: Levin wants a mail-in re-do primary
Posted on March 10, 2008The Detroit Free Press reports: An all-mail revote may be the solution for Michigan Democrats who want their presidential primary votes to count. U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, who has been fighting for years to break the dominant role that Iowa...
Texas: Obama gets majority of delegates despite Clinton primary win
Posted on March 07, 2008Ron Elving reports on NPR.org: Hillary Clinton has called her primary victories this week stunning, but their contribution to her delegate total continues to dwindle. Senator Clinton won the Ohio primary with a healthy margin and squeaked past 50 percent...
Will that be paper or electronic?
Posted on March 07, 2008Pam Fessler reports on NPR: Voting officials across the country have been trying to find a secure, reliable voting system ever since the 2000 presidential elections. After electronic machine failures, a number of states are returning to paper ballots...
Panel discusses voter I.D.
Posted on March 07, 2008The Daily Free Press reports: A panel of professors and lawyers hosted by the Harvard Journal on Legislation analyzed the implications of voter identification laws and their potential impact on the presidential election this year, at the Harvard Law School...
Independent redistricting initiative getting GOP dollars
Posted on March 07, 2008Inside Bay Area reports: In a display of bipartisan unity, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Controller Steve Westly, a Democrat, went from table to table at a local restaurant this week, beseeching diners to sign a petition supporting a...
Florida, Michigan: Soft money may pay for the do-overs
Posted on March 07, 2008The Los Angeles Times reports: Eager to break an impasse over contested votes, prominent Democrats are floating possible solutions that include new presidential nominating contests in Florida and Michigan, and a compromise forged by a special committee of party elders...
What do we want? Citizenship. When do we want it? Now.
Posted on March 07, 2008The New York Times reports: A lawsuit filed Thursday in a federal court in New York by Latino immigrants seeks to force immigration authorities to complete hundreds of thousands of stalled naturalization petitions in time for the new citizens to...
Michigan, Florida: looking a way out
Posted on March 07, 2008The New York Times reports: With the two Democratic presidential candidates in near-deadlock and battling for every delegate, party leaders and the rival campaigns started searching in earnest on Thursday for a way to seat barred delegations from Florida and...
Scotland: vote-counting firm could not count the votes because software license had expired
Posted on March 07, 2008The Herald reports: The firm behind last year s election fiasco has been blamed again after a local council by-election was thrown into disarray. More than 100,000 votes were not counted in last May s debacle but fewer than 3000...
Ohio: secret ballot?
Posted on March 05, 2008The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports: How secret was your ballot Tuesday? Well, that depends. Many Cuyahoga County voters complained their privacy was compromised as they turned in their ballots. Many voters had no way to shield the filled-out ballot from...
Kentucky: governor makes it easier to get voting rights restored
Posted on March 05, 2008The Herald-Leader reports: Felons who complete their sentences can get their voting rights restored more easily under changes to the pardon process announced Tuesday by Gov. Steve Beshear. Beshear said he will drop requirements for an essay and three character...
Ohio: several counties fail the Gerken test of compentency
Posted on March 05, 2008The New York Times reports: A federal judge in Ohio granted a request late Tuesday from Senator Barack Obama’s campaign to extend the voting hours in 21 precincts in Cleveland by an extra 90 minutes because of a lack of...
Nadler tells DOJ, "we need vigorous enforcement." of the NVRA
Posted on March 04, 2008Voting Matters Blog reports: February 26 was not a good day for Asheesh Agarwal, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the U. S. Department of Justice. During a hearing of the House Committee on the Judiciary,...
Alberta, Canada: Liberal leader calls for voter I.D.
Posted on March 03, 2008The Edmonton Journal reports: Alberta needs to overhaul its electoral system because votes conducted in the province almost have the feel of a banana republic, says Liberal Leader Kevin Taft. Taft made the call as Albertans prepare to go to...
Problems beset statewide voter lists
Posted on March 03, 2008AP reports: Welcome to the first presidential election in which nearly every state must have a list of every registered voter. Here's the catch: if your name isn't on it, you may have trouble casting a ballot in this historic...
Alabama: Rev. Glasgow's effort to get voting rights restored to ex-felons
Posted on March 02, 2008The New York Times reports: The Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, onetime criminal and founder of a ministry called The Ordinary People Society, spent years helping people with criminal records regain the right to vote in Alabama, where an estimated 250,000 people...
Nevada: NVRA agency-based registrations very low in state
Posted on March 02, 2008The Las Vegas Sun reports: Poor people have less say at the polls in Nevada than in most of the nation — and public assistance offices appear to be partly to blame, according to a recently released report. In 2006...
New York: Pataki's PAC continued to spend after he dropped campaign
Posted on March 02, 2008The New York Times reports: After ending his exploration of a presidential bid early last year and all but disappearing from politics, former Gov. George E. Pataki spent more than $1 million from his political action committees for Broadway theater...
Senator wants to make only some Americans-at-birth "natural born" and eligible to be president
Posted on February 29, 2008The New York Times reports: Senator John McCain said Thursday that he had no concerns about his meeting the constitutional qualifications for the presidency because of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone. A Democratic colleague said she wanted to...
Illinois: Dems file FEC complaint against Oberweis for filing to iile Millionaire's Amendment report
Posted on February 29, 2008The Daily Herald reports: Accusing Republican congressional candidate Jim Oberweis of attempting to flout campaign finance law, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Thursday filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission. Oberweis failed to file a specific FEC form...
Alabama: PAC to PAC transfer bill passes senate
Posted on February 27, 2008Alabama Senate approves bill to regulate PAC donations | TimesDaily.com | Times Daily | Florence, AL AP reports: The Democrat-controlled Alabama Senate split largely along party lines Tuesday to approve a bill that would stop some financial transfers used to...
Ohio: McCain received ballot spot because of federal matching-fund certification
Posted on February 27, 2008The New York Times reports: Did Senator John McCain of Arizona benefit unfairly from rules that automatically placed him on the ballot in Ohio once he qualified for public campaign financing? The legal question, which also has political significance given...
Colorado: comprehensive gift ban will go into effect, for now
Posted on February 26, 2008The Rocky Mountain News reports: A Monday court ruling on Amendment 41, the controversial law that limits gifts to government workers, failed to clarify the measure and leaves the door wide open for more court challenges. The state Supreme Court...
DNC v. McCain, the complaint and the bank's letter
Posted on February 25, 2008Reuters reports: The Democratic Party asked the U.S. government on Monday to investigate whether Republican presidential candidate John McCain has violated campaign-finance laws by exceeding spending limits he agreed to last year. In a letter to the Federal Election Commission,...
Puerto Rico: feds may be investigating governor's campaign finances
Posted on February 24, 2008The New York Times reports: The rumors wash up against the gray walls of La Fortaleza, the governor’s palace in this city’s colonial quarter, with the regularity of the ocean’s waves. Every few weeks they seem to gather momentum, like...
DNC to file FEC complaint against John McCain
Posted on February 24, 2008The DNC will file a complaint with the FEC on Monday against John McCain for his alleged violations of the campaign finance law. Former Gov. Howard Dean, chair of the DNC, and Joe Sandler, DNC general counsel, held a press...
Alabama: supreme court dismisses suit challenging election of 4 Democratic senators
Posted on February 24, 2008AP reports: The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Montgomery judge s decision to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the election of four powerful Democrats in the Alabama Senate. The court s 8-1 decision ends a lawsuit that became part...
Arizona: Renzi indicted
Posted on February 22, 2008ABC News reports: A federal grand jury in Arizona has indicted three-term Republican Congressman Rick Renzi and two of his business associates on charges that include wire fraud, money laundering, insurance fraud and extortion. The 35-count indictment alleges that between...
Alabama: "Race matters less in politics of South"
Posted on February 22, 2008The New York Times reports: The racial breakthroughs have come gingerly in Alabama over the years: a black mayor there, an old Klansman put on trial here, a civil rights memorial there. And a few weeks ago, voters in a...
Mississippi: Senate passes voter I.D. bill
Posted on February 22, 2008The Hattiesburg American reports: The annual legislative fight over voter identification moved to the Senate floor on Thursday as lawmakers debated for more than two hours about the need to require ID at the polls. The legislation, which passed on...
Alabama: DOJ approves Gadsden school board vote
Posted on February 22, 2008The Gadsden Times reports: The U.S. Justice Department has approved an election to determine if Gadsden will go to an elected school board or stay with an appointed one. City Attorney Roger Kirby received the approval today. The Justice Department’s....
McCain runs into a FEC roadblock caused by the lack of 4 commissioners
Posted on February 22, 2008The New York Times reports: A bank loan that Senator John McCain took out late in 2007 to keep his presidential campaign afloat is complicating his desire to withdraw from public financing for his primary effort. The Federal Election Commission,...
Alabama: PAC to PAC transfer bill bogged down in Senate
Posted on February 22, 2008The Birmingham News reports: The state Senate locked down again Thursday over a proposed ban on transfers between political action committees that make it difficult to know who is funding political campaigns. Unlike a stricter version approved by the House...
Alabama: schedule set for challenge to special election for Jefferson County commission
Posted on February 22, 2008The Birmingham News reports: A Jefferson County judge said Thursday he wanted to resolve by April a legal dispute over this month s District 1 Jefferson County commission special election. Until then, certification of William Bell as winner of the...
Mara Liasson reports on the Michigan-Florida delegate problem
Posted on February 20, 2008NPR reports: As presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton fight for every Democratic delegate at stake, the question remains what to do about delegates in Michigan and Florida. Both states forfeited their delegates when they moved their primaries up...
Peter Overby reports on the dilemma of taking matching funds
Posted on February 20, 2008NPR reports: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain have not taken federal campaign financing funds. The money is appealing, but if campaigns take it, they are limited as to how much money they can spend. -- NPR: Candidates Weigh...
Alabama: amicus brief supporting voters in Riley v. Kennedy
Posted on February 19, 2008Amicus briefs have been filed supporting the Kennedy plaintiffs in Riley v. Kennedy, No. 07-77, in the US Supreme Court: ACLU Note: as additional amici file (Wednesday is the deadline), I will add them to this post....
Washington State: a Democratic primary, but why?
Posted on February 18, 2008The New York Times reports: As many as 1.5 million votes are projected to be cast in Washington State’s presidential primary on Tuesday. The question is whether they will count. ... More problematic is that the state Democratic Party long...
McCain may have promised bank he would take federal matching funds
Posted on February 16, 2008The Washington Post reports: John McCain's cash-strapped campaign borrowed $1 million from a Bethesda bank two weeks before the New Hampshire primary by pledging to enter the public financing system if his bid for the presidency faltered, newly disclosed records...
California: politics, death, taxes
Posted on February 16, 2008The Los Angeles Times reports: For the second time in six months, Buena Park pastor Wiley S. Drake has called on his followers to pray for the demise of leaders of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Last...
LexBlog Q&A
Posted on February 15, 2008LexBlog just did a Q&A with me. -- Edward Still of Votelaw [LexBlog Q & A] : Real Lawyers Have Blogs...
Clinton to press party to change delegate rules for Florida and Michigan
Posted on February 14, 2008The New York Times reports: Senator Barack Obama emerged from Tuesday’s primaries leading Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton by more than 100 delegates, a small but significant advantage that Democrats said would be difficult for Mrs. Clinton to make up in...
Alabama: renewed challenge to special election for Jefferson County Commission
Posted on February 14, 2008The Birmingham News reports: Jefferson County voters challenging the Feb. 5 County Commission special election have renewed their call for a judge to declare the vote illegal before William Bell is certified Friday as the winner. Court documents filed Tuesday...
Colorful maps of the vote
Posted on February 13, 2008If you want to see the presidential primary results in colorful maps, go to Cogitamus: 2008 Super Duper Tsunami Tuesday Primary And Caucus Results Maps & Haiku...
52-48 win for Democratic presidential candidate predicted
Posted on February 13, 2008Jack Balkin writes on Balkinization: Yale economics professor Ray Fair has been predicting Presidential elections with only a handful of variables since the 1970's. He argues that economic news (in particular, a combination of inflation and growth) is the primary...
Scotland: it's redistricting time
Posted on February 13, 2008The Herald reports: THE first proposals for constituency boundary changes since devolution sent MSPs scurrying to their back offices with advisers yesterday. Who might lose? Who might gain? Which comrades might be rivals for a combined seat? ... The secretary...
Alabama: appellees' brief filed in Supreme Court in Riley v. Kennedy
Posted on February 13, 2008The appellees' brief in Riley v. Kennedy has been filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. While I am "counsel of record" in this case, a great team of people listed on the cover of the brief plus several students in...
South Dakota: DOJ objects to Charles Mix county plan
Posted on February 13, 2008The Rapid City Journal reports: The U.S. Justice Department has blocked Charles Mix County from putting in place a voter-passed redistricting plan that would have increased the commission from three to five members. A letter from the Justice Department said...
Maryland: judge extends polling hours by 90 minutes because of weather problems
Posted on February 13, 2008The Washington Post reports: As icy weather descended on the region late yesterday, Maryland gave voters an extra 90 minutes to reach the polls, while Virginia and the District shut down on time. ... In Maryland, after receiving complaints about...
Washington State: GOP resume counting, McCain still ahead
Posted on February 12, 2008The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports: John McCain is still narrowly winning Saturday's Republican presidential caucuses, state GOP Chairman Luke Esser said late Monday. The overall numbers shifted little in the latest count with 96 percent of precincts reporting, although Esser said...
As the nation prepares for the 2008 election, a new study reveals that many states are routinely failing to offer low-income Americans an opportunity to register to vote as required by the federal National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Unequal Access: Ne
Posted on February 12, 2008From a press release by Project Vote: As the nation prepares for the 2008 election, a new study reveals that many states are routinely failing to offer low-income Americans an opportunity to register to vote as required by the federal...
Washington State: Huckabee may challenge caucus count (or lack of it)
Posted on February 11, 2008Reuters reports: Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Monday challenged the results of his party's weekend caucus in Washington state, where he ran a close second to likely Republican nominee John McCain. The Huckabee campaign said it was exploring all...
Ohio: local officials resist order for optional paper ballots
Posted on February 11, 2008The New York Times reports: Ohio’s effort to clean up its voting system before the presidential primary on March 4 has pitted state election leaders against local officials over an order to provide a paper ballot to any voter who...
Washington State: Huckabee wants all the votes counted
Posted on February 11, 2008Fox News reports: Mike Huckabee is challenging the results of the Washington state Republican caucuses, his campaign announced Sunday, after accusing the state party chairman of calling the election for John McCain before all the votes were counted. The campaign...
Alabama: a "glorified stenography service"
Posted on February 10, 2008Mooncat writes on Left in Alabama (and quotes the Montgomery Advertiser): Alabama's campaign finance laws are set up to hide the money trail. There are few limitations on contributions and those contributions are often laundered by unlimited money transfers from...
Michigan: woulda, coulda, shoulda, and maybe
Posted on February 09, 2008The Washington Post reports: The clever people in Michigan who decided to get into a game of chicken with New Hampshire last fall over the timing of their Democratic primary should be having second thoughts this weekend. Had Michigan Democrats...
Potomac Primary: IO, IO, it's off to vote we go
Posted on February 09, 2008The Washington Post reports: Adam Bigenho, tech guy for the Montgomery County Board of Elections, spent part of yesterday training election judges how to match up computer plugs at polling places Monday night as they prepare for the next day's...
Super-delegates probably will decide the nomination
Posted on February 07, 2008Marty Lederman writes on Balkinization: According to the Obama campaign, he won 845 of the 1671 pledged delegates last night, to Senator Clinton's 836. This appears to be roughly consistent, give or take a few delegates, with others' estimates, as...
Another pro-Democratic 527
Posted on February 04, 2008The Top of the Ticket blog of the LA Times reports: Here comes Big George again. Billionaire George Soros is weighing in heavily with more cash, delivering $2.5 million to a new political organization called Fund for America. According to...
Bloomberg will try to get on 15 states' ballots
Posted on February 04, 2008AP reports: Michael Bloomberg may soon begin a massive operation to get on the ballot in up to 15 states even though the billionaire mayor may not decide until May whether to run for president, according to associates. Despite John...
SuperDelegates.org
Posted on February 03, 2008Rick Klau writes on his eponymous blog: It’s looking increasingly likely that the race for a nominee in the Democratic party will take some time to settle out… and the “super delegates” may actually have a hand in deciding who...
Alabama: voter registration up by 58,000 in 3 months
Posted on February 02, 2008The Birmingham News reports: Alabama voter rolls swelled by nearly 60,000 in the three months leading up to next week's Super Tuesday presidential primaries. Perhaps fired up by a flurry of visits by presidential hopefuls, frenzied voter registration drives and...
Alabama: updated article on Jefferson County ruling
Posted on February 02, 2008The Birmingham News reports: A Jefferson County judge declined to act Friday on an emergency request to block officials from certifying the votes in Tuesday's special election for the Jefferson County District 1 commission seat. In a four-page order, Circuit...
"Irregularities" at the RNC
Posted on February 02, 2008The Washington Post's The Trail blog reports: The FBI has been notified and asked to investigate allegations of financial fraud at a fund-raising arm of the House Republicans, capping a week of bad news for the beleaguered minority party. In...
Alabama: Speaker to push 2 campaign-finance bills early in session
Posted on February 01, 2008The Birmingham News reports: The leader of the state House of Representatives said Thursday that he will ask House members next week to quickly pass five bills dealing with ethics and campaign finance, to kick off what he hopes will...
Alabama: Jefferson County may end up with too many commissioners
Posted on February 01, 2008The Birmingham News reports: Jefferson County residents in District 1 could have two commissioners claiming a right to represent them after Tuesday's election for the commission seat. The scenario hinges on several variables, including the outcome of the election and...
Alabama: state judge refuses request to stop special commission election [court docs attached]
Posted on February 01, 2008The Birmingham News website reports: A Jefferson County judge Friday afternoon did not decide on an emergency request to block officials from canvassing the votes in Tuesday's special election for the Jefferson County District 1 commission seat. In a four-page...
"Money matters, but it doesn't decide"
Posted on February 01, 2008AP reports: Money helped winnow the presidential field. It hasn't determined who each party's nominee will be. Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton have proven to be mega-fundraisers, operating at near parity in their own stratosphere. Each raised $100...
Human Rights Watch criticizes Western governments for allowing show elections by other counties
Posted on February 01, 2008The New York Times reports: The advocacy group Human Rights Watch on Thursday said that the Bush administration was giving lip service to the promotion of democracy around the world by endorsing suspect elections while allowing human rights violations in...
Symposium on Electoral College Reform
Posted on January 31, 2008The Michigan Law Review’s companion journal First Impressions today published an online symposium on Recent Proposals for Electoral College Reform. Several proposals for changing the manner in which electoral votes are assigned have been increasingly debated since the 2008 presidential...
Obama can't stop them, so they help him
Posted on January 30, 2008The New York Times reports: After months of denouncing the influence of special-interest money in politics, Senator Barack Obama is nonetheless entering a critical phase of the presidential campaign benefiting from millions of dollars being spent outside campaign finance rules...
Alabama: early voting heavy in two Mardi Gras counties
Posted on January 30, 2008AP reports: The turnout Wednesday by voters in Mobile County may signal a lively ballot battle statewide Feb. 5 in the tightened Democratic and Republican presidential primary fields. Mobile County Democratic Chairman Brad Warren said he was impressed with Wednesday's...
West Virginia: Senate committee kills National Popular Vote
Posted on January 30, 2008The Register-Herald reports: An attempt to lead West Virginia into a new era of voting for president by tying the hands of electors to the popular vote got nowhere Tuesday with the Senate Judiciary Committee. For nearly 45 minutes, senators...
Tennessee: DOJ and State reach UOCAVA agreement
Posted on January 30, 2008From a press release by DOJ: The Justice Department today announced that it has reached an agreement with Tennessee officials to help ensure that military servicemembers and other U.S. citizens living overseas have an opportunity to participate fully in the...
Virginia: bill to create independent redistricting commission approved in Senate committee
Posted on January 30, 2008The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports: Boosted by support from Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, a bill to create an independent redistricting commission sailed through a Senate committee yesterday. Currently, the parties that control the state...
Maryland: Wynn alleges Edwards coordinating her campaign with other groups
Posted on January 30, 2008The Washington Post reports: The campaign of U.S. Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D-Md.) filed a complaint yesterday with the Federal Election Commission, alleging that his leading primary opponent has illegally coordinated her campaign efforts with independent organizations that support her...
Reform Institute issues report on presidential-candidate ballot-access rules
Posted on January 30, 2008From a Reform Institute press release: Raising large sums of money, building an organization and attracting grassroots support are among the many challenges facing those who seek the highest office in the land. However, one of the greatest obstacles to...
Florida: DOJ observers in Broward today
Posted on January 29, 2008The Miami Herald reports: The Justice Department will be monitoring the presidential primary election in Broward on Tuesday to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act. Justice Department personnel will monitor polling place activities in Broward...
Ohio: ACLU sues to block touch-screens (court docs linked)
Posted on January 29, 2008UPI reports: A rights group filed a legal challenge on voting technology to be used in and around Cleveland in the March 4 presidential primary elections. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio filed the challenge Monday in U.S. District...
California: Wanted -- unmotivated, suspicious voters
Posted on January 29, 2008The New York Times reports: The conventional political wisdom in delegate-rich California is that the roughly three million registered voters without a party affiliation are ripe for the picking by the Democratic candidates for president. Democrats began allowing independents to...
Alabama: historic win by black candidate
Posted on January 29, 2008The Cullman Times reports: Democrats appear to be headed for a historic win by James Fields in the Alabama House District 12 special election With 20 of 38 precincts reporting, Fields leads his Republican opponent, Wayne Willingham, with 1,929 votes....
Texas: film on voter I.D. fight
Posted on January 29, 2008Gerry Hebert emails: The Lone Star Project in DC has produced this 12 and a half minute video on the fight over the voter ID bill in Texas during the 2007 legislative session. It is a tribute to the courage...
"Low complexity wins elections"
Posted on January 28, 2008The Washington Post reports: Mitt Romney wants to round up 12 million illegal immigrants and deport them. John Edwards wants to put an end to lobbyists. All the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates rail against the ways of Washington. The...
"Races Entering Complex Phase Over Delegates"
Posted on January 28, 2008The New York Times reports: The presidential campaign is entering a new phase as Democratic and Republican candidates move beyond state-by-state competition and into a potentially protracted scramble for delegates Congressional district by Congressional district...
Scotland: Vote-counting firm refuses to appear before Scottish parliamentary committee
Posted on January 27, 2008The Sunday Herald reports: THE FIRM that provided the e-counting technology at last year's botched Holyrood election is refusing to appear before a parliamentary inquiry into the fiasco. DRS, which supplied the equipment for scanning and reading the ballot papers,...
Alabama: federal court clarifies its order on Riley's appointment of Jefferson County Commissioner [court docs attached]
Posted on January 26, 2008The Birmingham News reports: Three federal judges who ruled Gov. Bob Riley needed federal approval before naming a Jefferson County Commission replacement issued a clarification Friday outlining how long appointee George Bowman can remain in the position...
Michigan: Feiger to get recusal information in his campaign finance trial
Posted on January 25, 2008The Detroit News reports: A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Justice Department to tell indicted Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger why U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy and two of his top officials disqualified themselves from overseeing Fieger s criminal investigation...
North Carolina: federal court hears GOP arguments to stop legislative primaries
Posted on January 25, 2008AP reports: Elections must be delayed in North Carolina because boundaries for dozens of state House and Senate voting districts are unconstitutional, a lawyer representing a group of Republican voters told federal judges Friday. The voters' lawsuit accuses state lawmakers...
Colorado: governor calls for all-paper election
Posted on January 24, 2008The Daily Sentinel reports: Gov. Bill Ritter asked lawmakers Wednesday to require counties to conduct the 2008 election using paper ballots so that the election will be secure. “We have a bipartisan agreement struck in the Legislature that would take...
Florida: DOJ approves 3 laws tightening voter I.D. requirements
Posted on January 24, 2008The St. Petersburg Times reports: Six days before Florida's statewide presidential preference primary, the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday approved three recent changes to state election laws and took no action on a fourth because it is the subject...
Alabama: Riley likely to appeal federal court ruling on power to appoint Jefferson County commissioner (court doc attached)
Posted on January 24, 2008The Birmingham News reports: Gov. Bob Riley on Wednesday said he likely will appeal a ruling by a panel of three federal judges that said Riley needed approval from the U.S. Justice Department to appoint George Bowman to the Jefferson...
Ohio: county elections board revokes prosecutor's voter registration because of non-residency
Posted on January 24, 2008The Coshocton Tribune reports: The Morgan County Board of Elections has determined Prosecutor Rick Welch is not a qualified elector and his right to vote in the county has been revoked. Now the acting county prosecutor will be reviewing whether...
Super Tuesday may not turn out so great
Posted on January 24, 2008Jeff Greenfield writes on Slate.com: Remember all the lamentations, the rending of garments, the gnashing of teeth over the outsize power of two small, unrepresentative states over the presidential nomination process? Well, never mind. It turns out that the apparent...
Georgia: Obama asks for investigation of pro-Obama robo-calls
Posted on January 23, 2008AP reports: The heated racial politics in the Feb. 5 Democratic primary in Georgia just got turned up a notch. Barack Obama's campaign has asked Georgia's attorney general to investigate anonymous "robocalls" made to Atlanta-area residents taking aim at Rep...
UK: Electoral Commission admits "weakness"
Posted on January 23, 2008The Herald reports: The Electoral Commission has admitted fundamental weaknesses in its ability to probe allegations of illegal donations to political parties. An official document seen by The Herald shows that detailed procedures and guidance on how investigations should be...
Alabama: "Let my people vote" campaign
Posted on January 23, 2008WSFA TV reports: An organization working to restore the voting rights of ex-felons is touring the state. On Tuesday, the Let My People Vote Campaign stopped in Montgomery to get their message out. For the past five years the Let...
New York: Port Chester at-large system violates Voting Rights Act [updated: court docs attached]
Posted on January 23, 2008The Auburn Citizen reports: A suburban village has been violating the Voting Rights Act by using an election system that leaves its rapidly growing Hispanic population without representation, a federal judge said Tuesday. The decision against Port Chester, on the...
Alabama: federal court rules, Governor must seek preclearance in order to appoint a commissioner in Jefferson County (news story)
Posted on January 23, 2008The Birmingham News reports: A three-judge panel ruled Tuesday that Gov. Bob Riley should have obtained federal approval before filling the Jefferson County Commission's District 1 seat, but the judges did not immediately remove his appointee, George Bowman, from office...
Alabama: four amicus briefs filed on Governor's side in Section 5 Supreme Court appeal (court docs attached) [updated]
Posted on January 22, 2008Two Four amicus briefs have been filed today supporting Gov. Riley's position in Riley v. Kennedy, a Section 5 case. More later. You can download the briefs here: Thernstrom brief , Project on Fair Representation, Charles Fried brief, and the...
Alabama: fed court rules, Governor must seek preclearance in order to appoint a commissioner in Jefferson County (court docs attached)
Posted on January 22, 2008The 3-judge district court has ruled for the plaintiff in Plump v. Riley. More on this later. Disclosure: Jim Blacksher and I represent the plaintiff in this case. The opinion and judgment are attached....
North Carolina: NAACP protests GOP lawsuit to force legislative re-redistricting
Posted on January 22, 2008The Daily Tar Heel reports: The N.C. NAACP is protesting a lawsuit that seeks to make North Carolina comply with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, claiming the suit undermines the act's intent. The lawsuit, filed by a group of...
North Carolina: GOP sues for re-redistricting of legislative districts (court docs attached)
Posted on January 22, 2008AP reports: It's another election season and North Carolina voters could again be confused by a redistricting lawsuit that alleges state legislative boundaries drawn by the General Assembly are illegal. If a federal three-judge panel in New Bern sides this...
Florida: MLK Unity Breakfast honors Gov. Crist
Posted on January 22, 2008The Miami Herald reports: As the nation celebrated the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s quest for justice, Gov. Charlie Crist was honored Monday for reforming state clemency rules and helping the family of Martin Lee Anderson, the black teenager who...
Mississippi: "it was time for me to get out of my comfort zone"
Posted on January 22, 2008CentralOhio.com reports: Mississippi was a brutal place in the civil-rights era of the 1960s, from the perspective of two veterans of the movement who were there -- Flonzie Goodloe Brown-Wright and Hellen O Neal-McCray. They shared their experiences Monday morning...
Florida: felons' voting rights restored, but with long delays
Posted on January 22, 2008NPR's All Things Considered reports: Shortly after he was elected a year ago, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist pushed through changes that make it easier for released felons to get their civil rights restored. That process, though, has left many dissatisfied...
Nevada: Clinton and Obama trade charges of infractions in caucuses
Posted on January 21, 2008The Trail blog of the Washington Post reports: Apparently the adage "whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" doesn't apply to politics. Tensions between the Obama and Clinton campaigns escalated today when officials traded charges about conduct on the ground...
Over there: Democrats Abroad to hold Internet primary
Posted on January 21, 2008AP reports: This year, for the first time, expatriate Democrats can cast their ballots on the Internet in a presidential primary for people living outside the United States. Democrats Abroad, an official branch of the party representing overseas voters, will...
Arizona: Dems accuse Shadegg of violating campaign finance laws
Posted on January 21, 2008The Arizona Republic reports: The Arizona Democratic Party is accusing Republican U.S. Rep. John Shadegg of using his political-action committee to skirt laws that limit the amount of money donors can give a candidate. Democrats say they have drafted a...
Nevada: federal court refuses to shut down at-large caucus sites
Posted on January 18, 2008The Washington Post reports: A federal judge on Thursday refused to shut down nine casino-based sites for Saturday's caucuses, delivering a victory to Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in what has become an increasingly bitter Democratic contest here. U.S. District Judge...
Ohio: ACLU sues to require counting OCR ballots in precincts
Posted on January 18, 2008The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports: The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio filed a lawsuit Thursday to block Cuyahoga County's switch to a paper ballot voting system for the March 4 primary election. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court...
Alabama: RIP Prince Albert Jones Sr.
Posted on January 18, 2008The Montgomery Advertiser reports: Prince Albert Jones Sr. never lived more than five miles from where he was born in the rural Montgomery County community of Mathews. A farmer by trade, the 91-year-old Jones was among the first black landowners...
Florida: 11th Circuit hears argument on SSN-matching
Posted on January 18, 2008AP reports: Tens of thousands of Floridians will be barred from voting in the 2008 national election if a state voter registration law is allowed to go back into effect, lawyers for minority groups said Friday. In a hearing before...
New York: Scotus says, no right to a "fair shot" at judgeship nomination
Posted on January 17, 2008The New York Times reports: The challenge to New York’s method for choosing candidates to run in judicial elections ended in failure at the United States Supreme Court on Wednesday when not a single justice accepted the plaintiffs’ claim that...
New York: court approves plan to bring state into HAVA compliance
Posted on January 16, 2008AP reports: A judge who had threatened to jail elections officials Wednesday approved the state's plan for bringing New York into compliance with federal voting law by making it easier for disabled voters to cast ballots. New York is years...
Nevada: more background on the caucus lawsuit
Posted on January 16, 2008AP reports: A last-minute federal court battle over caucus rules demonstrates just how important a tight three-way Democratic presidential contest in Nevada has become in the battle for momentum headed into Super Tuesday's votes. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and...
Alabama: federal court hears arguments on Governor's appointment of Jefferson County Commissioner
Posted on January 16, 2008The Birmingham News reports: Two people might be able to stake a claim to the Jefferson County Commission's District 1 seat after an election scheduled Feb. 5 if a three-judge panel doesn't intervene, attorneys said after a federal court hearing...
Michigan: few Dem crossover voters in GOP primary
Posted on January 16, 2008The Detroit News reports: Fears of a large crossover vote deciding the contentious Republican primary didn't materialize. The electorate in the GOP contest was predominantly Republican, about one-quarter independent and less than 10 percent Democratic, according to National Election Pool...
Important Public Health Announcement
Posted on January 16, 2008Even though the video "Why Don't We Do it in Our Sleeves?" is funny, it contains a serious message about not spreading germs from coughing and sneezing. Spend 5 minutes being educated and amused....
Mississippi: judge rules, primary must be held within 90 days
Posted on January 14, 2008The Clarion-Ledger reports: A Hinds County Circuit judge ruled today that Gov. Haley Barbour exceeded his constitutional authority by setting the special election to replace former U.S. Sen. Trent Lott for November. ... DeLaughter voided Barbour's proclamation that scheduled the...
Nevada: judge says, let Kucinich in
Posted on January 14, 2008AP reports: A Nevada judge said Monday that Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich must be included in Tuesday's candidates' debate in Nevada. ... The judge sided with a lawyer for the Ohio congressman, who says debate host MSNBC at first....
I'm glad to find out what we election lawyers are good for
Posted on January 14, 2008Allen Raymond, author of "How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative," writes on TPM Cafe: As a Republican campaign operative at the Republican National Committee it was drilled into me that election law attorneys serve the purpose...
Michigan and Nevada: open primaries cause mischief
Posted on January 14, 2008The assignment for today is to read the following two posts and write a paragraph comparing and contrasting the efforts to get "crossover voters" in the two primaries. Adam B writes on Daily Kos: Well, it seems like our site's...
Alabama: Governor files his opening brief in Section 5 case in Supreme Court
Posted on January 14, 2008Gov. Bob Riley has filed his opening brief in Riley v. Kennedy, No. 07-7, in the U.S. Supreme Court. You may download the file here....
Michigan: DOJ objects to closure of Secretary of State office in ... BuenaVista Township
Posted on January 14, 2008The Saginaw News reported on 27 December: Backers of the secretary of state office in Buena Vista Township are declaring a "huge win for the community" after a federal opinion that appears to derail state plans to close the branch....
Nevada: Obama attacks the source of his woes -- "a bunch of lawyers"
Posted on January 14, 2008The Caucus blog of the New York Times reports: At a rally this afternoon, Senator Barack Obama questioned the timing and legitimacy of a lawsuit that had been filed here seeking to prevent caucuses from being held Saturday in nine...
Campaigns chase mail-in ballots
Posted on January 14, 2008The New York Times reports: The first Tuesday in February, when 22 states hold primaries, may turn out to be the biggest day of the presidential campaign. But for many voters, half or more in some states, the polling place...
Another test re the presidential candidates
Posted on January 13, 2008Have you heard of the "implicit association test"? If not, get a bit of background on it at this site. You can take a quick (about 10 minutes) test to test your implicit associations between the main presidential candidates of...
Nevada; Nevada Teachers sue to stop at-large caucus sites inside resorts
Posted on January 12, 2008The New York Times reports: Nevada’s state teachers union and six Las Vegas area residents filed a lawsuit late Friday that could make it harder for many members of the state’s huge hotel workers union to vote in the hotly...
Rs vs. Ds -- interesting findings
Posted on January 11, 2008Law Librarian Blog quotes Gallup.com: "Republicans are significantly more likely than Democrats or independents to rate their mental health as excellent according to data from the last four November Gallup Health and Healthcare polls. Fifty-eight percent of Republicans report having...
Changes at DOJ Voting Section
Posted on January 11, 2008Paul Kiel writes on TPM Muckraker: The changes keep on coming in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Less than a month ago, former voting section chief John "minorities don't become elderly the way white people do: They die first"...
Forget eHarmony, got to VoteMatch
Posted on January 11, 2008Find Your Candidate: VoteMatch - TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime Jeralyn writes on TalkLeft: Courtesy of the Dutch, you can answer a quick 25 questions and find the top Democrat (or Republican) that most closely matches your positions on issues...
Mississppi: Governor responds to AG's lawsuit re Senatorial election
Posted on January 10, 2008Alan Lange writes on Y'all Politics (and provides copies of the relevant pleadings): On January 9, Governor Barbour's legal team unleashed a load of legal documents and answers in Hinds County Circuit Court for the lawsuit that Attorney General Jim...
"Voter ID Laws Are Set to Face a Crucial Test"
Posted on January 08, 2008The New York Times reports: In April 2006, a federal judge upheld Indiana’s law on voter identification, the strictest in the nation, saying there was no evidence that it would prevent any voter from having his ballot counted. But on...
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