Legal Commentary

Shameless Ballot Manipulation in Mississippi

By Professor University of Miami School of Law

MS-SEN: Even More Ballot Shenanigans

I wrote yesterday about the breathtaking attempts to fix an election in Mississippi by hiding the Senate race on the ballot in an effort to discourage voters. (See Republicans Acting Like Peronists — Or Maybe Chavezites.)

This ruse is so breathtakingly illegal in a state whose election statute requires the federal elections to come first — in the clearest possible terms — that the attempt seems destined to fail in court (it’s currently enjoined pending a hearing).

But that has not stopped the desperate Republicans, fearing their party’s brand: the latest wheeze is to remove party affiliations from the candidates in the Senate race (just the Senate race, not all of them). And the law appears to be silent on this tactic, so they might get away with it.

Full post as published by Discourse.net on September 10, 2008 (boomark / email).