Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Keyword
-
- Apportionment (2)
- United States Supreme Court (2)
- Absent voter ballots (1)
- Congressional districts (1)
- Connecticut (1)
-
- Disenfranchisement (1)
- Districting (1)
- Election purity (1)
- Elections (1)
- Evenwel v. Abbott (1)
- Florida (1)
- Gerrymandering (1)
- Groton (1)
- History (1)
- Law and racism (1)
- League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania v. Commonwealth (1)
- Maryland (1)
- Michigan voter ID law (1)
- Partisanship (1)
- Pennsylvania (1)
- Political parties (1)
- Population (1)
- Purity Clause (1)
- Voter fraud prevention (1)
- Voter suppression laws (1)
- Voting (1)
- Voting rights restrictions (1)
Articles 1 - 3 of 3
Full-Text Articles in Law
The Messy History Of Michigan’S “Purity Clause”, Joshua Perry
The Messy History Of Michigan’S “Purity Clause”, Joshua Perry
Michigan Law Review Online
So it’s worth asking: What does the Purity Clause actually mean? Can contemporary courts properly invoke it to justify restrictions purportedly aimed at controlling “voter fraud”? Should they?
Part I diagnoses the problem: Recently, Michigan courts have invoked the Purity Clause to legitimize voting rights restrictions without applying their usual tools of constitutional interpretation or scrutinizing the Clause’s complex history. As a result, voting restrictions have been justified by reference to a badly underexamined constitutional provision.
Part II examines the Clause with the tools that Michigan courts use to interpret the state constitution. This Part argues that neither the original …
Is Groton The Next Evenwel?, Paul H. Edelman
Is Groton The Next Evenwel?, Paul H. Edelman
Michigan Law Review Online
In Evenwel v. Abbott the Supreme Court left open the question of whether states could employ population measures other than total population as a basis for drawing representative districts so as to meet the requirement of "one person, one vote" (OPOV). It was thought that there was little prospect of resolving this question soon as no appropriate instances of such behavior were known. That belief was mistaken. In this Essay I report on the Town of Groton, Connecticut, which uses registered voter data to apportion seats in its Representative Town Meeting and has done so since its incorporation in 1957. …
State Court Litigation: The New Front In The War Against Partisan Gerrymandering, Charlie Stewart
State Court Litigation: The New Front In The War Against Partisan Gerrymandering, Charlie Stewart
Michigan Law Review Online
Partisan gerrymandering is the process of drafting state and congressional districts in a manner that gives one political party an advantage over another. The end goal is simple: help your party win more seats or protect existing ones. The tactic is as old as the United States. In 1788, Patrick Henry convinced the Virginia state legislature to draw the 5th Congressional District to pit his rival James Madison against James Monroe. The term “gerrymander” itself is a hybrid: in 1810, democratic Governor Gerry signed a partisan redistricting plan into law—one that contained a district that infamously looked like a salamander. …