Election Law Commons^™

Nonpopulation Factors Relevant To An Acceptable Standard For Apportionment, Jerold H. Israel

Articles

Of the many problems left unanswered in Baker v. Carr,' the one that has received the most attention both from lower courts and commentators is that of prescribing a specific standard for determining what constitutes a denial of "equal protection" in legislative apportionment.2 The starting point universally accepted - indeed, probably required by Baker - for attacking this problem is the definition of apportionment equality in terms of mathematical measurement of the individual's "voting power."3 Perfect equality in apportionment is viewed as requiring that each election district contain an equal population, so that every individual's vote in his district will …

Constitutional Law - Freedom Of Speech And Press - Prohibitions On The Publication Or Distribution Of Anonymous Campaign Literature, Frank G. Reeder S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was charged under a federal statute' with the publication and distribution of a pamphlet which concerned a candidate for United States Senator in a special senatorial election and which did not contain the name of the person or group responsible for its publication and distribution as required by the statute. The defendant alleged that his occupation as a farmer made him particularly subject to regulation by the federal government, and that he feared coercion or reprisals from the federal representatives with whom he dealt if he complied with the statute's disclosure requirement. On motion to dismiss the information on …

On Charting A Course Through The Mathematical Quagmire: The Future Of Baker V. Carr, Jerold H. Israel

Articles

The Tennessee reapportionment decision, Baker v. Carr,' has been popularly characterized as one of the "very few judicial decisions which have fundamentally reshaped our constitutional system."'2 Newspaper and magazine commentators generally have predicted that the decision of last March is likely to "change the course of our history" by producing a drastic alteration in the balance of power on the state political scene.3 While this end may be desirable,4 any such estimate of the future impact of the Baker decision, at least insofar as its legal consequence is concerned,5 seems not only premature but somewhat exaggerated. The future significance of …

Civil Rights - Elections - Federal Injunction Against Racial Discrimination, Robert Jillson

Michigan Law Review

In September 1958, in its first complaint under the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the United States sought to enjoin certain election registrars and deputy registrars in Terrell County, Georgia from continuing racially-discriminatory practices in their registration of voters. The defendants, claiming the 1957 statute to be unconstitutional, moved for dismissal. The district court granted defendants' motion, rejecting government arguments that the subsection authorizing suit by the United States was limited to cases, like the case before the Court, of discrimination by the state. On direct appeal to the Supreme Court, held, reversed. Because the alleged racial discrimination by …

Constitutional Law - Judicial Power - Power To Compel Fair Apportionment By The Legislature, Walter L. Adams S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

At a general election on November 6, 1956, voters of the state of Washington approved by popular initiative a reapportionment of the legislature based upon political sub-divisions as described in the federal census of 1950. On December 6, 1956, the governor proclaimed the measure to be law and it was enrolled as chapter 5, Laws of 1957. At the regular 1957 session of the state legislature, chapter 289, revoking the initiative and calling for the use of the election precinct as the unit · of population for forming legislative districts, was passed by a vote of more than a two-thirds …

Corporations - Political Activities - Interpretation Of Statute Prohibiting Political Contributions By Corporation, George Kircos

Michigan Law Review

Defendant corporation, organized to promote the recall of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, was charged with violating section 346.12 of the Wisconsin statutes, which prohibits corporations doing business in Wisconsin from paying or contributing any money, etc., to promote or defeat the candidacy of any person for nomination, appointment, or election to any political office. The trial court entered a forfeiture judgment against the defendant. On appeal, held, reversed. The statutory phrase "doing business" was intended to limit the scope of the prohibition to corporations organized for profit. Corporations, such as the defendant, organized solely for political purposes are not …

Constitutional Law - Civil Rights - Right Of Negro To Vote In State Primary Elections, John C. Hall S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The Jaybird Democratic Association was formed in Fort Bend County, Texas, in 1889. Membership was open to all white voters in the county. The association was not governed by the state statute regulating political parties. Candidates nominated by the Jaybird Party entered the Democratic county primary as individuals, not as Jaybird candidates, but those candidates won both the Democratic primary and the general election with only one exception in the entire history of the Jaybird Party. Terry, a Negro, sought a declaratory judgment and injunction permitting Negroes to vote in the Jaybird primary. The federal district court ruled that the …

International Law-Status Of Germany-Nationality Laws-Voting In German Election As Forfeiture Of United States Citizenship, Jean Engstrom S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner, an American citizen living in Germany, voted in the January 27, 1946 election of local officials in Rodach, Germany, American Zone of Occupation, held under the direction and with the approval of the Office of Military Government for Bavaria. Petitioner was issued a certificate of loss of nationality, based on section 801(e) of the Nationality Act of 1940, which provides that American nationality is lost through "voting in a political election in a foreign state." Held, petitioner had not lost her citizenship. The Rodach election was held in "territory then ruled and governed by the United States and …

Constitutional Law-Equal Protection Clause-County Unit Vote, Charles Myneder S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs brought an action against defendants, Chairman of the Georgia State Democratic Executive Committee and others, to restrain adherence to a state statute providing that the County Unit Vote shall determine the outcome of a primary election. Under the statute each county is alloted a number of unit votes. The candidate receiving the highest popular vote in the county is awarded the unit votes of that county. Plaintiffs, residents of the most populous county in the state, alleged that their votes had on an average but one-tenth the weight of those in the other counties in the state. From a …

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.

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 …

Freedom Of Silence: Constitutional Protection Against Governmental Intrusions In Political Affairs, Charles B. Nutting

Michigan Law Review

Paradoxically enough, the "right" to be silent has been vociferously asserted by some of our most loquacious citizens. The current activities of Congressional investigating committees and the possible enactment of laws regulating participation in certain political affairs make timely a consideration of the basis for the assertion of the "right" and an attempt to determine the extent to which it may be said truly to be protected against intrusions by the state or national governments. It is proposed first to consider the question of secrecy in connection with the elective process itself and later to extend the inquiry into problems …

Constitutional Law--White Primaries--Rice V. Elmore, Irving Slifkin S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The right of the negro to vote has constantly been challenged in attempts to destroy or at least to control the exercise of that right. The Fifteenth Amendment secures the right to vote free from interference on a racial basis by the states or the national government. In the states where there is a large negro population varied efforts have been attempted in order to control and nullify the negro vote. These efforts have been manifested in various forms-the grandfather clause, property ownership requirements, the poll tax, character tests, and literacy tests.

Constitutional Aspects Of Federal Anti-Poll Tax Legislation, Joseph E. Kallenbach

Michigan Law Review

The proposal to abolish by national law the requirement now prevailing in seven Southern states that voters shall have paid a poll tax in order to vote in any national election involves a constitutional issue of the first magnitude. In the decade immediately following the Civil War the constitutional division of authority between the national and state governments in dealing with the question of Negro suffrage became a point of bitter controversy in Congress. Out of this struggle came the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, with certain supporting legislation, the aim of which was to prohibit disfranchisement of …

Constitutional Law-State Apportionment For Congressional Elections-Justiciability Of Issue, L. B. Brody S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioners, three qualified Illinois voters, filed a proceeding in a United States district court composed of three judges, seeking a determination under the Federal Declaratory Judgment Act that the 1901 State Apportionment Act of Illinois was in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and Article I of the Constitution, in that it denied to citizens of the United States the equal and unabridged right to vote for Congressmen. On direct appeal to the Supreme Court of a dismissal of the petition by the lower court, the complaint alleged that the statute apportioning the State of Illinois was void in that it …

Political Committee Expenditures And The Hatch Act, John W. Lederle

Michigan Law Review

Democratic governments are rightly concerned about how money is used to influence elections. The oft-quoted proverb, "He who pays the piper calls the tune," contains a large grain of truth. In many countries comprehensive statutory regulation of campaign expenditures may be found; but it is unlikely that any other country can match the variety of experiments which have been indulged in by-the national Congress and the forty-eight state legislatures in the United States.

Constitutional Law-Congressional Primaries-Voting Rights Of Negroes, Everett S. Brown

Michigan Law Review

The petitioner, Lonnie E. Smith, a Negro citizen of Harris County, Texas, brought suit for damages against election judges who refused to give him a ballot or to permit him to cast a ballot in the primary election of July 27, 1940, for the nomination of Democratic candidates for federal and state officers. The refusal was alleged to have been solely because of Smith's race and color and consequently violated sections 31 and 43 of title 8 of the United States Code by depriving Smith of rights secured under provisions of the Federal Constitution. The District Court of the United …

Constitutional Law - Federal Election Laws - Primary Elections, Brooks F. Crabtree

Michigan Law Review

Several members of the New Orleans Board of Commissioners of Elections were indicted on charges of having fraudulently altered and counted numerous votes in a Louisiana primary election to nominate a candidate of the Democratic Party for representative in the United States Congress. The indictments were brought under sections 19 and 20 of the Criminal Code of the United States which make it a criminal offense to injure or deprive a citizen of any right or privilege secured to him under the Constitution. The defendants were alleged to have conspired together to deprive citizens in Louisiana of the right to …

Schools And School Districts - School Elections - Tax Limitations - Bond Issues - Qualifications Of Electors Under Michigan Constitution, John S. Pennell

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff submitted to the school district electors two propositions: (1) that of increasing the tax limitation from 1.5 per cent to 1.802 per cent of the assessed valuation, and (2) that of bonding the school district in the amount of $182,600 for improvements. Both at the registration of voters, and at the election, the qualifications of the electors were tested by the school code. On the tax limitation question, all registered school electors were permitted to vote. On the question of the bond issue, only those registered electors who owned property assessed for school taxes in the district were …

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

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 …

Constitutional Law - Discrimination Against Negroes - Control Of Party Membership, Everett S. Brown

Michigan Law Review

The petitioner, R. R. Grovey, allegedly a citizen of the United States and of Texas, and possessing all the qualifications of a voter, was refused a ballot for a Democratic party primary because he was of the Negro race. Grovey demanded ten dollars damages from the respondent, Albert Townsend, the county clerk, a state officer. The Revised Civil Statutes of Texas provide for primary elections and regulate absentee voting. When Grovey demanded of Townsend an absentee ballot it was refused in virtue of a resolution of the state Democratic convention of Texas, adopted May 24, 1932, as follows:

"Be it …

Primary Elections And The Constitution, Luther Harris Evans

Michigan Law Review

Recent attempts in Texas and elsewhere to exclude Negro voters from primary elections reveal the unsettled state of constitutional law in this field. Two struggles of principle, individualism versus police power and States' rights versus nationalism, are outlined in the judicial opinions reviewed below under the following headings: (I) Basis of state power over primaries; (II) Limitations on state power over primaries imposed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments; (III) Basis of state power over primaries for nominating United States Senators and Representatives; and (IV) Basis of national power over primaries for nominating United States Senators and Representatives.

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 - Redistricting For Congressional Elections - Lawmaking Power Of The State

Michigan Law Review

By the latest reapportionment of the House of Representatives (tit. 2, U. S. C. A., art. 2a), passed in 1929, Minnesota received one less representative than it had had by the previous apportionment (Act of 1911, tit. 2, U. S. C. A., sec. 2). The state legislature of Minnesota passed an act dividing the state into congressional districts in accordance with this apportionment, and the governor vetoed the bill. Thereupon the state house of representatives, by resolution, directed the secretary of state to enroll the bill as a law on the ground that the veto of the governor was a …

Constitutional Law -Is Redistricting Of A State For Congressional Elections An Exercise Of The Lawmaking Power Of The State?

Michigan Law Review

The governor of Minnesota vetoed an act of the legislature dividing the state into congressional districts in accordance with the latest re-apportionment of the House of Representatives (46 Stat. 21, 26). Thereupon the state house of representatives by resolution directed the secretary of state to enroll the bill as a law. In an action started to test the validity of the law, held, Art. 1, Sec. 4 (1) of the Constitution of the United States provides that, "The time and place of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but …

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 …

Elections-Improper Marking Of Ballots

Michigan Law Review

The Australian ballot acts which have generally been adopted in this country were intended to bring about the twofold result of secrecy in voting and facility in the exercise of the franchise, and perhaps the most important provisions, having this object in view, are those regulating the marking of ballot papers by the voters. Unfortunately, however, the decisions on the question of what constitutes a valid voting mark are irreconcilably at variance. The conflict between decisions in different states might be explained by the fact that dissimilar statutes were being construed; but too often the courts have overruled their own …

Constitutional Validity Of Statute Barring Negroes From Primary Elections

Michigan Law Review

The history of suffrage in the South during the last thirty-five years has been largely a story of the adoption and administration of discriminatory regulations devised to catch the negro without debarring any considerable number of white people. This legal disfranchisement has been accomplished by property or educational qualifications possessed generally by whites but not by negroes, or by giving a great deal of discretion to election and registration officials, who, understanding what is expected of them, find quite uniformly that the negroes do not meet the requirements while the white applicants generally do. How the letter of the Fifteenth …

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.