Three voter fraud cases in Ohio

This is an interesting article discussing the various circumstances under which voted ballots are thrown out. There were surprisingly few ballots thrown out given all the hype before the election. The article also talks about three cases of actual voter fraud in which an non-U.S. citizen voted and two individuals voted in two counties.
www.chroniclet.com/2008/11/20/election-board-reports-three-fraud-cases_122/

The Alaska Senate Race still unresolved 10 days later

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/13/begich-takes-lead-in-alaska-senate-race/

RNC filing campaign finance reform act suit

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/13/rnc-to-file-suits-over-reform-law-championed-by-mccain/

Just because the election is over does not mean the litigation is over.

Record Breaking early voting

http://elections.gmu.edu/early_vote_2008.html

Many areas are already exceeding 50% of the 2004 voting numbers. I've voted. I hope you all have as well.

Voting Rights Act and the 2008 election

The following is an interesting article about the Voting Rights Act and the history of the fourteenth and fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution. It is a good summary of the history we have been studying in class with some additional cases we didn't discuss. Let me know what you think.

http://theusconstitution.org/blog.history/?p=442

Senator Stevens found guilty

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5je6Pw1sViz24JRo9F0PNhoqMtzTwD943JDDO0

AP article discussing verdict and ramifications of Senator Stevens trial.

Supreme Court and Gerrymandering case

www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/10/22/gerrymander-supreme-court-oped-cx_at_1023thernstrom.html

Where the GOP Could get Dirty

Here is an interesting article about voter suppression and the Republican party.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/22/voter_supression_guide/index.html

Are voter fraud fears overblown?

http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2008/10/19/are-voter-fraud-fears-overblown/

What do you think? Even if some of the registrations were fraudulent (e.g., Mickey Mouse), won't that get sorted out when the voters show up to vote. Presumably, the fraudulent registrations won't turn into fraudulent votes especially in the 17 states where newly registered voters must show up with ID.

Speaker on October 21st

Everyone in class is expected to attend the 12:30 -2:00 p.m. talk in ES 313. Attendance at the evening talk is optional. Please post comments with your insights regarding Crayton's presentation.

Western Washington University's Center for Law, Diversity and Justice, Fairhaven College, and the WWU Political Science Department will host a pair of presentations on Tuesday, Oct. 21 on topics with a common theme of elections and social justice.

Both events are free and open to the public, and are co-sponsored by the American Democracy Project; AS Civil Controversy, AS Social Issues and Western Votes.

The presentations, given by Professor Kareem Crayton of the University of Southern California's Gould School of Law, are:

• 12:30-2 p.m., Environmental Science 313 - "A New Day in Racial Politics: Understanding Bartlett vs. Strickland."
• 7-8:30 p.m., Communications Facility 115 - "Hopes and Fears of the 2008 Elections."

Kareem Crayton is an expert specializing on issues related to the intersection of law, politics, and race. His academic work explores redistricting, the political representation of racial minorities, and the emerging democracy in South Africa. At USC Law, he teaches Civil Procedure, Election Law and Comparative Constitutional Law. Crayton also holds an appointment in USC's Department of Political Science, where he teaches the undergraduate courses Civil Rights & Civil Liberties as well as The Politics of the American City. Crayton is also a principal research consultant on the design of a computer website, www.redistrictinggame.com, to educate the public about redistricting reform.

Crayton's graduate work focused on the legal and political effects of the U.S. Supreme Court's controversial "racial gerrymandering" cases on Southern legislatures and electorates in the 1990s. His political science dissertation, entitled "What's New About the New South," considered many of the empirical puzzles associated with these themes.

ACORN & Alleged Voter Fraud

This is an interesting article discussing some of the voter fraud issues we heard about from Chris Shortell this week.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=5984327&page=1

Ad spending by independent groups rises in race’s homestretch

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/07/ad-spending-by-independent-groups-rises-in-race%E2%80%99s-homestretch/

Here is an article about increased advertising by independent 527 groups. These groups circumvent limits on donations to the candidates by buying their own advertising for or against particular parties.

Voter Roll Purges in Wisconsin

http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/press-3397.html

A discussion of the purpose of the Help Americans Vote Act (HAVA) and a challenge of the Wisconsin efforts to purge names from the registered voters list. Wisconsin is attempting to purge registered voters from the list if there name does not exactly match other Wisconsin databases. The Legal Center is opposing this purge in court.

Judges supresses report on voting machine security

I was disappointed to see that the judge refused to require the report to be published. I was looking forward to reading the assessment of whether the the voting machines are secure prior to the November elections. We will be reading about some of the concerns relating to computerized voting in a few week. See the attached article for a preview.

http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/appel/judge-suppresses-report-voting-machine-security

New case addressing Voting Rights Act

http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/588fuhoj.asp

n early October, the Supreme Court will be presented with one of the most important voting rights cases of the last two decades. The case, Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Mukasey, will decide the constitutionality of Section 5 of the recently reauthorized Voting Rights Act. If the plaintiff--a small, residential subdivision of 3,500 people north of Austin, Texas--prevails, racial gerrymandering, among other distortions to our body politic, will be greatly diminished. So it comes as no surprise that these groups--all of them defenders of racial gerrymandering--have joined the fray.

Although the lawsuit is complex, the central issue to be resolved by the justices is whether Section 5, a "temporary" provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, can still be applied today to a handful of mostly southern states and jurisdictions, which include the Austin district.

Christopher Shortell speaks on October 7th

12:30-1:30pm PM Chart Room, Fairhaven Commons, 2nd Floor, Fairhaven College
Race, Class, and Voter IDs in the 2008 Presidential Election
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court upheld an Indiana state law requiring all voters to present ID prior to voting. Though seemingly neutral in their language, voter ID laws have a disparate impact along race and class lines. The Supreme Court's decision could have a significant impact in an election where the Democratic candidate expects to mobilize large numbers of minority voters. This talk will touch on the potential role of the Court's decision in the election as well as using the conflict over voter IDs as a window into how considerations of race and class will influence the strategic calculations of both parties.

2:00-3:20pm Arntzen Hall 219
Bush v. Gore in 2008: Courts, Law, and the Presidential Election
The prominent role of the Supreme Court in the 2000 election surprised many observers who expected the Court to stay out of electoral politics. Courts, however, have been playing an increasing role in election-related litigation as political candidates, parties, and interest groups have turned to the judiciary to resolve disputes about who can vote, how votes should be counted, and who can run. Given the increased rate of election litigation over the last two election cycles, what can we expect in 2008? What areas are litigants focused on and in what ways are courts influencing the outcomes of elections? While the circumstances of Bush v. Gore were unique, the reliance on courts as yet another electoral battlefield is a trend that is not likely to disappear anytime soon

Chris Shortell is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Portland State University. He writes and teaches on the relationship between law and the broader political system, with a particular focus on the interactions between law and society, law and elections, and federalism. His recent publications include Rights, Remedies, and the Impact of State Sovereign Immunity (SUNY Press) and articles in Election Law Journal and Judicature. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego in 2004.

All election law students will be required to attend the 12:30 - 2:30 talk by Dr. Shortell.

During this quarter, the United States will elect its next president. This course will explore current legal issues related to the elections. We will study the basics of federal election law, consider the Voting Rights Act, discuss race, class, and voter identification issues, campaign finance issues, regulating campaign speech, and the continuing ramifications of the Supreme Court's Bush v. Gore (2000) decision.

I look forward to hearing your insights, research, and opinions as we blog together throughout the quarter.