Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 10 of 10
Full-Text Articles in Election Law
Voting As Exclusion, Ava Ayers
Voting As Exclusion, Ava Ayers
Fordham Law Review
This Essay considers two prevalent narratives about voting. In one narrative, voting expresses the civic virtue of the voter. In another, voting is an expression of inclusion in our political community’s circle of membership. I argue that although both narratives are true, and important, there is a third narrative that shadows them both. In this third narrative, voting affirms the exclusion of millions of people from our political community. The stories we tell about voting are incomplete and, sometimes, harmful.
The Illiberalization Of American Election Law: A Study In Democratic Deconsolidation, James A. Gardner
The Illiberalization Of American Election Law: A Study In Democratic Deconsolidation, James A. Gardner
Fordham Law Review
For many years, the dominant view among American election law scholars has been that the U.S. Supreme Court’s constitutional jurisprudence of democratic practice got off to a promising start during the mid-twentieth century but has since then slowly deteriorated into incoherence. In light of the United States’ recent turn toward populist authoritarianism, that view needs to be substantially revised. With the benefit of hindsight, it now appears that the Supreme Court has functioned, in its management of the constitutional jurisprudence of democracy, as a vector of infection—a kind of super-spreader of populist authoritarianism. There is, sadly, nothing unusual these days …
Election Observation Post-2020, Rebecca Green
Election Observation Post-2020, Rebecca Green
Fordham Law Review
The United States is in the midst of a crisis in confidence in elections, despite the many process protections baked into every stage of election administration. Part of the problem is that few Americans know just how rigorous the protections in place are, and most Americans have no concept of how modern elections are run. Election observation statutes are intended to provide a window for members of the public to learn about and oversee the process and to satisfy themselves that elections are fair and that outcomes are reliable. Yet in 2020, in part due to unforeseen pandemic conditions, election …
Reducing Election Litigation, Derek T. Muller
Reducing Election Litigation, Derek T. Muller
Fordham Law Review
Which candidate’s name should be listed first on a ballot? Should inactive voters’ names appear printed in polling place books? Should elections be conducted exclusively by mail? Should online voter registration be available to prospective voters? When voters sign a petition to help a candidate appear on the ballot, must the petition’s circulator reside in the state? These are the questions that ordinary election administration rules answer. There might be better or worse rules. These rules might advance one set of benefits in exchange for another set of costs. They could benefit one candidate or group over another. Like every …
The Independent State Legislature Doctrine, Michael T. Morley
The Independent State Legislature Doctrine, Michael T. Morley
Fordham Law Review
The U.S. Constitution grants authority to both regulate congressional elections and determine the manner in which a state chooses its presidential electors specifically to the legislature of each state, rather than to the state as an entity. The independent state legislature doctrine teaches that, because a legislature derives its power over federal elections directly from the Constitution in this manner, that authority differs in certain important respects from the legislature’s general police powers that it exercises under the state constitution. Although the doctrine was applied on several occasions in the nineteenth century, it largely fell into desuetude in the years …
Reforms For Presidential Candidate Death And Inability: From The Conventions To Inauguration Day, John Rogan
Reforms For Presidential Candidate Death And Inability: From The Conventions To Inauguration Day, John Rogan
Fordham Law Review
The 2020 presidential election involved several significant threats to the health and safety of the candidates. But dangers to presidential candidates and presidents-elect have been present before. Despite previous candidate vacancies and near misses, the procedures for how to address many of these contingencies have shortcomings. Some scenarios are left unaddressed. The policies for other situations might be difficult to use or could result in undemocratic outcomes. This Article discusses possible reforms for addressing disability or death of presidential candidates from the time they are nominated at their political parties’ conventions to when they are sworn into office on Inauguration …
How States Can Avoid Overcrowded Ballots But Still Protect Voter Choice, Richard Winger
How States Can Avoid Overcrowded Ballots But Still Protect Voter Choice, Richard Winger
Fordham Law Review
Since the beginning of government-printed ballots for federal and state offices in 1889, state legislatures have been wrestling with the problem of how many signatures should be required for independent candidates and new political parties to get on the ballot. Laws on this subject are very volatile; there is not a single instance in United States history in which applicable state laws were the same for two consecutive presidential elections. The volatility increased in 1968, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that overly strict ballot access laws for new parties and independent candidates violatetheU.S.Constitution. Sincethen,every state has been sued by …
Compulsory Voting And Black Citizenship, Ekow N. Yankah
Compulsory Voting And Black Citizenship, Ekow N. Yankah
Fordham Law Review
Protesting Black votes is part of our history of rejecting Black Americans as legitimate wielders of political power and contesting the fullness of Black citizenship. Obviously, hostility toward viewing Black Americans as deserving of the rights owed to other Americans is present in nearly every aspect of American life. But, among the oldest and most contentious hostilities—from the Civil War to Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement to contemporary voter suppression efforts—has been the resistance against Black votes. Any opportunity to quell this locus of racial animus calls for urgent address. Particularly, at this moment, when long-standing prophylactic measures such …
Excessive Judicialization, Extralegal Interventions, And Violent Insurrection: A Snapshot Of Our 59th Presidential Election, Jerry H. Goldfeder
Excessive Judicialization, Extralegal Interventions, And Violent Insurrection: A Snapshot Of Our 59th Presidential Election, Jerry H. Goldfeder
Fordham Law Review
The Symposium included in this issue of the Fordham Law Review provides scholars and lawyers with the opportunity to think about some of the most provocative issues related to the way we elect our chief executive. When first conceived, this Symposium was meant to expand and elevate the discourse. Many of the participating authors have thought and written about these matters for years. It was our hope that, after fifty-nine presidential elections, we could shape the debate—and perhaps reform the law—for our next presidential election, our country’s sixtieth. Little did we realize at the inception of this project that the …
The Electoral College: Time For A Change?, John D. Feerick
The Electoral College: Time For A Change?, John D. Feerick
Fordham Law Review
Fifty-three years ago, I wrote an article for the Fordham Law Review advocating for a popular vote for president. My experience serving as staff advisor to an American Bar Association (ABA) commission on Electoral College reform influenced my views. The House of Delegates authorized the commission in February 1966. A year later, after study and consideration, the ABA recommended such a reform, as did Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana, then serving as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on constitutional amendments. This Article returns to the subject of reform by examining in Part I the elections of this century …