Election-Campaign Law

Oklahoma: Libertarians sue for ballot access

Posted on July 19, 2008
The 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, 2008
Raw 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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...

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GOP claims trademark infringement

Posted on July 17, 2008
Politico 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, 2008
AP 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
Salon 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
Capitol 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
Capitol 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, 2008
Heather 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
Doonesbury@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, 2008
The 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, 2008
AP 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, 2008
Six 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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...

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