Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Election Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 14 of 14

Full-Text Articles in Election Law

Reforming State Electoral College Laws To Depolarize American Politics, M. Akram Faizer Mar 2022

Reforming State Electoral College Laws To Depolarize American Politics, M. Akram Faizer

Cleveland State Law Review

Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee involved the Supreme Court gutting the remaining vestiges of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), such that jurisdictions will have free rein to impose partisan burdens on franchise rights that have a disproportionate negative effect on racial minority voters who, based on racial political polarization, prefer Democratic Party candidates over their Republican opponents. Brnovich follows the highly divisive 2020 presidential election that Joe Biden won against former President Trump based on very narrow margins in highly contested swing states, notwithstanding a nationwide popular margin of more than 8 million votes. This blurring of the lines between …


Corporations "Pac" A Punch: Corporate Involvement's Influence In Elections And A Proposal For Public Campaign Financing In Ohio, Taylor Hagen Mar 2021

Corporations "Pac" A Punch: Corporate Involvement's Influence In Elections And A Proposal For Public Campaign Financing In Ohio, Taylor Hagen

Cleveland State Law Review

In 2010, the United States Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision ruled that limiting corporate spending in elections violates the First Amendment right to free speech. With this decision, the Supreme Court overturned election spending restrictions that dated back more than a century. Before Citizens United v. FEC was decided, the Court had previously held that these restrictions were permissible because there is a governmental interest in preventing election and campaign corruption. Now, corporations may expend unlimited funds for outside election spending, to super PACs, and may even establish their own PACs. Increased corporate involvement in elections has deteriorated American …


Notice, Due Process, And Voter Registration Purges, Anthony J. Gaughan May 2019

Notice, Due Process, And Voter Registration Purges, Anthony J. Gaughan

Cleveland State Law Review

In the 2018 case of Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, a divided United States Supreme Court upheld the procedures that Ohio election authorities used to purge ineligible voters from the state’s registration lists. In a 5-4 ruling, the majority ruled that the Ohio law complied with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) as amended by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). This Article contends that the controlling federal law—the NVRA and HAVA—gave the Supreme Court little choice but to decide the case in favor of Ohio’s secretary of state. But this article also argues …


A Citizen's Guide To Redisticting Reform Through Referendum, Grayson Keith Sieg Jan 2015

A Citizen's Guide To Redisticting Reform Through Referendum, Grayson Keith Sieg

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note proposes to explain the construction and political history of the 2012 Ohio Ballot Issue 2, extract lessons learned from its defeat, and, using those lessons, construct an alternative model referendum for congressional redistricting reform. What events led up to the November General Election defeat? Part II explores the history of redistricting and referendum. I also include a discussion on the various models of citizens redistricting commissions, including those adopted in California and Arizona (from which Ohio Issue 2 was largely borrowed), as well as recent constitutional challenges to citizens redistricting commissions. In Part III, I discuss the lessons …


Perfect Is The Enemy Of Fair: An Analysis Of Election Day Error In Ohio's 2012 General Election Through A Discussion Of The Materiality Principle, Compliance Standards, And The Democracy Canon, Eric H. Kearney, Pavan V. Parikh, Bethany E. Sanders Jan 2014

Perfect Is The Enemy Of Fair: An Analysis Of Election Day Error In Ohio's 2012 General Election Through A Discussion Of The Materiality Principle, Compliance Standards, And The Democracy Canon, Eric H. Kearney, Pavan V. Parikh, Bethany E. Sanders

Cleveland State Law Review

The continual change in and review of election systems have not overcome the reality that elections systems, including Ohio’s system, could not weather a close or controversial election without delay, litigation, or doubt as to the result. If such a conflict would arise, the actions taken in polling places across the state could be critical in determining a victor within the state and possibly the nation. Ohio, like many states, has responded to this circumstance with an incredibly technical and rule driven approach to election administration. This approach to elections administration is deficient for two primary reasons: (1) it refuses …


Foreigners United: Foreign Influence In American Elections After Citizens United V. Federal Election Commission, Corey R. Sparks Jan 2014

Foreigners United: Foreign Influence In American Elections After Citizens United V. Federal Election Commission, Corey R. Sparks

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note argues that the majority’s decision in Citizens United allows foreign nationals to circumvent the Congressional ban on influencing American elections, and that Citizens United should be reconsidered in light of this fact, as well as the compelling government interest in preventing such circumvention, and preserving the integrity of the electoral process. Part II provides an overview of the Congressional ban and Citizens United’s relationship to its circumvention. Part III.A analyzes the methods by which foreign nationals can circumvent the ban in order to influence American elections. Part III.B proposes both judicial and legislative solutions to the problem of …


Buying The Electorate: An Empirical Study Of The Current Campaign Finance Landscape And How The Supreme Court Erred In Not Revisiting Citizens United, William Alan Nelson Ii Jan 2013

Buying The Electorate: An Empirical Study Of The Current Campaign Finance Landscape And How The Supreme Court Erred In Not Revisiting Citizens United, William Alan Nelson Ii

Cleveland State Law Review

The Article discusses how the Supreme Court erred by summarily reversing the Montana Supreme Court’s decision in Western Tradition Partnership v. AG and not revisiting its holding in Citizens United v. FEC. The Article begins by discussing the holding in the Western Tradition Partnership case and analyzing both the majority and dissenting opinions. The Article then analyzes how the Montana Supreme Court distinguished Citizens United, with the Court specifically looking at the “unique” political history in Montana and finding that Montana’s ban on corporate independent political spending served a compelling state interest and was narrowly tailored to that interest. The …


Political Gangsters: The Future Of Racketeering Law In Politics Note, Jillian Henzler Jan 2011

Political Gangsters: The Future Of Racketeering Law In Politics Note, Jillian Henzler

Cleveland State Law Review

Racketeering law and election restrictions are two areas of law that are not typically connected. Previous to the landmark decision in Citizens United, the chances of finding racketeering within election law were probably very slim.The corruption created by this new ruling is a fear that the government has been trying to combat for over a century. Not only will the effects of this new rule increase the appearance of corruption, this corruption may rise to a criminal level if racketeering action actually takes place. The ever-changing and expanding definition of racketeering under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act shows …


Aligning Judicial Elections With Our Constitutional Values: The Separation Of Powers, Judicial Free Speech, And Due Process, Jason D. Grimes Jan 2009

Aligning Judicial Elections With Our Constitutional Values: The Separation Of Powers, Judicial Free Speech, And Due Process, Jason D. Grimes

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note consists of five Parts. Part II traces the historical development of state judicial elections from the perspective of the Framers' doctrine of separation of powers. It shows that judicial elections were borne more of historical contingency than constitutional design. Part II then assesses the recent history of elections to the Ohio Supreme Court. It determines that Ohio's judicial elections share two problems with many other states: millions of dollars given to judicial candidates by special interests likely to appear before the court, and candidates' broad freedom of speech to earn the political and financial support of these special …


Had Enough In Ohio - Time To Reform Ohio's Judicial Selection Process, Bradley Link Jan 2004

Had Enough In Ohio - Time To Reform Ohio's Judicial Selection Process, Bradley Link

Cleveland State Law Review

This note will examine the problems that the election of state judges creates, as well as the inadequacies of the current model of merit selection. I propose that Ohio should adopt an appointive method of selecting judges, which will utilize a judicial eligibility commission as outlined by the American Bar Association similar to the nominating commissions commonly found in merit selection plans but which will do away with the commonly found retention election. Ohio needs to change the manner in which state judges are selected in order to bring confidence in the state judiciary, and to ensure that the most …


Ballot Format: Must Candidates Be Treated Equally , Richard Winger Jan 1997

Ballot Format: Must Candidates Be Treated Equally , Richard Winger

Cleveland State Law Review

This article's purpose is to explore and discuss a major inequality currently plaguing the realm of ballot format-the non-uniformed partisan labeling of election ballots. This will be accomplished by answering the following question: if a ballot lists partisan labels for some candidates must it list similar labels for all? This article endorses the idea that an election ballot should be fairly constructed. Governments preparing a voting ballot so its design does not significantly disadvantage any class of listed candidates seems perfectly reasonable. Despite this seemingly logical approach, some state laws provide that certain classes of candidates are entitled to preferential …


One Person-One Vote Round Iii: Challenges To The 1980 Redistricting, Robert J. Van Der Velde Jan 1984

One Person-One Vote Round Iii: Challenges To The 1980 Redistricting, Robert J. Van Der Velde

Cleveland State Law Review

Ever since the United States Supreme Court entered the "political thicket" of redistricting and reapportionment courts and legislatures have been struggling with issues relating to the Court's mandate of "one person, one vote." The re-drawing of congressional and legislative district boundaries after the 1980 census was only the third time that district boundaries have been drawn according to the Supreme Court's mandate of "one person-one vote." This Article discusses the legal requirements of one person-one vote and the continuing evolution of the legal standards in this area. Part II analyzes the evolution of one person-one vote doctrine in the Supreme …


Constitutional Issues In The Regulation Of The Financing Of Election Campaigns, Archibald Cox Jan 1982

Constitutional Issues In The Regulation Of The Financing Of Election Campaigns, Archibald Cox

Cleveland State Law Review

The decisions sustaining campaign expenditures by corporations and organized groups are libertarian in the superficial sense that they sustain claims under the first amendment. Their effect, however, is to increase the influence of organized groups, especially of groups with access to money, and to diminish the voice of the individual. If liberty means the opportunity of the individual man or woman to express himself or herself in a society in which ideas are judged principally by their merit, increasing the relative influence of organizations and shrinking the attention paid to individual voices means a net loss of human freedom.


Ohio Residency Law For Student Voters - Its Implications And A Proposal For More Effective Implementation Of Residency Statutes , Jonathan D. Reiff Jan 1979

Ohio Residency Law For Student Voters - Its Implications And A Proposal For More Effective Implementation Of Residency Statutes , Jonathan D. Reiff

Cleveland State Law Review

The task is to evaluate the traditional common law tests of domicile, many of which are outmoded, and to select those which are compatible with the new constitutional requirements of real fairness and equality in order to lay a firm foundation for the accomplishment of the original purposes of residency law in the modern world. Furthermore, the theoretical problems involved -constitutional exposition, common law analysis, statutory construction, and governmental policy- need to be synthesized into a system that is easily implemented by the Secretary of State, easily applied by local boards of election, and finally, easily understood by all new …