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Articles 1 - 30 of 40
Full-Text Articles in Election Law
Inventing Equal Sovereignty, Leah M. Litman
Inventing Equal Sovereignty, Leah M. Litman
Michigan Law Review
The Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder relied on the “fundamental principle” and “historic tradition” of equal sovereignty to hold one of the Voting Rights Act’s key provisions unconstitutional. Yet almost three years after Shelby County, and despite a recent wave of equal sovereignty challenges to major federal programs, the equal sovereignty principle remains largely unexamined. This Article seeks to provide some clarity—both to establish the contours of the equal sovereignty doctrine and to evaluate whether it is a sound rule of constitutional federalism. The principle of equal sovereignty, as initially articulated by courts and subsequently …
Election Law Federalism, Justin Weinstein-Tull
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 …
Conditions On Taking The Initiative: The First Amendment Implications Of Subject Matter Restrictions On Ballot Initiatives, Anna Skiba-Crafts
Conditions On Taking The Initiative: The First Amendment Implications Of Subject Matter Restrictions On Ballot Initiatives, Anna Skiba-Crafts
Michigan Law Review
Nearly half of U.S. states offer a ballot initiative process that citizens may use to pass legislation or constitutional amendments by a popular vote. Some states, however, impose substantive restrictions on the types of initiatives citizens may submit to the ballot for a vote-precluding, for example, initiatives lowering drug penalties or initiatives related to religion. Circuit courts are split on whether and how such restrictions implicate the First Amendment. This Note argues that-rather than limiting "expressive conduct" protected only minimally by the First Amendment, or limiting pure conduct that does not garner any First Amendment protectionsubject matter restrictions on ballot …
Voter Identification, Spencer Overton
Voter Identification, Spencer Overton
Michigan Law Review
In the wake of closely contested elections, calls for laws that require voters to present photo identification as a condition to cast a ballot have become pervasive. Advocates tend to rely on two rhetorical devices: (1) anecdotes about a couple of elections tainted by voter fraud; and (2) "common sense" arguments that voters should produce photo identification because identification is required to board airplanes, buy alcohol, and engage in other activities. This Article explains the analytical shortcomings of anecdote, analogy, and intuition, and applies a cost-benefit approach generally overlooked in election law scholarship. Rather than rushing to impose a photo-identification …
Party On: The Right To Voluntary Blanket Primaries, Margaret P. Aisenbrey
Party On: The Right To Voluntary Blanket Primaries, Margaret P. Aisenbrey
Michigan Law Review
Political parties have unique associational rights. In party primaries, party members associate to further their common political beliefs, and more importantly, to nominate candidates. These candidate are the "standard bearer[s]" for the political party-the people who "best represent[ ] the party's ideologies and preferences." The primary represents a "crucial juncture at which the appeal to common principles may be translated into concerted action, and hence to political power in the community." Because the primary is such a critical moment for the political party, the party's asso-ciational rights are most important at this time.
Vote Dilution And The Census Undercount: A State-By-State Remedy, Christopher M. Taylor
Vote Dilution And The Census Undercount: A State-By-State Remedy, Christopher M. Taylor
Michigan Law Review
This Note argues that groups seeking to correct underrepresentation caused by the differential undercount do not have standing to sue the Secretary of Commerce but that they can sue their state governments in an effort to force them to use the best population data available in the construction of congressional districts. Part I details the deeply rooted character of the differential undercount, describes statistical means that could have been employed to adjust the 1990 census, and demonstrates that the adjusted count surpasses the official census as an accurate representation of the true population. Part II examines recent litigation that has …
Electing Justice, Sol Wachtler
Electing Justice, Sol Wachtler
Michigan Law Review
A Review of In Pursuit of Justice: Reflections of a State Supreme Court Justice by Joseph R. Grodin
Safeguarding The Litigant's Constitutional Right To A Fair And Impartial Forum: A Due Process Approach To Improprieties Arising From Judicial Campaign Contributions From Lawyers, Mark Andrew Grannis
Safeguarding The Litigant's Constitutional Right To A Fair And Impartial Forum: A Due Process Approach To Improprieties Arising From Judicial Campaign Contributions From Lawyers, Mark Andrew Grannis
Michigan Law Review
This Note will argue that the improprieties arising from some campaign contributions are so egregious that they offend the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment. Consequently, states must either reform judicial campaigns to eliminate such improprieties, or, through mandatory judicial recusal or disqualification, respect the absolute constitutional right to an impartial forum. Part I of this Note will examine the history of disqualification at common law and in American practice, focusing on the extent to which it has been held to be a requirement of due process. Part II will argue that under the applicable due process standards, a …
State And Local Limitations On Ballot Measure Contributions, Michigan Law Review
State And Local Limitations On Ballot Measure Contributions, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
This Note's thesis is that ballot measure limitations unconstitutionally infringe upon the rights of free speech and association. Part I analyzes Buckley and concludes that the CARC court misapplied its distinction between contributions and direct expenditures. Part II tests ballot measure limitations against Buckley's "exacting scrutiny" standard. It identifies the state interests asserted in defense of ballot measure limitations - lessening abuse by narrow interest groups, reducing apathy, and equalizing political expression - and concludes that ballot measure limitations do not permissibly further these governmental interests.
Sayler Land Co. V. Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District: Opening The Floodgates In Local Special Government Elections, Michigan Law Review
Sayler Land Co. V. Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District: Opening The Floodgates In Local Special Government Elections, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
In judicial review of the constitutionality of representational structures at the local governmental level, each citizen's constitutional right to equal representation must be reconciled with the need for flexibility in designing local structures. Last term, in Salyer Land Co. v. Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District, the Supreme Court faced this problem in the context of a water storage district. It upheld a statute that both restricted the franchise in the election of district directors to district landowners and allocated votes on the basis of the assessed value of the land owned by each voter. This Note will first …
The Submerged Constitutional Right To An Absentee Ballot, Michigan Law Review
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--Equal Protection--Minimum Age Requirement For Candidates For Detroit Common Council Violates Equal Protection Clause Of Fourteenth Amendment--Manson V. Edwards*, Michigan Law Review
Constitutional Law--Equal Protection--Minimum Age Requirement For Candidates For Detroit Common Council Violates Equal Protection Clause Of Fourteenth Amendment--Manson V. Edwards*, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
This Recent Development will discuss the validity and potential impact of the court's selection of the compelling interest test to measure the compliance of Detroit's age restriction on candidacy with the fourteenth amendment. It will also explore the possible state goals sought to be achieved by requiring a minimum age for candidates and examine whether these goals can be viewed as "compelling governmental interests."
Wilkins V. Bentley: Getting Out The Student Vote In Michigan, Michigan Law Review
Wilkins V. Bentley: Getting Out The Student Vote In Michigan, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
The right to vote is one of the most precious constitutional rights. The Supreme Court has described it as preservative of all rights, a fundamental matter in a free and democratic society, and a bedrock of our political system. Justice Black once stated, "No right is more precious in a free country than that of having a voice in the election of those who make the laws under which, as good citizens, we must live." It supports not only the individual's personal interest in self-government, but also the collective societal interest in broadly based consensual representation. The magnitude of these …
The Constitutionality Of Candidate Filing Fees, Michigan Law Review
The Constitutionality Of Candidate Filing Fees, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Early in the twentieth century a "progressive impulse" captured the energies of this country's burgeoning urban middle class. Sickened by the corruption and scandals of the nineteenth century and fearful of the rising influx of European immigration, the so-called Progressives began working for political reform. The emphasis of this reform was primarily structural. Rather than by a remodeling of the citizenry, reform was to be achieved by "a careful and scientific adjustment of the machinery of government for the correction of prevalent evils." Progressives pushed such reforms as initiative, recall, referendum, and frequent elections in the belief that these measures …
Constitutional Law--Equal Protection--Property Ownership Qualifications On The Right To Vote In Special Municipal Elections--Cipriano V. City Of Houma, Michigan Law Review
Constitutional Law--Equal Protection--Property Ownership Qualifications On The Right To Vote In Special Municipal Elections--Cipriano V. City Of Houma, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Plaintiff, a resident of Houma, Louisiana, who owned no real property, brought a class action seeking to prevent the city from issuing utility revenue bonds approved by a vote of the property taxpayers at a special election. He argued that the Louisiana statute restricting the right to vote in such elections to property owners was unconstitutional. Plaintiff relied on Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, in which the Supreme Court declared that Virginia's required payment of poll taxes for voting in general elections was a violation of the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment. Harper, he claimed, …
Reapportionment--Legislative Bodies--Significant Deviation From Standard Of Substantial Population Equality Of State Legislative Districts Is Permissible To Provide Representatives For Two Island Counties--Vigneault V. Secretary Of The Commonwealth, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Since Baker v. Carr, when the Supreme Court overruled a long line of earlier decisions and concluded that the relationship of the equal protection clause to a state's power to create geographical districts for legislative representation was a justiciable issue, state apportionment plans have come under increasing judicial scrutiny. In Gray v. Sanders, the Court held invalid a Georgia primary election plan which favored voters from rural areas. Although Gray dealt with the dilution of individual voting rights rather than legislative reapportionment, it is important as the first enunciation of the now-famous "one man-one vote" test. Specifically, the …
Reapportionment In The Supreme Court And Congress: Constitutional Struggle For Fair Representation, Robert G. Dixon Jr.
Reapportionment In The Supreme Court And Congress: Constitutional Struggle For Fair Representation, Robert G. Dixon Jr.
Michigan Law Review
Fair representation is the ultimate goal. At the time of the Reapportionment Decisions, much change was overdue in some states, and at least some change was overdue in most states. We are a democratic people and our institutions presuppose according population a dominant role in formulas of representation. However, by its exclusive focus on bare numbers, the Court may have transformed one of the most intricate, fascinating, and elusive problems of democracy into a simple exercise of applying elementary arithmetic to census data. In so doing, the Court may have disabled itself from effectively considering the more subtle issues …
Some Comments On The Reapportionment Cases, Paul G. Kauper
Some Comments On The Reapportionment Cases, Paul G. Kauper
Michigan Law Review
Any appraisal of the Supreme Court's decisions in the legislative reapportionment cases must necessarily distinguish between the basic policy ingredients and social consequences of the decisions on the one hand, and the question whether the results were reached by a proper exercise of judicial power on the other. Respecting the first of these considerations, I have no difficulty identifying the social advantages accruing from these decisions. Because of the stress on the population principle, the decisions will afford a greater voice to urban interests, will make the legislative process more responsive to current needs of particular concern to urban dwellers, …
Congressional Apportionment: The Unproductive Search For Standards And Remedies, Michigan Law Review
Congressional Apportionment: The Unproductive Search For Standards And Remedies, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
The increasingly complex problems of elucidating congressional apportionment standards and granting appropriate relief when voting rights have been materially diluted were again brought to the fore in the recent districting decision of Calkins v. Hare. This federal district court decision is illustrative of the uncertainty caused by the Supreme Court's opinion in the landmark case of Wesberry v. Sanders. Although Wesberry resolved two previously contested issues by ruling that congressional apportionment disputes are susceptible of judicial determination and by setting a standard of population equality in delimiting districts, two associated questions were left unanswered. First, even though Wesberry …
Constitutional Law-Elections-Jurisdiction Of State Courts To Entertain Actions Arising Out Of Congressional Elections, C. Douglas Kranwinkle
Constitutional Law-Elections-Jurisdiction Of State Courts To Entertain Actions Arising Out Of Congressional Elections, C. Douglas Kranwinkle
Michigan Law Review
Relator was the losing candidate in an election for the office of Representative to the United States Congress. He commenced proceedings in the House, pursuant to statute, contesting the seating of his opponent, and petitioned the Minnesota Supreme Court to enjoin and restrain the Minnesota Secretary of State from issuing a certificate of election until the contest was finally determined. Relator based his petition on a Minnesota statute which provides that the Secretary of State may not issue a certificate of election in case of a contest until it has been determined by the proper court. A temporary injunction and …
Residency Requirements For Voting And The Tensions Of A Mobile Society, John R. Schmidhauser
Residency Requirements For Voting And The Tensions Of A Mobile Society, John R. Schmidhauser
Michigan Law Review
It is the purpose of this article to determine the extent to which persons otherwise qualified to vote are disenfranchised by the complex of state residency requirements and to assess the practical and constitutional aspects of any statutory prospects for change.
Municipal Corporations - Rescission By Electorate Of Approval To Issue Bonds - Use Of Referendum Power To Prevent Action By The Majority, Robert P. Griffin S.Ed.
Municipal Corporations - Rescission By Electorate Of Approval To Issue Bonds - Use Of Referendum Power To Prevent Action By The Majority, Robert P. Griffin S.Ed.
Michigan Law Review
At their annual meeting, the voters of a Vermont city approved the issuance of municipal bonds to finance erection of a sewage disposal plant. Before further action was taken, a group of citizens, acting in accordance with a charter provision, presented the mayor with a petition containing one hundred signatures which demanded that a special meeting he called to vote on a proposal to rescind the approval previously given. The voters refused to rescind. Twice thereafter petitions were filed with the mayor asking that special meetings be called to reconsider the question, but on each of these occasions the petitions …
Constitutional Law-Equal Protection-State Restrictions In Nominations Of Candidates, David H. Armstrong S.Ed.
Constitutional Law-Equal Protection-State Restrictions In Nominations Of Candidates, David H. Armstrong S.Ed.
Michigan Law Review
The Progressive Party, unable to qualify as a political party for purposes of the Illinois primary election, sought to nominate candidates for state and national offices by petition. The Illinois Election Code provides that such nominating petitions shall include the signatures of at least 200 qualified voters from each of at least 50 counties in the state. Of the state's registered voters, 87 per cent reside in the 49 most populous counties. The State Officers Electoral Board found that the petitions were insufficient, and the Illinois Supreme Court denied a motion for leave to file a petition of mandamus to …
Constitutional Law - Validity Of Voting Machine In General Election - Constitutional Construction, Michigan Law Review
Constitutional Law - Validity Of Voting Machine In General Election - Constitutional Construction, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Pursuant to statutory provisions the fiscal court of Jefferson County, Kentucky, appropriated $1,000 for renting voting machines to be used in the general election of 1938. The county on relation of its attorneys filed suit for a declaratory judgment on the constitutionality of the statute. The relators appealed from a judgment declaring the act valid. Held, the statute authorizing the use of voting machines in popular elections is a violation of section 147 of the Kentucky Constitution which provides for a "secret official ballot, furnished by public authority to the voters at the polls, and marked by each voter …
Constitutional Law - Elections - Proportional Representation, Gerald M. Stevens
Constitutional Law - Elections - Proportional Representation, Gerald M. Stevens
Michigan Law Review
In November, 1936, the people of the city of New York voted to adopt a system of proportional representation for the election of members of the city council. Each borough was to elect its representatives at large rather than from single-member districts. Each voter was restricted to voting for one councilman; but he might indicate the order of his preference for as many candidates as he desired. Thus he should have marked his first choice by the numeral "1," his second "2," and similarly as many choices as he wished to express. By a system of vote-transferring his vote would …
Congressional Redistricting And The Constitution, Harold M. Bowman
Congressional Redistricting And The Constitution, Harold M. Bowman
Michigan Law Review
Is congressional redistricting by state legislatures an exercise of the lawmaking function, subject to the governor's veto power? Is fairness in such redistricting secured today either by federal statute or by the federal Constitution? Of these two questions, posed by recent events, the first has been completely answered; the second has been answered in part only -- breeding in its answer new and troublesome problems.
Constitutional Law -Elections - Constitutionality Of The Corrupt Practices Act-The Kohler Case
Constitutional Law -Elections - Constitutionality Of The Corrupt Practices Act-The Kohler Case
Michigan Law Review
The relator brought an action to test the right of the defendant Kohler to the office of governor of the state of Wisconsin, asserting that his election was invalid for violation of the Corrupt Practices Act, particularly in that he had expended more than $100,000 for political purposes in violation of the provision of the act limiting such expenditures for candidates for governor to $4,000. The defendant demurred to the petition, asserting that the Corrupt Practices Act is void and unconstitutional as applied to the governor because (1) the statute seeks to prescribe either qualifications for the office of governor …
Direct Primary Legislation In Michigan, Arthur C. Millspaugh
Direct Primary Legislation In Michigan, Arthur C. Millspaugh
Michigan Law Review
The first local direct nomination law in Michigan was passed ir 1901; the first general law in 1905. The public opinion, however, which looked to the abolition of the convention system of nomination, rather than to its legal regulation, had its inception as early as 1894. The unusually objectionable primaries of that year led to a pronounced but unorganized agitation for reform, in the course of which a few of the most radical proposed to abolish absolutely all conventions.1 The legislature of 1895 contented itself, however, with attempting the regulation of primaries and conventions, leaving most of the nominating machinery …
Legislating The Incumbent Out Of Office, W. Gordon Stoner
Legislating The Incumbent Out Of Office, W. Gordon Stoner
Michigan Law Review
Under the English common law the officer's right or interest in the office which he held was regarded as a property right, an incorporeal hereditament. Largely because of the inherent difference between the nature and incidents of the public office at common law and those of the public office in this country, this conception never gained general acceptance here. In a few cases, and particularly in the decisions of the courts of North Carolina, offices have been asserted to be the property of the rightful incumbent. In these decisions the officer's right has been regarded as less absolute, perhaps, than …
The Recall And The Political Responsibility Of Judges, W. F. Dodd
The Recall And The Political Responsibility Of Judges, W. F. Dodd
Michigan Law Review
The movement for the recall of State officers is one which has became important only within the past three or four years. The first application of the recall as a modem institution in the United States appears to have been in Los Angeles in 19o3, where the institution was adopted in the amendment of the charter framed by that city. From Los Angeles the recall as applicable only to municipal officers spread to other California cities, and has now been rather widely adopted in other States. The first State constitutional amendment with respect to the recall, that of California in …