Law Commons^™

A Voice In The Wilderness: John Paul Stevens, Election Law, And A Theory Of Impartial Governance, Joshua A. Douglas, Cody S. Barnett

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Justice John Paul Stevens retired from the Supreme Court almost a decade ago and turned ninety-eight years old in April 2018. How should we remember his legacy on the Supreme Court? This Article places his legacy within his election law jurisprudence. Specifically, Justice Stevens provided a consistent theory, which we term “impartial governance,” that has had a lasting impact on the field. This theory undergirds Justice Stevens’s creation of the important Anderson-Burdick-Crawford balancing test that federal courts use to construe the constitutionality of laws that impact the right to vote, such as voter ID laws. It is part of his …

The Right To Vote Under Local Law, Joshua A. Douglas

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

A complete analysis of the right to vote requires at least three levels of inquiry: the U.S. Constitution and federal law, state constitutions and state law, and local laws that confer voting rights for municipal elections. But most voting rights scholarship focuses on only federal or state law and omits any discussion of the third category. This Article—the first to explore in depth the local right to vote—completes the trilogy. Cities and towns across the country are expanding the right to vote in municipal elections to include sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds, noncitizens, nonresident property owners, and others. Berkeley, California, for example, …

Local Democracy On The Ballot, Joshua A. Douglas

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Essay, focusing particularly on voter-backed local election rules, proceeds in three parts. Part I highlights how local laws play a significant role in dictating voting rights and election rules. Too often election law scholars focus solely on federal or state law. But local laws are also important in defining the right to vote and providing rules for our democracy. New local election law experiments in one place can highlight innovative reforms that other cities and states may eventually adopt. This avenue to election law reform is particularly important given the current political climate.

Part II considers local ballot initiatives …

Keeping Up With New Legal Titles, Tina M. Brooks

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In this book review, Tina M. Brooks discusses Voters' Verdicts: Citizens, Campaigns, and Institutions in State Supreme Court Elections by Chris W. Bonneau and Damon M. Cann.

State Judges And The Right To Vote, Joshua A. Douglas

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

State courts are paramount in defining the constitutional right to vote. This primacy of state courts exists in part because the right to vote is a state-based right protected under state constitutions. In addition, election administration is largely state-driven, with states regulating most of the rules for casting and counting ballots. State law thus guarantees—and state courts interpret—the voting rights that we cherish so much as a society. State courts that issue rulings broadly defining the constitutional right to vote best protect the most fundamental right in our democracy; state decisions that constrain voting to a narrower scope do harm …

A “Checklist Manifesto” For Election Day: How To Prevent Mistakes At The Polls, Joshua A. Douglas

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Mistakes happen—especially at the polls on Election Day. To fix this complex problem inherent in election administration, this Article proposes the use of simple checklists. Errors occur in every election, yet many of them are avoidable. Poll workers should have easy-to-use tools to help them on Election Day as they handle throngs of voters. Checklists can assist poll workers in pausing during a complex process to avoid errors. This is a simple idea with a big payoff: fewer lost votes, shorter lines at the polls, a reduction in post-election litigation, and smoother election administration. Further, unlike many other suggested election …

In Defense Of Lowering The Voting Age, Joshua A. Douglas

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Essay outlines the various policy arguments in favor of lowering the voting age to sixteen. Part I presents a very brief history of the voting age in U.S. elections. It notes that setting the voting age at eighteen is, in many ways, a historical accident, so lowering the voting age for local elections does not cut against historical norms. Part II explains that there are no constitutional barriers to local jurisdictions lowering the voting age for their own elections. Part III highlights the benefits to democracy and representation that lowering the voting age will engender. Turning eighteen represents a …

A Pivotal Moment For Election Law, Joshua A. Douglas

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In this brief Foreword to the Kentucky Law Journal Symposium Issue, I chronicle the importance of Justice Scalia's death to election law jurisprudence and highlight the articles in this Issue that will shape the debate in the coming years. Part I looks at how a replacement for Justice Scalia could change, solidify, or extend various aspects of election law doctrine. Part II then summarizes the seven articles in this Symposium Issue, explaining how fresh eyes on the Court could potentially give these proposals a boost. This is a pivotal moment for election law. The Kentucky Law Journal articles in this …

To Protect The Right To Vote, Look To State Courts And State Constitutions, Joshua A. Douglas

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Issue Brief details the scope of voting rights under state constitutions, an overlooked source of the right to vote. Part I considers both the lack of a federal constitutional right to vote and the explicit right mentioned in virtually all state constitutions. Part II describes recent state-level voter ID cases, providing a summary of how courts facing litigation over voter ID laws have employed their state constitutions. Part III contends that state courts, instead of simply following narrow federal jurisprudence in “lockstep,” should give broader, independent force to their explicit state constitutional provisions conferring the right to vote. Part …

Brief Of Amici Curiae Professors Joshua A. Douglas And Michael E. Solimine, Election Law Scholars, In Support Of Petitioners, Joshua A. Douglas, Michael E. Solimine

Law Faculty Advocacy

Professor Joshua A. Douglas and Professor Michael E. Solimine are election law experts who have a particular interest in the procedural aspects of election litigation. Professors Douglas and Solimine are filing this brief because they have a keen interest in ensuring that the federal courts employ the proper procedure in election law cases, as doing so helps to resolve these disputes in a manner that best comports with the unique aspects of the electoral system. This brief explains why district courts should not use the pleading standard from Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007) and Ashcroft …

(Mis)Trusting States To Run Election, Joshua A. Douglas

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article critically examines recent Supreme Court election law jurisprudence, with a particular eye toward cases involving state election administration—a hotbed of litigation at the Court in recent years. Election administration entails the rules of operating an election and encompasses laws such as voter identification requirements, regulation of primaries, and other "nuts-and-bolts" aspects of the voting process. The Article focuses primarily on the last decade, mainly because that is when states have increasingly enacted stricter election regulations, supposedly in the name of "election integrity," but more likely to gain partisan advantage for the ruling party. In addition, during the first …

The Right To Vote Under State Constitutions, Joshua A. Douglas

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article provides the first comprehensive look at state constitutional provisions explicitly granting the right to vote. We hear that the right to vote is "fundamental," the "essence of a democratic society," and "preservative of all rights." But courts and scholars are still searching for a solution to the puzzle of how best to protect voting rights, especially because the U.S. Supreme Court has underenforced the right to vote. The answer, however, is right in front of us: state constitutions. Virtually every state constitution includes direct, explicit language granting the right to vote, as contrasted with the U.S. Constitution, which …

Election Law Pleading, Joshua A. Douglas

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article explores how the Supreme Court’s recent pleading decisions in Twombly and Iqbal have impacted election litigation. It explains how Twombly and Iqbal’s “factual plausibility” standard usually does not help in an election case, because there is often little factual dispute regarding the operation of the election practice. Instead, the real question in a motion to dismiss is whether the plaintiff has stated a viable cause of action against the government defendant who is administering the election. But Twombly and Iqbal’s rule does not assist in answering this question. That is, Twombly and Iqbal are incongruent with …

The Foundational Importance Of Voting: A Response To Professor Flanders, Joshua A. Douglas

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Voting is the foundational concept for our entire democratic structure. We think of voting as a fundamental-the most fundamental-right in our democracy. When a group of citizens collectively elects its representatives, it affirms the notion that we govern ourselves by free choice. An individual's right to vote ties that person to our social order, even if that person chooses not to exercise that right. Voting represents the beginning; everything else in our democracy follows the right to vote. Participation is more than just a value. It is a foundational virtue of our democracy.

Professor Chad Flanders, in a thought-provoking contribution …

Discouraging Election Contests, Joshua A. Douglas

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This essay offers a few proposals for discouraging losing candidates from contesting the certified result of an election. The ultimate goal in any election, of course, is to ensure that a state declares as the winner the person who actually received the most votes. But when an election is close, a candidate on the losing side might see an incentive to continue the fight in the courts on the off-chance that it would change the outcome. The candidate could challenge, for example, certain provisional or absentee ballot—even if the likelihood that the candidate will win is slim (but still theoretically …

Procedural Fairness In Election Contests, Joshua A. Douglas

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article uncovers the different mechanisms states use to resolve election contests. One universal rule regarding post-election disputes is that "[t]here is no common law basis for election challenges." As the Iowa Supreme Court explained, "[t]he right to contest an election is only conferred by statute, and contestants must strictly comply with the provisions of the statute in order to confer jurisdiction. Thus, contestants are limited to the scheme provided by the legislature." An inquiry into election contests therefore entails a survey of state election statutes and constitutions. Although it is possible that parties may file in federal court and …

To Hava, And Beyond!, Joshua A. Douglas

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Book review of Martha Kropf and David C. Kimball, Helping America Vote: The Limits of Election Reform. New York, NY: Routledge, 2012, 154 pp., $41.95 (paperback).

Enlivening Election Law, Joshua A. Douglas

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Election law cases are often lengthy and include complex discussion of constitutional doctrines. Moreover, there is rarely a clear-cut answer to a tricky election law question. The field is full of balancing tests, competing interests to weigh, and ever-shifting standards. A challenge for Election Law teachers, then, is to ensure that the long judicial opinions and difficult constitutional doctrines undergirding the field of election law do not bury the vibrancy of the topic. One way to keep an Election Law course student-friendly is to make frequent use of electronic media. Election law is well-suited to the adoption of images, videos, …

Election Law And Civil Discourse: The Promise Of Adr, Joshua A. Douglas

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article was the result of a Symposium that explored the potential promises of alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) for resolving election law disputes. Both election law and ADR scholars opined on how ADR can help to achieve various goals for deciding contentious election law cases. My focus in this essay is narrower: I suggest that employing some features of ADR to resolve election disputes can help to improve the civil discourse of our elections and our political culture. That is, certain aspects of ADR can assist in reducing caustic language in election law judicial decisions, in the media’s reporting of …