Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Institution
-
- University of Michigan Law School (4)
- Cleveland State University (3)
- Saint Louis University School of Law (3)
- University of Colorado Law School (2)
- California Western School of Law (1)
-
- Columbia Law School (1)
- Golden Gate University School of Law (1)
- Loyola University Chicago, School of Law (1)
- Northwestern Pritzker School of Law (1)
- Notre Dame Law School (1)
- St. John's University School of Law (1)
- University at Buffalo School of Law (1)
- University of Kentucky (1)
- University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law (1)
- University of Massachusetts School of Law (1)
- University of Miami Law School (1)
- Wayne State University (1)
- William & Mary Law School (1)
- Keyword
-
- Voting (7)
- Elections (5)
- African Americans (4)
- Minorities (4)
- Race and law (4)
-
- Voting Rights Act (4)
- Congress (3)
- Constitutional violations (3)
- Discrimination (3)
- Election law (3)
- Preclearance (3)
- Racial discrimination (3)
- Remedial regimes (3)
- United States Supreme Court (3)
- Voting rights (3)
- Direct democracy (2)
- Ohio (2)
- Voting machines (2)
- Voting practices (2)
- 2006 elections (1)
- 527 (1)
- Apportionment (1)
- Article XLVIII (1)
- Assembly Committee on Elections and Redistricting (1)
- Authority (1)
- Ballot question (1)
- Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) (1)
- Bush v. gore (1)
- Campaign Finance (1)
- Campaign finance regulation (1)
Articles 1 - 26 of 26
Full-Text Articles in Law
Selecting The President: A Bad Idea Out There In California, Robert W. Bennett
Selecting The President: A Bad Idea Out There In California, Robert W. Bennett
NULR Online
No abstract provided.
Section 7: Election Law, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School
Section 7: Election Law, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School
Supreme Court Preview
No abstract provided.
Documentation Assessment Of The Diebold Voting System, S. Candice Hoke, Dave Kettyle
Documentation Assessment Of The Diebold Voting System, S. Candice Hoke, Dave Kettyle
Law Faculty Reports and Comments
The California Secretary of State commissioned a comprehensive, independent evaluation of the electronic voting systems certified for use within the State. This team, working as part of the “Top to Bottom” Review (“TTBR”), evaluated the documentation supplied by Diebold Election System, Inc.
Collaborative Public Audit Of The November 2006 General Election, S. Candice Hoke, Collaborative Audit Committee
Collaborative Public Audit Of The November 2006 General Election, S. Candice Hoke, Collaborative Audit Committee
Law Faculty Reports and Comments
We hope that this Audit Report will assist the Ohio Secretary of State, all Ohio local Boards of Election, election reform organizations, and other election officials nationwide in seeing how an independent audit process can be created and function at the local level. Additionally, we hope the public will recognize that this Report contains the kind of information that all election administrative agencies need to better achieve the public charge for producing accurate election results and to facilitate sound improvements in election administrative practices.
Testimony Before The U.S. House Of Representatives, Elections Subcommittee Of The House Administration Committee, Concerning The Importance Of Independent Post-Election Auditing And Reviewing Impediments To Election Auditing And Greater Transparency., Candice Hoke
Law Faculty Presentations and Testimony
Mandatory election audits are a critical step for restoring public confidence in the electoral system and for learning what problems exist (in equipment, systems, and personnel) so that they might be effectively corrected. Unfortunately, the promise of auditing will be severely undermined if the federal auditing entity lacks independence from the election administrative authority. Secretaries of State can play a number of crucial additional roles that will facilitate efficient and effective election audits, but because of the appearance of conflicts of interest should not be supervising and conducting federal audits. The federal audit effort will be greatly enhanced if the …
Democracy's Harvest: Resources For Massachusetts Voters' Initiatives And Referendums, Spencer E. Clough
Democracy's Harvest: Resources For Massachusetts Voters' Initiatives And Referendums, Spencer E. Clough
Faculty Publications
Massachusetts initiatives and referendums, based upon a lengthy and complicated constitutional amendment, present legal and historical researchers with a number of questions and issues to resolve. This review of the resources on initiatives and referendums attempts to provide guidance for these researchers, while provoking critical thinking about issues past, present, and future.
Assembly Committee On Elections And Redistricting Summary Of Legislation 2007, Assembly Committee On Elections And Redistricting
Assembly Committee On Elections And Redistricting Summary Of Legislation 2007, Assembly Committee On Elections And Redistricting
California Assembly
No abstract provided.
Election Fraud And The Initiative Process: A Study Of The 2006 Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, Jocelyn Benson
Election Fraud And The Initiative Process: A Study Of The 2006 Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, Jocelyn Benson
Law Faculty Research Publications
No abstract provided.
Political Advocacy And Taxable Entities: Are They The Next "Loophole"?, Donald B. Tobin
Political Advocacy And Taxable Entities: Are They The Next "Loophole"?, Donald B. Tobin
Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Taking Voting Rights Seriously: Race And The Integrity Of Democracy In America., Steven A. Ramirez
Taking Voting Rights Seriously: Race And The Integrity Of Democracy In America., Steven A. Ramirez
Faculty Publications & Other Works
No abstract provided.
How To Think About Voter Fraud (And Why), Chad Flanders
How To Think About Voter Fraud (And Why), Chad Flanders
All Faculty Scholarship
In recent months, debates over voter fraud have consumed state legislatures and blogs, courts and election commissions. The prevailing way of framing that debate has been in terms of numbers and statistics: how much voter fraud is there, and does the amount of voter fraud justify new measures to prevent it? In my essay, I argue for a shift away from statistical analysis and towards normative discourse. Only if we understand why (and whether) voter fraud is bad will we be able to decisively settle debates about what should be done about it, if anything.
The first part of my …
Bush V. Gore And The Uses Of 'Limiting', Chad Flanders
Bush V. Gore And The Uses Of 'Limiting', Chad Flanders
All Faculty Scholarship
My comment looks at the debate in the 6th Circuit case Stewart v. Blackwell in light of the history of the use of "limiting language" by the Supreme Court. I catalog the Court's past uses of limiting language, and distinguish between the Court's several uses of limiting language. Against those who defend the limiting language of Bush v. Gore as simply an example of innocuous minimalism, I report my findings that "limiting" is always used by the Court to nullify a principle that decided a previous case. Additionally, the Court has never, prior to Bush, used limiting language to limit …
Ensuring That Florida's Language Minorities Have Access To The Ballot, Jonel Newman
Ensuring That Florida's Language Minorities Have Access To The Ballot, Jonel Newman
Articles
No abstract provided.
Not Like The South? Regional Variation And Political Participation Through The Lens Of Section 2, Ellen D. Katz
Not Like The South? Regional Variation And Political Participation Through The Lens Of Section 2, Ellen D. Katz
Book Chapters
Congress voted last summer to reauthorize the expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act. Among the reauthorized provisions is the Section 5 preclearance process, which requires "covered" jurisdictions to obtain federal approval before implementing changes to their voting laws. It is widely assumed that the reauthorization of Section 5 will survive constitutional scrutiny only if the record Congress amassed to support the statute documents pervasive unconstitutional conduct in covered jurisdictions for which preclearance offers a remedy. This paper takes issue with that assumption, arguing that precedent requiring such a record for new congressional legislation enforcing civil rights ought not apply …
Reviving The Right To Vote, Ellen D. Katz
Reviving The Right To Vote, Ellen D. Katz
Articles
Losers in partisan districting battles have long challenged the resulting districting plans under seemingly unrelated legal doctrines. They have filed lawsuits alleging malapportionment, racial gerrymandering, and racial vote dilution, and they periodically prevail. Many election law scholars worry about these lawsuits, claiming that they needlessly "racialize" fundamentally political disputes, distort important legal doctrines designed for other purposes, and provide an inadequate remedy for a fundamentally distinct electoral problem. I am not convinced. This Article argues that the application of distinct doctrines to invalidate or diminish what are indisputably partisan gerrymanders is not necessarily problematic, and that the practice may well …
White Challengers, Black Majorities: Reconciling Competition In Majority-Minority Districts With The Promise Of The Voting Rights Act, Janai S. Nelson
White Challengers, Black Majorities: Reconciling Competition In Majority-Minority Districts With The Promise Of The Voting Rights Act, Janai S. Nelson
Faculty Publications
Majority-minority districts have been the subject of extensive, and often rancorous, critique and debate. In their prime, these districts nearly single-handedly changed the face of American politics by enabling racial minorities to elect their preferred candidates who reflected both their interests and identity. However, precisely at the point when these districts achieve an optimal balance of majority and minority populations and host multi-candidate competition, they reveal a frailty that not only thwarts their immediate purpose but contradicts both the express and implicit goals of their source: The Voting Rights Act of 1965. Majority-minority districts possess an inherent limitation that contradicts …
Kentucky 2006 Judicial Elections, William H. Fortune, Al Cross
Kentucky 2006 Judicial Elections, William H. Fortune, Al Cross
Law Faculty Scholarly Articles
This Article is a short report on the impact of Republican Party of Minnesota v. White on the 2006 Kentucky judicial campaigns and elections. The series of events leading up to the 2006 elections can be traced to at least 1988.
While the Kentucky Judicial Campaign Conduct Committee (KJCCC) cannot claim a great impact on Kentucky's 2006 judicial elections, the authors of this Article believe that the committee played a positive role. For the most part, judicial candidates campaigned in a dignified and ethical manner, and refrained from running on issues that might strike a chord with the electorate. Judicial …
Solving The ‘Initiatory Construction’ Puzzle (And Improving Direct Democracy) By Appropriate Refocusing On Sponsor Intent, Glenn Smith
Faculty Scholarship
This Article synthesizes and critiques a dozen years of scholarship about judicial construction of legislation passed by voter initiative. The Article then makes a comprehensive case for an alternative approach: an appropriately enhanced focus on the intent of initiative sponsors. More specifically, the Article validates, through analysis of recent California decisions, a longstanding scholarly consensus that the prevailing judicial search for "the intent of the voters" is seriously flawed. The Article provides the first synthesis to date of reform proposals offered by "initiatory-construction" scholars; the discussion contends that these proposals collectively fail four key evaluation criteria. Building on the 2003 …
Deliberative Dilemmas: A Critique Of Deliberation Day From The Perspective Of Election Law, Chad Flanders
Deliberative Dilemmas: A Critique Of Deliberation Day From The Perspective Of Election Law, Chad Flanders
All Faculty Scholarship
My paper deals with two subject areas - deliberative democracy theory and election law - that have had surprisingly little contact with another. My paper tries to remedy this lacuna by looking at how the two fields intersect and can contribute to the understanding of one another. In particular, I look in detail at a particularly prominent proposal by two political theorists, Bruce Ackerman and James Fishkin's Deliberation Day, and how the aims of that proposal might be frustrated by the present structure of American election law. I argue that because they fail to take into account certain structural features …
What Is "Fair" Partisan Representation, And How Can It Be Constitutionalized? The Case For A Return To Fixed Election Districts, James A. Gardner
What Is "Fair" Partisan Representation, And How Can It Be Constitutionalized? The Case For A Return To Fixed Election Districts, James A. Gardner
Journal Articles
A recent outpouring of public and academic criticism of gerrymandering raises difficult questions about when and under what circumstances the representation of political parties and their supporters can be considered fair. The difficulty is not, as Justice Kennedy recently suggested, that we lack consensual standards for evaluating the fairness of partisan representation. Such standards exist, but they tend to be subverted by the use of territorial districts. This occurs routinely because party and territory are conflicting and for the most part incommensurable principles upon which to found a system of legislative representation. The real question raised by gerrymandering is therefore …
Mission Accomplished?, Ellen D. Katz
Mission Accomplished?, Ellen D. Katz
Articles
My study of voting rights violations nationwide suggests that voting problems are more prevalent in places “covered” by the Act than elsewhere. Professor Persily’s careful and measured defense of the renewed statute posits that this evidence is the best available to support reauthorization. The evidence matters because if, as critics charge, the regional provisions of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) are no longer needed, minority voters should confront fewer obstacles to political participation in places where additional federal safeguards protect minority interests than in places where these safeguards do not operate. In fact, minority voters confront more.
Wrtl And Randall: The Roberts Court And The Unsettling Of Campaign Finance Law, Richard Briffault
Wrtl And Randall: The Roberts Court And The Unsettling Of Campaign Finance Law, Richard Briffault
Faculty Scholarship
The first term of the Roberts Court was a potentially pivotal moment in campaign finance law. The Court both broke its pattern of deference to federal and state regulations that had marked the last half-dozen years and began to take a more critical approach to campaign finance restrictions. In Randall v. Sorrell, the Court struck down a Vermont law that sought to limit expenditures and to lower contributions in state and local elections. The expenditure restriction decision was no surprise, as it essentially reaffirmed the Court's rejection of expenditure limits in Buckley v. Valeo three decades ago. But the …
The Much Maligned 527 And Institutional Choice, Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer
The Much Maligned 527 And Institutional Choice, Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer
Journal Articles
The continuing controversy over 527 organizations has led Congress to impose extensive disclosure requirements on these political organizations and to consider imposing extensive restrictions on their funding as well. The debate about what laws should govern these entities has, however, so far almost completely ignored the fact that such laws raise a complicated institutional choice question.
This Article seeks to resolve that question by developing a new institutional choice framework to guide this and similar choices. The Article first explores the context for making this determination by describing the current laws governing 527s, including both federal election laws administered by …
Foreword, Richard B. Collins
"Failure To Pay Any Poll Tax Or Other Tax": The Constitutionality Of Tax Felon Disenfranchisement, Sloan G. Speck
"Failure To Pay Any Poll Tax Or Other Tax": The Constitutionality Of Tax Felon Disenfranchisement, Sloan G. Speck
Publications
If the government convicts a citizen under the tax evasion provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, some state disenfranchisement laws preclude that citizen — now a felon — from voting. In this sense, the right to vote depends on the payment of federal income taxes. The Constitution's Twenty-Fourth Amendment, however, guarantees that the federal franchise “shall not be denied or abridged... by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.” If “other tax” includes income taxes, the text of the Twenty-fourth Amendment appears to prohibit the disenfranchisement of citizens convicted of tax felonies. This Comment argues that …
Congressional Power To Extend Preclearance: A Response To Professor Karlan, Ellen D. Katz
Congressional Power To Extend Preclearance: A Response To Professor Karlan, Ellen D. Katz
Articles
Is the core provision of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional? Many people now think that the Act's preclearance requirement is invalid, but Professor Karlan is not among them. In part, that is because she is not convinced the problems that originally motivated Congress to impose preclearance have been fully remedied. Professor Karlan points out the many ways section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) shapes behavior in the jurisdictions subject to the statute--not just by blocking discriminatory electoral changes, but also by influencing less transparent conduct by various political actors operating in these regions. Do not be so sure, …