Law Commons^™

Time To Mail It In? A Survey Of 2020 Voting Rights Issues In Arkansas And Recommendations For More Inclusive Elections, Kim Vu-Dinh

Faculty Scholarship

The highly contagious COVID-19 pandemic, combined with over fifty lawsuits brought by former President Donald Trump, made the general election of 2020 one of the most controversial in the history of the United States. Accusations of voter disenfranchisement proliferated across the nation and were initiated by members of both sides of the political spectrum, even before Election Day. Arkansas was no exception to this rule. In 2020, multiple Arkansas lawsuits highlighted the weaknesses of the state’s voter infrastructure, particularly with regard to the absentee ballot process. Voting-by-mail was particularly important in the pandemic year when long lines became a public …

Voting By Mail: Issues And Resources, Virginia A. Neisler

Law Librarian Scholarship

As the world navigates the worst pandemic in living memory, America has been faced with the prospect of holding a federal presidential election amid a public health crisis. In the spring of 2020, when the coronavirus began to spread rapidly in the United States, election officials in many states opted to extend absentee voting deadlines or postpone elections altogether to reduce the risk of disease transmission. In anticipation of a resurgence of COVID-19 in the fall, the scheduled November election has caused concern for many officials who have searched for potential solutions to make the upcoming presidential election safer.

Election Law Federalism, Justin Weinstein-Tull

Michigan Law Review

This Article provides the first comprehensive account of non-Voting Rights Act federal voting laws. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act—long the most effective voting rights law in American history—was disabled by the Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is in the crosshairs. As the Supreme Court becomes more hostile to race-based antidiscrimination laws like the Voting Rights Act, Congress will turn to race-neutral, election administration-based reforms to strengthen the right to vote. Indeed, many proposals for reform post-Shelby County have taken this form. The federal laws this Article examines—the National Voter …

November Madness: A Proposal For Representative Democracy Brackets To Eliminate The Undue Influence Of Money On Elections, Daniel P. Valentine

Texas A&M Law Review

This Comment proposes Representative Democracy Brackets, a multi-level manner of choosing candidates in which all voters have an equal voice, but which by its structure reduces the effect of mass marketing in favor of a focus on forming and evaluating interpersonal relationships. By implementing Representative Democracy Brackets, a state or the United States can achieve the twin benefits of decreasing the undue effects of political spending and increasing the quality of the resulting decisions. The proposed brackets winnow the pool of voters until it is small enough to make an informed decision.

This Comment defines the problem by reviewing the …

Florida On Trial: Federalism In The 2000 Presidential Election, Jon L. Mills

Jon L. Mills

This article analyzes how Florida's state election laws operated during the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election. The intersection of law and politics in this controversy was critical. Political considerations affected decisions in both the Bush and Gore camps. The aftermath of the 2000 election found the federal government, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the State of Florida (among others) commissioning task forces and committees to investigate and suggest election reforms. Ultimately, the State of Florida passed significant election reform legislation. On May 10, 2001, Florida enacted sweeping election reform legislation entitled the Florida Election Reform Act of …

Bentham & Ballots: Tradeoffs Between Secrecy And Accountability In How We Vote, Allison Hayward

Allison Hayward

The way a group, jurisdiction, or nation votes, and makes decisions binding on their members and citizens, is fundamental and deceptively prosaic. Why do some groups (faculties, Congress, caucuses, HOAs) take public votes in most contexts, accompanied by debate, sometimes heated. Why do others (electorates, labor unions) take private votes (often by ballot cast in a secure setting where “heated debate” is not allowed) in most contexts? Moreover, what should we make of the exceptions to these general forms? This Article will demonstrate that the hybrid mode of voting – non-debated yet non-secret voting such as in contemporary absentee balloting, …

Military Voting And The Law: Procedural And Technological Solutions To The Ballot Transit Problem, R. Michael Alvarez, Thad E. Hall, Brian F. Roberts

Fordham Urban Law Journal

In this Article, we examine how the issue of military voting has changed over time from one beset by procedural difficulties, often intentional with states changing election laws to promote military voting only within a given set of parameters and to restrict voting by those deemed unworthy of the franchise, to a logistical and technological issue that focuses on how new technologies can fully facilitate military voting. Part II of this Article will briefly outline the scope of the military and overseas voting issue. Part III will outline and address the conflicting statutory frameworks between federal and state election laws. …

Election Law, Christopher R. Nolen

University of Richmond Law Review

Advances in Virginia's election law happen incrementally. This year was typical in that regard. While over one hundred bills and resolutions pertaining to elections were introduced in the 2006 Regular Session of the General Assembly, the legislature was judicious in its approval of election related legislation. This article surveys recent developments in Virginia's election laws by focusing on those legislative enactments and judicial decisions that are significant, interesting, or show some developing trend in the area of election law.

The Absentee Ballot And The Secret Ballot: Challenges For Election Reform, John C. Fortier, Norman J. Ornstein

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Reforms in the recently enacted federal election reform legislation primarily address improving voting at a polling place, but there is a growing share of the electorate who vote away from the polling place through increased use of absentee ballots and vote-by-mail systems. Voters who vote away from the polling place do not have the same protections as those at the polling place. In particular, these voters do not have a secret ballot, as any ballot cast without a drawn curtain behind oneself is potentially subject to coercion, vote buying and fraud.

This Article looks at the tension between the Australian …

Florida On Trial: Federalism In The 2000 Presidential Election, Jon L. Mills

UF Law Faculty Publications

This article analyzes how Florida's state election laws operated during the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election. The intersection of law and politics in this controversy was critical. Political considerations affected decisions in both the Bush and Gore camps. The aftermath of the 2000 election found the federal government, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the State of Florida (among others) commissioning task forces and committees to investigate and suggest election reforms.

Ultimately, the State of Florida passed significant election reform legislation. On May 10, 2001, Florida enacted sweeping election reform legislation entitled the Florida Election Reform Act of …

The Submerged Constitutional Right To An Absentee Ballot, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In an attempt to accommodate the growing number of people who cannot be present at the polls on election day, many states and the federal government have enacted statutes that allow voters to cast their ballots in advance of the election either by mail or in person. Eligibility for these absentee ballots is, however, restricted to those voters who fall within the classifications set up by the statute, and occasionally the option is open only to those who wish to vote in general elections. The few court decisions that have reviewed state absentee-ballot legislation, or the lack of such legislation, …

Constitutional Law - Discrimination Against Negroes - Control Of Party Membership, Everett S. Brown

Michigan Law Review

The petitioner, R. R. Grovey, allegedly a citizen of the United States and of Texas, and possessing all the qualifications of a voter, was refused a ballot for a Democratic party primary because he was of the Negro race. Grovey demanded ten dollars damages from the respondent, Albert Townsend, the county clerk, a state officer. The Revised Civil Statutes of Texas provide for primary elections and regulate absentee voting. When Grovey demanded of Townsend an absentee ballot it was refused in virtue of a resolution of the state Democratic convention of Texas, adopted May 24, 1932, as follows:

"Be it …